Chateau Versailles and the Cabaret Show
Trip Start
Jul 11, 2010
1
12
13
Trip End
Jul 25, 2010
Versailles, Île-de-France, France
Friday, July 23, 2010
Today we headed out to the very exquisite Chateau Versailles, in the outer portion of Paris. Our day again began with the very confusing Metro, which we had to catch an RER train to Versailles. The RER trains are part of the Metro system, which service the suburbs of Paris. This is where I was completely confused with the whole subway thing, because no other system that I have been on has had all of these different lines and trains intersecting at the same station. It was very interesting to navigate, and after only a few wrong turns, we did make our way on to the correct train and headed off towards Versailles.
We had absolutely perfect weather for the start of our day; the temperatures were cool (in the mid-upper 70s), we had a nice breeze, and the sky was a perfect blue with the fluffiest white clouds! We had to walk about 5-10 minutes from the train station to the Chateau (after a quick stop at Starbucks for some much needed coffee!), and the walk was beautiful. It was the perfect setting to get our first pictures of the Chateau, and it was incredible. The Chateau Versailles is made out of light limestone, and is surrounded by the most brilliantly painted gold gate. Against the bright blue sky, the gate appeared to just shine! Once we entered the main gate, the palace itself continued with the bright gold paint, used to highlight the roof and windows around the building, which really stood out against the dark gray roofing material! The palace continued with the light limestone, but also had reddish colored stone on most of the windows and doors, and the combination of colors really created a very elegant and majestic look! Not only that, but the palace is huge! The main courtyard is surrounded by the Chateau on three sides, really emphasizing the grandeur of the palace!
The Chateau at Versailles was built by King Louis XIV in the mid 1600s, when Versailles was a small country village outside of Paris. It soon became the center of the French Court, when Louis XIV moved the royal palace from Paris to Versailles once the large palace was finished. The royal family remained here through the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, when they returned to Paris for safety reasons. The Chateau was used again throughout history by the subsequent empires, but has since been restored to its former glory during Louis XIV's time and is now a museum open to the public.
As we walked inside, I quickly discovered that nothing in the palace is small or understated. Everything was built on a grand scale and was decorated to the highest degree. The hallways were arched and completely lined with statues of past French Kings and floor to ceiling windows. The first room we saw was the chapel in the Chateau. It is a two level area that was quite large for a chapel within a palace. The courtiers would sit in the first level, and the king and his family would sit in the second level. At the far end of the chapel, the main altar was decorated in bright gold paint, with the large organ directly above it on the second level, also embellished with gold paint. The whole room is lined with grand limestone columns, the reach floor to ceiling, creating a very majestic appearance. The ceiling was covered in a very large fresco or angels and saints and was just as beautifully painted as the previous frescoes we saw in Rome and Florence.
We then went up one of the many large, grand marble staircases, and entered the main ballroom at the Chateau. It was designed to be the largest room in the palace, so that grand balls and dinners could be held there. It was so big, that even though the room was filled with people, it didn’t seem crowded at all because the room was so large! The room is covered in various colored marble and embellished with gold around doorways and the ceiling. It is quite a majestic looking room. At either end of the room are large fireplaces that would have provided a very romantic atmosphere I’m sure! The fireplaces are so large that I could have walked into them and wouldn’t have had to duck! The other two walls of the room are lined with floor to ceiling windows that flooded the room with natural light. The ceiling was painted with a scene of angels in heaven, which was also quite beautiful. The room was so impressive, and I’m sure it was even more so during the time of Louis XIV and his glamorous court!
We then filed through six receiving chambers, each of which had a different mythological theme to them, which was represented by the painting on the ceilings. These rooms were used for smaller meetings or concerts and were often filled with courtiers. Many of the room also had busts or portraits of Louis XIV as a young man, even though he was older when he actually lived at Versailles. Each room was also elaborately decorated with numerous crystal chandeliers that were beautiful. Apparently no expense went unspent in the building of the Chateau because each room outdid the previous one!
All of these receiving rooms led up to the most stunning room I have ever seen: the Hall of Mirrors. It was breathtaking! The room is the length of the back wall of the Chateau and is filled with crystal chandeliers that were twice the size of the ones in the other rooms! Half of the room is lined with windows looking out on the gardens, while the other half is lined with mirrors the same size and shape as the windows to "mirror" them! The effect is amazing! Besides the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, there are also gold “lamps” on both sides of the room between each of the mirrors and windows. The lamps are maidens holding their own large crystal chandeliers! I’m sure that all of these beautiful chandeliers create a breathtaking effect when all of the candles are lit at night! This room was used to hold official balls and ceremonies, and I can’t picture a more stunning place to hold such events!
The King’s Grand Apartments are located just off of the Hall of Mirrors, and consist of four rooms that were his “private” chambers. I say this with a bit of an aside, because even though they were considered “private,” they were actually open to the public and court. The king’s bedchamber was always filled with courtiers and guests, as well as was his business room, where he would complete matters of state. Both were richly decorated with gold and deep, rich colors, as well as chandeliers!
The Queen Grand Apartments were also located at the end of the Hall of Mirrors. She too had a set of four rooms, which were just as richly decorated at the king’s. The entry room to her chambers seemed to be a continuation of the Hall of Mirrors, as it continued with the large mirrors, gold paint, and chandeliers. Her bedroom was also a public room, and we learned that the royal heirs to the throne were born in this room, with the entire court present and watching! Not my idea of a good time! On either side of the bed were two hidden doors. The door on the left of the bed was open to look through from a distance, as it was the door that Marie Antoinette escaped through when Versailles was seized during the French Revolution. I wish we could have explored the hidden passageways and tunnels of the Chateau, because I’m sure it would have been quite the experience!
After visiting the King and Queen’s apartments, we headed downstairs into the apartments of the dauphin and dauphine. The dauphin was the eldest son of the king and heir to the throne. The rooms are linked to the Queen’s apartments and are located on the ground floor of the Chateau. There are several rooms in these apartments, including studies, libraries, drawing rooms, antechambers, and separate bedrooms for the dauphine and his wife, the dauphine. The rooms have some of the original furniture from when Louis XV’s son occupied the apartments with his wife, Marie-Josephe de Saxe. Just like the king and queen’s apartments, the bedchambers in these apartments were also open to the public, and three future kings of France were born here: Louis XVI, Louis XVII, and Charles X. I found this history of this family was quite interesting. Not only was Marie-Josephe the mother of three French Kings, but she was the daughter of King Augustus III of Poland, and was very much loved by the royal family and French people at that time. The rooms were beautifully decorated, but were not as over the top as the upstairs apartments were. These rooms also had beautiful ground floor views of the gardens of Versailles.
The apartments of the dauphin and dauphine led out to the gardens, which we wandered in for some time. Along the back side of the Chateau lie two large rectangular pools, surrounded by copper statues. These pools led down to the Latona Fountain, which overlooks the main section of the gardens. All around the fountain were the most colorful flowers. Kelli and I spent quite a few minutes admiring and taking pictures of the bright pinks, yellows, and blues of the different flowers, all of which were being pollinated by bees! We kept our distance from the bees, and managed to escape with some very good pictures of the flowers and no bee stings! We then walked down the Royal Walk, which leads from the Latona Fountain down to the Grand Canal. The walk is lined with statues and trees and is over 300 meters long! Between the Royal Walk and the Grand Canal lies the Apollo Fountain, in which Apollo rises out of the fountain in his chariots pulled by his horses. In our guide, we read that it takes one hour The Grand Canal lies just beyond the fountain, and was used by the royal family for boat races and sailing events. In our guide, we read that it would take one hour to walk all of the way from the Chateau to the end of the Grand Canal beyond the Royal Walk; the gardens are huge! Kelli and I did not venture that far; we made it to the end of the Royal Walk, before dark clouds in the west threatened rain! We walked a little more quickly back to the Chateau, and did make it inside before the heavy rain hit! The day had been so beautiful and perfect until that moment!
We then realized that we had missed some of the rooms in the Chateau, so we went back through security and readmitted ourselves into the Chateau. We headed back through most of the things we had already seen, before turning off into the War Room, which we had walked by and missed on our first trip through. The War Room is a large hallway, completely lined with floor to ceiling portraits of different battles and wars that France has been in. Within the room, we found portraits of Joan of Arc and the American Revolutionary War. I’m not too familiar with French history, so these were really the only two paintings that meant something to me, but I was amazed with the size and grandeur of the room! It was over a football field in length and was quite the shrine to France’s military achievements! We then wandered through the Napoleon rooms, which have been restored to their former state during Napoleon III’s rule of France. Again, the rooms were elaborately decorated, very much displaying the wealth and power of the French rulers of the time. My favorite part of the Napoleon Rooms was the large portrait of “The Coronation of Josephine,” which tells the story of Napoleon I’s wife, Josephine, and her coronation as Empress of France. It is quite large, as it fills the entire wall in the room that it is located it. This particular painting is a replica, as the original is on display in the Louvre Museum.
After visiting the Chateau of Versailles, we dodged the rain and grabbed some lunch before heading back to central Paris to prepare for our next nightly adventure, the cabaret show! We went to the Paradis Latin show, which is the most “French” of the cabaret shows. I really enjoyed this show, despite its provacativeness, because it was so different and yet so French! We arrived quite early, as we were going to enjoy the entire package: dinner and a show! While waiting, we were able to look around the lobby of the theater, which was rebuilt by Gustav Eiffel (of the Tower fame) after being burned down in the Franco-Prussian War. The lobby was adorned with photos of past shows and numerous celebrities that have visited the theater over the years. We were escorted to our table shortly after 8pm, which happened to be right down in front, not far from the stage. We really had quite the seats for the show! The theater was gorgeous! The stage was down in front, clear to the end of the hall, and four long tables lined the aisle to the stage for dinner seating. Side tables lined the perimeter of the hall, slightly raised from the main floor by a few steps. There was also a balcony surrounding the three sides of the theater. I’m sure without the tables; the hall would have looked just like the Moulin Rouge set in the movie!
We signed up for the “Star” menu, and were able to choose a different appetizer, main course, and dessert from the menu. I chose the finely sliced Parma Ham for my appetizer, Chateaubriant with pepper sauce and gourmet beans as an entrée, and a fine apple tart with caramel sauce for dessert. It was delicious! We also each got ½ bottle of wine, ¼ bottle of champagne, and ½ bottle of mineral water with our dinner. During our dinner, we had our picture taken, which turned out really good and was a nice memento from the show, as we were not allowed to take pictures in the theater.
The show began with the dancers dressed up as roses, dancing and singing a welcome to the show. The master of ceremonies sang and gave his welcome, followed by a song and dance by the waiters of the Paradis Latin. The waiters really could sing and dance quite well, I was impressed! The dancers then came back out and did dance routines in different scenes, such as a training day, enchanted carousel, Romeo and Juliet ballet routine, and a ball of Louis XV. The dancing was so good; there were a lot of ballet routines that one would find in any professional company in the world. However, being this was a cabaret, the dancers were much less covered than professional ballerinas, but honestly, I was so lost in their dancing, that I didn’t even pay attention to their costumes. I will say, the costumes that they did actually wear were very exquisite. They were colorful, sparkly, and very flashy; it was fun to watch! My favorite routine definitely had to be the can-can dance. I loved how fun and flirty and showy the dance was! True Paris culture right there! I was also shocked to find out that out of all of the cabaret shows in Paris, this one is the only one that still does the can-can. I couldn’t believe that! The can-can is such a traditional dance of Paris and cabaret shows, it probably put French dancing on the map of the dance world. It was so fun to watch, and I’m sure just as fun to perform! I can totally believe that it was quite the risqué dance in its time!
The show also featured a couple of other non-dancing acts. There was a magic show that included a black panther cat as part of the act. The poor thing was paraded around the room on the magician’s shoulders for guests to pet, but I don’t think he looked too happy about it! We also saw an aerial act by the amazing Christopher! This theater is one of the few in the city that has the capability to perform trapeze and aerial acts, so it was fun to watch Christopher’s acrobatics, without a net!
We had such an amazing time at the show. The singers and dancers were fantastic and the show flowed so well; never a dull moment! Our dinner was great and added another element to the fantastic night. By the time we returned to the hotel, the three of us were all beat from our very busy but amazing day!
