Versailles

The weather forecast was too good to spend in museums, so we gaily headed out of Paris to Versailles, to explore the famous palace and gardens. Our overall impression? The palace is certainly spectacular, and the gardens beautiful, but the organizers seem to have spent energy designing the most inefficient systems to ensure you cannot possibly enjoy your visit:( of course, we are here in peak season, and we did take our time getting started today, so arrived with the worst of the crowds, but it still was a lesson in how not to do things. We caught the train to Versailles, and the palace is just a short walk from the station, but then we took 3 hours to get in. First you have to queue for tickets (in the sun), then you have to join a longer queue to get in. After standing for 30 mns in the first queue, an official told groups to split up - one person queue for tickets while the other hold a place in the queue to get in. great plan, which saved us an extra half hour, but we do wish they had explained that first. So, by the time we eventually gained access to the Palace, we were hot, thirsty and sunburnt. So not really in the mood to enjoy the state apartments in a huge crowd of equally not and thirsty people. The rooms we saw were certainly impressive - every ceiling an extravagant work of art, every wall covered in art work, gilt and marble, and even the doors covered in ornate giltwork. It must have been the height of fashion at the time, but seen through 21stC eyes, very 'over-the-top'. There was only so much gilt we could take, so we skipped the Dauphin's apartments and headed out for the gardens, with a detour via the 'Grand Cafe' - a crappy takeaway selling stale baguettes.
The trouble with Versailles gardens though, is that they are very ornate displays of formal garden beds, so don't include shade or seats. The best option seemed to be the Petit Train, at least it offered a seat while we toured the gardens. BIG MISTAKE! This was Versailles inefficiencies at its best - queuing for over 30 mins waiting for a train, then a ticket seller who was so slow and grumpy selling tickets that the train ended up leaving half empty! So it was nearly an hour before we got on. We did make friends with a group of Americans who needed two extra people to qualify for a group discount, so we didn't waste as much money as we could have. Then the journey was equally disappointing - rather than take you through the gardens, it took you 'around' them, dropping people at key sites. But the queues of people waiting to get on at those sites deterred us from getting off. Overall, we spent 10 minutes looking at the gardens, then couldn't wait to get out of there.