After picking you up at the
doorstep of your downtown hotel in Paris, our guide will take
you for a wonderful day outside of Paris.
During this day you will be
driven to Versailles Palace, residence of the Sun King, Louis
XIV. There, you will discover the famous "A la Francaise"
gardens, as well as the Grand Trianon and The Petit Trianon
with Marie Antoinette's Hamlet. Unguided visit for about an
hour of the great apartments, the Hall of Mirrors, and the
Queen's appartments.
This
day will also lead you to the edge of Normandy, where you will
visit Claude Monet's home, the "Father of Impressionism".
Discover the famous gardens created by the impressionist
painter, and the well known Japanese bridge in the midst of
its flowered paths and wather-lily ponds.
Claude Monet's property at
Giverny, left by his son to the Académie des Beaux-arts in
1966, has, after completion of large scale restoration work,
become the Claude Monet Foundation, inaugurated in 1980.
The house, with its pink
crushed brick façade, where the leader of the Impressionist
School lived from 1883 to 1926, once again has its colourful
décor and intimate charin of former times. The precious
collection of Japanese engravings is displayed in several
rooms, hung in the marmer chosen by the master of Giverny
himself.
The huge Nymphéas studio, a stone's throw from the house, has
also been restored. It contains the Foundation's Shop. The
gardens have been replanted as they once were and offer for
the admiration of visitors the "painting from nature" which
Claude Monet's contemporaries considered one of his
masterpieces.
The rectangular Clos Normand, with archways of climbing
plants entwined around brilliantly coloured shrubs, lies
before the house and studios, offering from Spring to Autumn
the palette of varying colours to the painter-gardner who was
"ecstatic about flowers".
Lastly, the Water Garden,
formed by a tributary of the Epte, lies further away, shaded
by weeping willows.
With its famous Japanese Bridge, its wistarias, azaleas
and its pond, it has once more become that casket of sky and
water which inspired the pictorial universe of the water
lilies.
The Chateau of Versailles
The
chateau and the Gardens of Versailles which count among
the most prestigious monuments of the world's artistic
heritage and are certainly the finest and most complete
achievement of 17th century French art. King Louis XIII's
former hunting lodge was transformed and enlarged by his
son Louis XIV, who installed his court and
government here.
The Gardens & The Park
Laid
out between 1661 and 1700 by Le Notre, who levelled
and drained the land and designed perspectives, groves, the
canal and parterres, Versailles is the model of
formal gardens " a la francaise ".
The Grand Trianon
The
Grand Trianon was erected in 1687-1688 by the architect
Jules Hardouin-Mansart to provide Louis XIV with a
retreat at the far and of the park at Versailles, far
from the constraints of power and the crowd of courtiers.
The Petit Trianon
The
Petit Trianon: Created by the architect A.J. Gabriel
in 1760 for Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour,
with an English style garden and the famous Queen's
Hamlet added for Marie-Antoinette, the Petit
Trianon evokes the Ancien Régime.
Season: Between
April 1st to Oct 31st
Scheduled days:
Friday and Saturdays.
Daily departures (excluding mondays) available with a
minimum of 5 passengers required.
Departures: from 8:30 am
Duration: Approximately 9 hours
Pick up point:
From your accommodation in Paris
Return point:
To your accommodation in Paris
