Versailles on Sundays-Is it worth fighting the crowds?
Most guidebooks will tell you to avoid weekends at Versailles, but Sunday afternoons are the only chance to see the fountains operating, starting at 3:30 and 5pm. (Normally, the fountains operate during the summer season, but this past weekend in late September, they were still operating). Rather than rushing to Versailles, take a leisurely drive and arrive around 3 pm. Purchase your entrance tickets directly at the gardens entrance (which is separate from the chateau visit ticket. After 4 pm you can purchase an entrance ticket to the chateau for only10 Euros which allows you access to the State Apartments, the King’s Apartments open until 6:30 pm. Then, go back to the gardens, which remain open (at least in September) until 8:30 pm. Go for a half-hour carriage ride which, at the end of the day, is discounted to 50 Euros for the carriage, regardless of the number of people) (1-5) per carriage. Normally a half-hour carriage ride costs 80 Euros.
Due to a huge construction project in the main courtyard of Versailles, the usual locations to purchase tickets have been moved around. You can purchase tickets to the chateau at the welcome/accueil to the left of Louis XIV’s statue or in the traditional welcome lobby to the far right of the construction, next to the café and toilets.
Before coming to Versailles, you should be aware of two things. There are no toilet facilities within the chateau, so be sure to use the facilities adjacent to the café before entering. There are also toilet facilities in the gardens.
Wear EXTREMELY comfortable shoes because Versailles cobblestones take the prize for the most awkward – and slippery cobblestones ever to grace a palace.
By Parisgirl | Permalink
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If you are referring to Louis XIV’s era, you’d be right - there was no indoor plumbing at Versailles at that time. But you can count on a woman to come along eventually and remedy that problem. Marie Antoinette had one of the few flush toilets installed in her bathroom. You can still see it today, but only the Queen of England had the opportunity to use it. It seems fitting because Marie Antoinette got this idea for indoor toilets from England. Apparently Marie Antoinette liked to take two baths a day, but none of this saved her from having her head chopped off.
You are right - Europe in the Middle Ages wasn’t very clean. Returning Crusaders brought back the habit of bathing regularly from their travels to the Middle East. Not all Central Asian cultures bathed. In fact, certain Central Asian nomadic groups felt that taking a bath would rob them of their powers. It is said that Genghis Khan never took a bath.
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There are 1300 rooms and no toilets.It is really embarrasing.Did you know that europans never bathed for weeks so they invented parfumes? In asia especially muslims had toilets in their houses in the 10 th century , muslims learnt how to be clean to the spains in 14th century by the state of Islamic Endulus.