Versailles part 2 - The garden bit.

Following on from our long queuing

 to be rewarded by a glimpse of one room,

 and our subsequent evacuation

 which did proceed rather smoothly, 

if not a little slowly

 thanks to the young gentleman in front of me who kept stopping to take selfies (....and here I am being evacuated from Versailles......and here I am still being evacuated - I wonder why that lady behind me looks so cross.....)

We found ourselves in the garden.

Sort of.

We were all crammed into a small courtyard, but we could SEE the garden,

There was a barricade in the way - must be a French thing.

Luckily (though I didn't realise it when I booked the tickets) our tickets gained us entry to the palace and the garden.

Others were not so lucky.

Those who had tickets to the palace only were told to go back to the palace.

Except they couldn't.

Because we'd all been evacuated.

Meanwhile more people were pouring out of the exit into the courtyard and we were rapidly running out of room.

I was fearful we would witness another peasant revolt.

(sorry - couldn't help myself there) 

Now I understand that there must have been a very good reason to evacuate a place as huge as Versailles, but couldn't they have taken the unusual event into account and just let everyone into the garden?  Why force people that didn't have the correct tickets back to buy more tickets?

We scanned the crowd and finally located the bit in the barricade that let the chosen few with the lucky tickets through to the garden, linked arms as we were fearful of losing each other, and pushed through the angry crowd.

Once through we figured that as disappointing as it was, at least we had more time to explore the garden. 

I had read about the smaller chateaus on the estate where the King and Queen had used as an escape from court life, and a little village and even a farm, and there were mazes to explore and grottoes and major earthworks ripping up everything right down the middle of it all....

Hang on?

That wasn't in the brochure!

We consulted maps.

Maybe if we avoided the middle part where most of the crowds and the massive digging machinery were, we could still have a pleasant meander down towards the bottom of the estate.

So with a quick glance back at the palace and at what was not to be, we then looked for side paths with the least amount of people on them and forged onwards.

My feet protested for the first of many times that day (I think they were tired from standing in a queue for so long - random note to self - never go to Disneyland)

We found an empty stone seat and watched the drama unfold of a man being berated by his tired and angry missus who saw someone on a segway  and wanted one too.

It was a grand show!

Time to move on.

Hubby and daughter stepped over a "do not walk on the grass" sign and stood right at the edge of a fountain that was out of bounds.

And I didn't try to stop them.

I guess we were all feeling a bit rebellious by this stage.

On and on we went.........

Some dramatic sculpture and a classic photobomb

We found a kiosk in a maze, bought hot chocolates.

And made friends with a very pregnant cat (of which I didn't get a photo).

On and on we went...........

Following some more side paths we came upon a large clearing with a huge

um

something

in the middle of it

With 2 very serious looking men standing guard.

I'm not sure what it was

but it looked like a giant trumpet.

As we approached, one of the serious twins invited us to enter the trumpet thing.

 Why not?  Maybe it will lead us to a rabbit hole out of this place.

Daughter touched a wall, "NO TOUCHING" barked Serious Twin 2.

So we can walk in it

but 

we can't

touch

it.

Makes perfect sense.

"What is it" I ask, trying to look interested.

Serious Twin 1 gave me an incredulous look.

"Eet is a work of arrt!!!"

Oh of course.

Silly me.

I didn't take a photo.

On and on we went..............

and then finally

we found the Grand Trianon

To be continued...........

Les Jardins de Versailles, France - June 2015