Versailles Warnings Or Dangers

Since the spectacle of Grandes Eaux Musicales takes place only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays (except 1/05) from 11 to 12 h and 15.30 - 17.30 h, starting at 2/04/2011 and ending on 30/10/2011 the majority of the visitors of the Castle of Versailles do not see this spectacle (price 8 €).

Indeed apart from these ± 65 days of Grandes Eaux, the fountains, the basins of Versailles are completely at rest. Not a drop of water is coming out of the fountains, no murmur of moving water. It is paradoxical, everywhere in France water spouts out of fountains except in Versailles!

The problem of the water provision of the gardens of Versailles existed already under Louis XIV. Expensive work was completed to pump water from ponds or rivers. The famous machine of Marly was even built to pump the water from the Seine.
But the flow was only of 3000 m ³ per day whereas at the time of the festivals of the King 10.000 m ³ were needed to feed all the fountains with full flow during 3 hours.
Presently water to supply the reservoirs is recirculated starting from the Grand Canal by modern pumps.

It is a pity that the direction of this monument did not develop a technical solution to ensure some flow of water, even reduced, to the fountains of the principal basins.
Today it is all or nothing during 300 days/year.

Boy, we sure could have used the tip I'm about to give here before we got to Versailles.

To make a long story really short, for about 2 1/2 hours I lost track of Sue and vice-versa in the Palace of Versailles. Fortunately I finally located her by looking through the window at one of the Versailles gift shops.

Anyway, here's the tip. Before going to a large place like the Palace of Versailles be sure that you and your companion(s) designate a spot and time to meet at in case you are separated from one another. In some locations it may be difficult, but try to pick out a central point and say if we are separated we will meet here at 3:00 p.m.

I know, you're probably thinking why didn't they just use their cell phones to call each other. For one, we did not take our cell phones to Europe with us (didn't want to stay connected as we were on vacation). And even if you do have cell phones make sure they are charged up before you start on your day (WOW 2 tips in 1, no extra charge)

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Versailles was an ubelievable experience and I was glad to have finally sen it for myself. The beauty of the palace and the gardens are so incredible, you might want to move in. I can see how Royalty became accustomed to such fine living....I know I could.

Somewhere between going through security and trying to get the audio headphones I either dropped our ticket or neglected to get it back from security. When we got up to get the audio tour headphones that is included with the Forfait Loisirs, they asked to see the ticket and refused to give us one unless we produced the ticket.

After looking around the courtyard for it and unsuccessfully trying to check with the security people, we tried a different tactic, we inserted our return train ticket which was the same size into the slot on the Forfait Loisirs slot and voila, we were the proud renters of headphones! You have to produce that ticket several more times throughout your visit, at the Petit and Grand Trianons, so make sure you hold onto it.

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, the catchy title of the 1992 bestseller by John Gray, succinctly expresses an ancient dilemma. What--if anything--do men's and women's brains do differently?

The general statement that men and women respond and behave differently under the same circumstances is true; For example, from the crib, male babies tend to be more aggressive and females more passive. As adults, in spatial operations, men have the edge in such skills as negotiating a maze, reading a map, and quickly discriminating between right and left. Men also perform better than women when asked to visualize an object and imagine rotating it. On the other hand, women tend to perform better than men when asked to look at objects of different shapes, sizes, and colors, and then to group them in some order.

This still doesn't explian why a woman turns the map all around when a man is asking for the road to travel, while I like the map at one point so I can better visualize our position. Help!

Versailles may very well be the most visited attraction in and around Paris, the queue to buy tickets was enormous even though we arrived just shortly after it opened. There are at least two ways to avoid standing in that queue, the 1st is the purchase of the Paris Museum Pass which Versailles is included on and the other is the Forfait Loisirs which you can buy before you leave Paris which is a combined train and admission ticket.

I assume that you also skip the queues if you go on a guided tour through one of the many companies that offer daytrips to Versailles from Paris, but then you have to remember that you will be rushed along and cannot spend time as you see fit.

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I would have really liked to see the fountains in action but our visit to Paris did not including a Saturday or Sunday when the fountains are on. The Grandes Eaux Musicales, the fountain show, is only on the weekend and public holidays from 1 April to 30 September, the rest of the time the fountains are turned off.

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This is a desire that is expressed by all children below the age of 10, by seniors and those with walking disabilities who are making the "Grand Tour" of the Apartments and the Hall of Mirrors. It is a long walk (4-500m) with a tall staircase to climb and descend at each end. The extremely crowded onward flow of people makes turning back next to impossible. There are a few benches on the ground floor near the ticket area and at the far exit (see the illustrations). After exiting you may find your way to the terrace behind the palace and sit on the steps. Beyond that you will be lucky to find a bench somewhere in the gardens or near the left refreshment area (see Restaurant Tips).