Paris - Versailles

History of Versailles:

According to Wiki, "the court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when King Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution.  

Hall of Mirrors - The galerie des glaces (Hall of Mirrors in English), is perhaps the most celebrated room in the château of Versailles.

Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy.  While the poor were starving, King Louis XIV inhabited in his lavish Palace of Versailles and continued his extravagant expenditures on luxuries.  King Louis XIV became one of the most powerful French monarchs and consolidated a system of absolute monarchical rule in France that endured until the French Revolution.  

Side story: Human bone-bread:

In 1590, the existing stores of food were inadequate to feed the population.  The poor people had descended to eating dogs, cats, tallow, grass..and even rats…..It was proposed that the bones of dead Parisians stored in the charnel house be ground into flour and baked into bread as there were no grain.  Yet, it turned out to be a failure as people who ate those bone-bread died shortly after.  (hypothesis reasons: (1) those breads had no nutrient (2) bread came from plague victims (3) contaminated by prions. )- Reference

Grand Trianon Castle Interior

Paris - Versailles & travellers' advices

Day 2:  Getting to Chateau de Versailles
We woke up a little early to catch the train to Versailles.  We had to take the RER C to get to Versailles, which we later figured we took the train to another wrong exit.  Versailles was about 45 mins-1 hour train ride from the central Paris, the train route splits to two ends in Versailles.  While we were not sure if we were on the right train, there was another tourist group who was as lost as us.  So when we were pointing at the map, figuring out the French map, that tourist group started discussing with us in English.  Both of us got off a station thinking it could be walking distance to the Chateau.  We later on figured they were French Canadian from Montreal.  Thanks god they spoke French, they went to ask one of the locals and the local Parisian said we should take the other train to get back to the Chateau as it was quite far to walk there.  Glad to see Canadians when travelling in Europe as they were always so helpful and kind.

We went on a Tuesday, usually Tuesday is a busy day because the Lourve Museum is closed on Tuesdays.  It's better to get there early and then purchase entrance Tickets at Entrance A.  All Entrance tickets were 25 Euro which included all admissions to the Palace, Garden, Trianon + Marie Antoinette, and the musical shows on Tuesdays.

It wasn't that crowded that day.  It was raining pretty bad that day, so we rented a golf cart to tour around this super huge garden.

Golf cart Rental:

It was 30 Euro/hour to rent this golf cart to tour around the garden.  Well worth it.  Usually you could probably finish everything by 1.5-2 hours.  We had to follow the route on the map, or else the golf cart would not move forward.  At one point, we went off track by mistake, and we thought the golf cart was down.  Then we found out that once the sensor sensed you went off track, the golf cart could only go Reverse.

Travellers' advices for visiting Chateau de Versailles:
- BUY ROUND TRIP TICKETS when you buy train tickets to VERSAILLES, as there would be long line up paying for your tickets when returning back to Paris
- Get there half an hour early(8:30) before it opens at 9am to get entrance tickets
- Entrance and the crowd control are not organized, so make sure you buy tickets online or at ENTRANCE A
- Lining up to buy tickets and lining up to get into the Chateau are TWO separate lineups.  Some people who had tickets wasted an hour lining up at the wrong line.
- If the palace is way too packed inside, visit the garden first and then go back to the palace at approximately 3pm.
- Some people suggested to bring sandwiches and picnic at the garden, because buying food in the Chateau has huge lineups too
- NO FOOD in the Chateau, security inspection could lead to long lineups too
- rent a bike/golf cart/ train ride to tour around the garden (walking would be exhausting)
- bring driver license if you want to rent a golf cart or bike