Versailles in 3 days

Grand Trianon (the Trianon de Marbre — the "Marble Trianon"; the small private palace built by Louis XIV in 1687 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart 1.6 km north of the main palace in the northern section of the Versailles park): the history (the original "Trianon de Porcelaine" (1670) — the blue-and-white Dutch Delft-tile-clad pavilion built by Louis XIV for his mistress Madame de Montespan as a garden retreat; demolished 1687 and replaced by the current Grand Trianon in pink Languedoc marble (the "marble" of the Trianon de Marbre — the pink-red marble from the quarries of Languedoc used for the colonnade and the window frames)); the architecture (the single-storey colonnade design (the peristyle — the open colonnade connecting the two wings of the building without an enclosed central hall; the most elegant and least ostentatious royal residence at Versailles); used by Louis XIV as a private retreat from court ceremonial, and later by Napoleon I (who renovated the interiors in the Empire style (the Empire furniture, the silk hangings, the Sèvres porcelain) and used the Grand Trianon as his private residence at Versailles; Napoleon stayed at the Grand Trianon 137 times between 1805-1813)); the gardens (the Grand Trianon garden — the parterre of the Grand Trianon with the formal flower beds directly in front of the colonnade: Louis XIV is said to have changed the flowers in the Trianon garden twice a day to ensure their perpetual blooming freshness at all hours).

Petit Trianon (the small Neoclassical palace built 1762-1768 by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel for Louis XV and his mistress Madame de Pompadour; given by Louis XVI to his queen Marie Antoinette in 1774 on the day of his accession (his first act as King)); the architecture (the most perfect example of early French Neoclassicism: the cubic volume (24 m × 24 m), the pilastered facades on all four sides (each facade different in character — the court facade, the garden facade, the chapel facade and the French garden facade), the flat roof with the stone balustrade; the simplicity and restraint of the Petit Trianon is the deliberate antithesis of the Baroque ornament of the main palace); Marie Antoinette's domain (the Petit Trianon and its grounds became the personal sanctuary of Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) from the crushing ceremony of court life at Versailles: the Austrian archduchess who became Dauphine at 14 and Queen at 18 (1770; married Louis XVI at the chapel of Versailles in front of the assembled French court); the "Madame Déficit" (the nickname given by the French public to Marie Antoinette for her extravagant personal expenditure — the Petit Trianon remodelling, the English landscape garden, the theatrical performances, the gambling); the Temple of Love (the 1778 Mique circular peristyle temple with the Cupid carving by Bouchardon in the English garden of the Petit Trianon — the most photographed garden building at Versailles)).

Hameau de la Reine (the Queen's Hamlet — the rustic village built 1783-1787 for Marie Antoinette by the architect Richard Mique in the English landscape garden of the Petit Trianon): the concept (the "hameau" (hamlet) — the rustic village where Marie Antoinette and her intimate circle could play at the simple pastoral life, freed from the rigid ceremonial of the main court; the 12 thatched-roof Norman-style farmhouses around the artificial lake were genuinely functional (the farm buildings housed working animals and the gardens grew actual vegetables and grain) while also serving as a pleasure retreat (the Queen's Cottage (the Maison de la Reine) was a luxuriously decorated interior behind the rustic exterior): the contrast between the thatched exterior and the silk and brocade interior of the Queen's Cottage represents the most explicit statement of 18th-century aristocratic pastoralism (Marie Antoinette was following the contemporary fashion for "ruralisme" — the Rousseau-inspired valorisation of the simple rural life by the aristocracy who were as far removed from actual rural life as humanly possible); the dairy (the laiterie de la reine — the working dairy where the Queen is said to have played at making butter from Sèvres porcelain-decorated dairy equipment (the "laiterie de dégustation" — the tasting dairy, where the milk products were consumed, has the original Sèvres porcelain milk pails and butter churns still displayed)); the current state (the hamlet was restored 2008-2018 and is the most authentically restored section of the Versailles estate).

Versailles town and the Marché Notre-Dame (the town of Versailles — the historic market town that grew up around the palace from the 1660s onwards to house the traders, craftsmen and suppliers serving the royal court of 20,000 residents): the Marché Notre-Dame (the covered market in the Versailles town centre — the four 18th-century market pavilions around the church of Notre-Dame de Versailles (built 1686 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the same architect as the Hall of Mirrors); the market (the Tuesday, Friday and Sunday morning market — the most traditional French covered market in the Île-de-France region: the cheese stalls (the Brie de Meaux (the "King of Cheeses" — the soft cow's milk cheese from the Brie region 50 km east of Versailles; presented to Charlemagne in 774 CE and to the Congress of Vienna in 1815 where Talleyrand used it to win the argument for the re-division of Europe in France's favour ("To be French is to love Brie de Meaux" — apocryphal); the Comté (the hard mountain cheese from the Franche-Comté — the cheese that Louis XIV annexed the Franche-Comté region (1678) to acquire direct access to; the most consumed cheese in France)); the charcuterie (the French pork products: the jambon blanc (the Paris ham), the pâté de campagne, the andouillette (the chitterlings sausage — the most confrontational of French charcuterie)); the macarons de Versailles (the Versailles-style macaron — softer and larger than the Parisian macaron; the original French macaron is from the Basque Country and was brought to Paris in the 17th century).

Orangerie de Versailles (the greenhouse-parterre complex south of the main palace, designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1686)): the Orangerie (the underground greenhouse — the most imposing greenhouse built before the Victorian era: the central gallery 155 m long × 13 m wide × 13 m high, with two side galleries (the "salles souterraines") each 91 m long cut into the hillside of the "Pièce d'eau des Suisses" terrace wall; the Orangerie was built to winter the 3,000 orange trees, 150 oleanders, 150 laurel trees and 50 palm trees of the Versailles collection (these Mediterranean plants spent the winters in the underground heated galleries and the summers on the Parterre de l'Orangerie — the 3-hectare terrace in front of the Orangerie); the collection (the 3,000 orange trees in the current collection include the "Connetable" trees — 6 orange trees more than 200 years old, planted during the reign of Louis XVIII; the oldest orange tree in the collection (the "Grand Bourbon") dates to approximately 1421 and was planted by Eleanor of Castile, wife of Charles VI of France — the oldest cultivated tree in France currently growing in royal ground)); the Pièce d'eau des Suisses (the large ornamental lake south of the Orangerie (the name refers to the Swiss Guards who dug it 1678-1682): 680 m × 246 m — the largest single body of water in the Versailles park; used for skating in winter).

Versailles Bosquets (the "groves" or woodland garden rooms — the 16 enclosed garden rooms (the bosquets) cut into the hornbeam-hedge woodland between the major allées of the formal garden): the bosquet concept (the bosquets of Versailles were designed by André Le Nôtre as enclosed outdoor "rooms" for private entertainment and intimate royal gatherings, each with its own fountain display, its own programme of sculpture and its own theatrical character (the equivalent of the "cabinet de curiosités" or the "cabinet de jardin" — the outdoor version of the interior private room); the most important bosquets (the Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe (the triumphal arch bosquet — the fountain with the bronze Relief of France by Tuby and Coysevox representing the triumph of Louis XIV); the Bosquet des Rocailles (the "Ballroom" bosquet — the most theatrical space in the Versailles garden: a semicircular amphitheatre of tiered stone terraces around a central dancing surface, designed for court ballets and outdoor concerts; the shells and the rockwork (rocaille) decorating the walls and the cascades gave the bosquet (and eventually the entire 18th-century decorative style) its name: "Rococo" (from "rocaille" = pebblework, shellwork); the Bosquet de la Colonnade (the circular colonnade of 32 marble columns designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1686) — the most architecturally refined bosquet: the Rance red marble and blue turquin marble colonnade with the spandrel reliefs by Tuby, Coysevox, Magnier and Le Gros; the central marble of the Rape of Persephone by Girardon placed at the centre of the colonnade in 1699).

Versailles and the French Revolution (the history of Versailles as the trigger and the theatre of the French Revolution of 1789): the Estates General (the Estates-General of May 1789 — convened by Louis XVI in the Salle des Menus Plaisirs (the assembly hall in the town of Versailles, not the palace) to address the financial crisis of the French state (the American Revolutionary War debt, the harvest failures, the tax system that exempted the nobility and the clergy); the Third Estate (the commoners) representatives demanded a joint assembly with the nobles and clergy (the "Commune of the Estates"); the Tennis Court Oath (June 20, 1789 — locked out of the Salle des Menus Plaisirs, the Third Estate delegates moved to the royal tennis court (jeu de paume) and swore not to dissolve until France had a constitution; the most important oath in French history, painted by Jacques-Louis David); the Women's March on Versailles (October 5-6, 1789 — the Parisian market women marched 20 km to Versailles demanding bread; they invaded the palace, killed two royal bodyguards and forced the royal family to return to Paris; the last time the royal family lived at Versailles before the Revolution); the National Museum (since 1837, when Louis-Philippe I converted the palace into the Musée de l'Histoire de France (the Museum of French History) — the museum function that Versailles has served since then, alongside its role as a royal palace: the most important historical museum in France).

Versailles evening return to Paris (the practical logistics and the final impressions): the RER C return (the RER C line (Réseau Express Régional C — the regional express rail line operated by SNCF between the Versailles-Château-Rive-Gauche station (a 5-minute walk from the main palace entrance) and the Paris city centre stations (Paris-Austerlitz, Saint-Michel Notre-Dame, Musée d'Orsay, Invalides, Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel, Javel, Paris-Austerlitz); journey time 35-45 min; frequency every 15-20 min; fare included in the Zone 1-4 Paris Navigo Découverte day pass (€8.65) or standard Paris-Versailles ticket (€3.75 single)); the departure time (the RER C becomes crowded from 17:00 onwards as the palace closes and the tourist peak returns to Paris; departing at 16:30 allows a less crowded return journey); the SNCF alternative (the SNCF Transilien L train from the Versailles-Rive-Droite station (20 min walk from the palace, or 5 min by bus) to Paris Saint-Lazare (35 min) — often less crowded than the RER C at peak hours); the final impression (the view from the RER C train window of the Versailles formal gardens and the Orangerie as the train departs is the last image of the palace complex from the exterior before re-entering the Paris suburbs).