Running & Reading in Rennes: A Weekend in Versailles with Jean-Claude and Corinne: French Hospitality

One of the traditional buildings, a carré, in Versailles.

After seeing Saint-Denis, we took the Metro back into central Paris, then took a train from there to Versailles (about a 20-minute ride) where Jean-Claude and Corinne were waiting for us. After dropping off our bags at their lovely two-story apartment, Jean-Claude took us on a short driving tour of the town of Versailles (most of which we didn't see when we were there in April with Chris - we just walked from the train station to the chateau) and then to the chateau itself.

Daffodils and irises growing out of a
thatch roof at the hameau.

Part of the hameau de la reine, like
a movie set.

We visited the parts we hadn't seen with Chris, specifically Marie Antoinette's gardens, the strange little fake village she had built for herself so she could pretend to be a peasant (and which still contains a working animal farm), and her "country house" at Versailles, the Petit Trianon.

Decoration inside the
Grand Trianon.

A stream at the hameau
de la reine: the
fascination with carp
is international.

We also walked down to the Grand Trianon, a substantial house built for Louis XIV, but really used by Napoleon and his family after he became emperor. It was pretty lavishly decorated, much like the main chateau, but much less crowded than the main chateau was when we visited it with Chris. On our way out of the building, we saw ominous looking rain clouds approaching and we made it back to the car just before the rain started pouring! We stopped at the bakery on the way home to get bread for dinner (standard for France!) and then had a wonderful home-cooked meal prepared by Corinne.

A bread line in France.

Cathedral at Versailles.

Sunday was the second round of the French presidential election so after Jean-Claude voted in the morning, he drove Lisa and me into the town of Versailles and took us on a nice walking tour of the central city. Jean-Claude is a middle school teacher with a great love of history and art history, so he was the perfect tour guide. He showed us the school where he teaches then the cathedral. There was a mass going on, though, so we came back about a half-hour later. (Incidentally, I think it's the most well-attended mass we've seen in any of the churches we've visited in France.) It's a 17th-century church that reminds me a lot of the Baroque churches I saw in Rome.

Swiss Basin.

He also showed us the national horticultural school and the "potager," Louis XIV's massive kitchen garden that supplied his palace with food and which still functions today. He took us past the "Swiss Basin," a man-made lake just outside the grounds of the palace created for Louis XIV's Swiss Guards - and around which some sort of race was being run! And he walked us by the old carré, a symmetrical set of four square two-story buildings separated by streets which house shops. We stopped off for more bread, then went home for lunch.

Jean-Claude and Corinne.

Following that, we all took Corinne to vote and then went to the gardens of the palace of Versailles to see the "musical waters." On Sunday afternoons only, they turn on most of the huge fountains in the garden and pump in Baroque music on an extensive sound system. It was a pretty impressive display, especially the one they call "the ballroom," a cascade of water down a series of steps above and around us. We also saw the closing show, the fountain of Neptune.

Our favorite fountain.

The amazing Neptune fountain!

Where Louis XIV was born!

View into Paris.

Once the show was over, we drove to Saint-German-en-Laye, another suburb of Paris north of Versaillles to see what little is left of Henri IV's palace. It's mostly gone, but the room where Louis XIV was born is still preserved - it's now part of a hotel/restaurant and houses several coat racks! The two-kilometer-long terrace of the palace is still there and is now a park, where Jean-Claude used to run as a kid. It's got a great view east to Paris. We also walked around Francis I's palace, now an archaeological museum. We then drove back to Versailles where Jean-Claude and Corinne took us out to dinner at a good restaurant (and while they checked election results on their smart-phones). When we got home, they showed us "The Artist," which Lisa and I hadn't seen. Good thing it's a silent movie and I didn't have to worry about trying to understand a movie in French!

Coming up next: Monday, while Jean-Claude and Corinne went to work, Lisa and I took a day-trip to Reims.