Versailles Part 2: The Gardens

Continuing with our walk, we followed the crowds through the first set of gates into the "Courtyard of Honor", then through the second set of gates to the "Royal Courtyard".  We only took a few shots of the Château's exterior.

In the "Courtyard of Honor".  I love the random looks you catch on people's faces...as you can see I am A) too practical to try to ask all these people to move out of the way, and B) too lazy to attempt to photoshop them all out.

The legend above the building on the left reads "To all the glories of France" (the sign was added in the 1830's when the palace became a museum).  The building on the right is the chapel.

The gilded gate to the "Royal Courtyard"

The front facade of the chateau, part of it is hidden by painted scaffolding.

Because Kevin and I have both already been inside the palace (many years ago) we opted instead to just view the gardens and the outbuildings.  If you've never seen inside, or would like a virtual tour of the Château, click here.  If you want to follow our garden walk on a map, click here.

The gardens are a living work of art.  Here is the delicately sculpted South Parterre (Terrace), off in the distance you can see the Swiss Lake.

Mythological worlds collide as this cupid rides a sphinx.

From the upper terrace, looking south you can see the round pool in the Orangery, and in the distance the Swiss Lake.  The fountains are usually off during the day, except for the "Grandes Eaux" shows on weekends.

You can clearly make out the citrus trees in the Orangery.  The south wing of the palace is in the background.

The rear facade of the palace.

A view down the gardens from the top of the steps.  The circular pool behind me is the Latonne Fountain.  The body of water way in the back is the Grand Canal.

A closer view of the Latonne Fountain.  The fountain depicts the Ovid myth where the goddess Leto (Latonne) tried to drink water from a pond but some unfriendly villagers stirred up the mud to make the water undrinkable.  In revenge, she turned them into frogs.   You can see Leto, her children Apollo and Diana, and frogs, turtles and aligators in the tiers of the fountain.

The Latonne Parterre is lined with statues and has two smaller pools in addition to the main fountain.

We then walked into the Bosquet de Girandole on the south side of the gardens.  This is the Saturn fountain, sculpted by François Girardon.

The gardeners at work.  This is how they keep the bosquets (groves of trees) in such symmetric shape.  There are something like 200,000 trees within the gardens.

We brought a picnic lunch, which we ate while sitting on a bench overlooking the Royal Pathway, a large expanse of grass (that you can't sit on) leading from the upper gardens to the Grand Canal.

We continued toward the Grand Canal, stopping near the Apollo Fountain.  Made of lead (that was originally gilded but has lost some of its sheen), it represents the sun god and his chariot pulled by a team of horses.  Louis XIV (also known as the Sun King) added many references to the sun god throughout the château and gardens.

A shady grove of trees near the Apollo fountain.

The Grand Canal was bustling with activity when we got there.  Many people had rented rowboats.

This family of swans was looking for handouts from the nearby picnickers.

As you can see, the Grand Canal is huge...it is a cross-shaped lake with a surface area of 23 hectares (about 2.5 million square feet) and a perimeter of 3 miles.

Large shade trees and sculpted shrubs line the walkways surrounding the canal.

We then walked north (diagonally away from the Grand Canal) towards the Grand Trianon, a smaller palace on the grounds.  To the right of the path was an enormous fenced-in meadow with a variety of trees.

I walked over through a gap in the fence to have a closer look.  This would be a lovely place for a picnic (or a nap).  I think it would be very easy to lose yourself in the gardens if you weren't careful.  But we have much more to see, so keep an eye out for the next post.