Daniel_Williams

Hi Fodor’s

I’m presently in Paris and wasn’t initially planning on doing a trip report as I didn’t think I was doing anything particularly novel and mostly otherwise was visiting friends. It’s my 5th time in Paris although the last time I will admit was 31 years ago when I was ready to move to the City of Light, so much for as I smitten.

Yes, I walked along the well-trodden and oh-so-crowded-with-August-tourists beaten paths in Montmartre and by the Trocadero. I did admire works of masterful artists at the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée Rodin along with thousands of others for which I purchased tickets in advance. Crowds thronged the best-known Monets and van Goghs. And yes, I did enjoy the outdoor cafes and festive people-watching with friends in Paris, taking advantage of the city’s Ve’Lib system to meet up, which demonstrated to me that getting around by bike is more feasible than I would have imagined those 30 years ago viewing the traffic chaos.

The place that drew me in the most this trip was not Paris itself, but the town of Versailles. And I don’t mean the Château of Versailles itself, although I did book a visit there some 2 days in advance. It too was mobbed with tourists as I expected, there to soak in the symbol of empire, obscene wealth and indeed beauty. I was glad I visited for the majesty of it, as the last time I was there was in 1979, when I was but a 8-year-old, with no understanding of the history, although I did remember the Hall of Mirrors from that long-ago visit.

So what was it that appealed about the Ville de Versailles, you ask? I liked its relative calm after the crowds and harried nature of Paris. Most tourists come in by tour bus or car to see the Chateau and leave immediately; even arriving by train, if you walk a certain route to the Chateau, you might miss the charming parts—many skip the town of Versailles altogether it seems. Versailles consequently had a more low-key activity, a pleasant respite after a few days of being packed in like sardines on the metro and in the tourist quartiers The neighbourhood known as Quartier Saint Louis was beautifully painted, atmospheric with history, not to mention I absolutely loved the sidewalk restaurant I ate at on rue de Satory, where the servers were warm and welcoming and I admired the stretch of restaurants and simply thought I was in heaven eating the most divine tiramisu!

Happy summer and travels to you all

Daniel W

TDudette

Riding a bike (even motorized) in any large city earns you bravos, Daniel! Do you have some pix to share? Was it Pepper who visited Versailles town?

kerouac

I'm glad you liked Versailles and actually saw the city. Next time you might want to try Saint Germain-en-Laye at the end of the RER A. It is just as nice and definitely not overrun with tourists.

MmePerdu

My favorite place in Versailles is not the chateau but the nearby Potager du Roi. The day I was there I was alone for much of the time though now, years later, I imagine it’s been discovered by a few more. I’d very much like to return to see how it’s evolved since then.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pota...oi,_Versailles

frenchaucoeur

You're right, Kerouac, about St Germain-en-Laye. We finally got to spend a day there a few years ago and loved it. We never did get to visit the archaeology museum inside the chateau, but we spent hours just walking the streets and having a quiet lunch. It was a lovely day!

Did the same thing in Neuilly a while back. Same thing.

cheska15

Sounds wonderful. We hope to go for a day to Versailles to do exactly as you have done. Another town I would like to see is Giverny. Wish I could remember the name of the murder mystery book I read about Giverny

aliced

My daughter-in-law and oldest granddaughter (18) and a few other moms from Southern CA were in Paris in early May. They had a fabulous evening bike ride and picnic on the grounds of Versailles. Who knew??

Seamus

100% concur, Daniel! Many years ago we got stranded in Paris by a winter storm and took advantage of the added days to visit the town. Still have a couple Christmas ornaments I bought on that visit. Loved that the merchants in town all got together to choose a theme and decorated their businesses accordingly. Also remember having probably the best hot chocolate of my life there. More recently, but still several years ago, we attended a masked ball at the Chateau that ran into late night/early morning so we stayed at La Residence du Berry which was delightful and spent the next day wandering through town.

Daniel_Williams

Rue de Satory.


Peaceful park I stumbled upon

Daniel_Williams

Error from trip report: “When I was ready to move to the City of Light, so much for I smitten much was I smitten”. That’s what I think I wanted to say? Lol. That’ll fix me, thinking I can do a trip report without editing on my I Phone while on the RER train.

Tdudette—Pictures above as requested. Ve’lib has both E-bikes and traditional bikes. I opted for the traditional ones; I was surprised but I actually found biking in Paris pretty relaxed compared to Montreal. Might have been the route I took (the route was the bike lanes followed metro line 6 rive gauche).
Kerouac, frenchaucoeur—Thanks for the St Germain en Laye suggestion; the closest friends of the friend I stayed with in Paris (my friend has an apartment in the quinzième arrondissement) live there, so there is a likeliness I’ll go some day.
mmeperdu—I missed the potager du roi. A reason to return to Versailles, not that I need one.
cheska15–Nice idea to plan a day. I really didn’t; just took the RER train from Gare Montparnasse early thinking I’d have lunch before my 2pm Chateau visit reservation.
aliced—Picnic and bike in the Versailles grounds? How fantastic!
Seamus—Christmas season sounds like a great time to be in Versailles. Masked ball in Versailles? That’s quite the life experience!

millie2112

Last time I was in Paris was back in 2013. we did a bike tour of Paris. Started in late evening. It was the best experience. One of my favourite days.
Hopefully I will get to go back next year.

Seamus

Indeed it was a life experience, Daniel. It was part of one of our niece HS graduation trips. She must have enjoyed it as she wound up doing a Master's degree in Paris and is now living and working there!

apersuader65

Black Water Lillies?

Fra_Diavolo

Reassuring to read the report after the shock of the thread title -- Daniel Williams, intrepid traveller through Mexico and Central America finding happiness in Versailles! But once you explained . . .

Thanks, good information.

Daniel_Williams

Fra_Diavolo— Thanks for reading. And I plead guilty to occasionally having fun with titles of trip reports to try to entice someone to read them.

Sassafrass

Thanks for posting. I often advocate for visiting the town, not just the chateau. Years ago we went directly to Versailles to start a trip, biked and enjoyed the grounds for the whole afternoon, spent the night in the town and the next morning, toured the chateau. It was an absolutely prefect way to do it! The market in the town is wonderful. The restaurants were good and the food was excellent.

tony_hop

Wow! Visiting France and Versailles is such an experience, this is my dream to get there, any advice about visiting museums and other places?

kleeblatt

Topping simply because of the fantastic suggestions.

Daniel_Williams

Sassafrass—Thanks for the suggestions. Overnighting and the market sound like great ideas; sorry I missed the market.
tony_hop— My France experiences are limited, but make sure if you go to Versailles or the more popular museums, you book your spot at least 2 days in advance.
kleeblatt—Thanks for reading and topping

Sassafrass

You will get there! Read trip reports. Read posts with questions about trips. There are several threads going now by people working on itineraries for France and one for Paris, London and Italy. YouI get a lot of information about how best to do things from the information and advice given to other people planning trips. You can easily and almost completely plan trips with that information.
When you are finally ready to do it, you can post your general plan and get all kinds of helpful suggestions.