LH Franz My first visit to Versailles in 2019 was a miserable experience. (See the blog entry here.) Besides standing for hours in long lines snaking around the courtyard, the hot sun beating down on our heads, once we got inside, we had to fight our way through the ridiculously crowded rooms. Every. Single. Room. I didn’t get to see Versailles so much as people shoving each other to see glimpses of it. At that time, I had already started a list of things I knew I would do when I visited France again. Versailles was at the top.
Three years later, I returned to Paris with my husband. That entire trip was a frustrating comedy of errors. The less said about it the better. For reasons too silly and complicated to explain, our plans to go to Versailles fell through and I didn’t get there on that trip either.
One year on, my daughter and I decided on another Mother/Daughter trip to France, our second such trip. I was determined to make it to Versailles and see it properly. In 2019, we had visited during the summer, the height of peak season. This time, we traveled during the spring, a “shoulder season,” when large crowds of tourists had not yet formed.
As the saying goes, third time’s a charm.
Rather than go through the regular entry queue, we booked a guided tour of the private apartments. It wasn’t that expensive (€10 per person plus the price of regular admission), and was well worth the cost. The guide was pleasant and knowledgeable, the rooms were amazing and impressively ornate, ensconcing you into the environment of the super-rich nobility that lived there. (There are a number of guided tours offered at Versailles, including this one. You can browse them here.)
My own idea of what counts as an apartment comes from my experiences being raised in apartments in Brooklyn. So this word “apartments,” brings a certain image to mind. That image in no way resembles these “private apartments” of the French kings. They are more like a castle devoted to one family, tucked inside the larger castle that is Versailles. A view down the corridor of this complex demonstrates the scale of the place. 
And even though the apartments were private places where the royal families could let down their hair, these apartments, like everything else at Versailles, featured lots and lots of gold: Gold trim, gold picture frames, gold desks and furniture. All gleaming and sparkling.
Even the toilet sports a bit of shiny gold. These days, it’s all kept up by the Versailles maintenance crew. I can’t help but wonder if the staff of Versailles kept it like that back in the day. I mean, didn’t they let even a little bit of dust accumulate before cleaning it off?
There was lots to see in this sumptuously decorated mini-castle. One thing that struck my eye was the king’s special desk. It’s a big roll-top affair, gold trimmed, of course, that held 
important papers and diplomatic documents. Security consisted of “secret” drawers locked with a physical key the king kept with him all the time. (“Even in his pajamas?” I mused. That’s just me.) It doesn’t look like much security at all, really. But I suppose aristocrats in 1760 considered the fact of their nobility to be enough protection against people messing with them – until the French Revolution bubbled up thirty years later.
During the tour, one does indeed get something of a window into the private lives of these aristocrats. The children played here, the guide tells you. They gave piano recitals there. Louis XV was interested in astronomy and commissioned a time piece that tracked the time, date, phases of the moon, movements of the planets. Very impressive. It’s now on display in the appropriately named Clock Room. During the tour, our guide talked about the royal children by first names. It struck a particular chord to hear her talk about the girls. You hear about the boys all the time. They’re the ones who grow into men who make their way into the history books. But you don’t hear much about the girls, about how this one liked to paint, how this one liked music or played musical instruments. History tells us that Louis XV had eight daughters, most of them never leaving home for long, never marrying. Through online searching, I found some books written about these ladies, but not very many. If I were so inclined, I can imagine taking up a history research project about these women. It’s hard to believe that as intimate as they were with the royal court for such extended periods of time, they didn’t have some influence on how France was ruled.
Since I can’t trot up and down stairs the way I used to, I noticed the lack of elevators or escalators as we walked around. I was able to manage well enough, but be aware that if you have mobility issues with steps and staircases, this particular tour might not be a good fit. But I highly recommend it if you can go.
The tour ended in front of the château, but this time the space was uncrowded and open. You could appreciate the amazing expanse that greeted visitors past and present.
As before, we had lunch in Restaurant Angelina. As before, the food was delicious, and the service was great. Refreshed in body and spirit, we set off to see the château and the magnificent gardens.
