I am fascinated by gardens. And because part of my thesis was on gardens in La nouvelle Héloïse, and in La Faute de l’abbé Mouret, I was pretty much compelled by circumstances to go.

Also, a friend of ours who had been living in Paris for two years (and who was scheduled to move back to the Bay Area just a few days later) had already signed up to do a bike tour on my last full day in France. I couldn’t refuse. This was a guided bike tour.

The tour begins in Paris, not far from the Eiffel Tower. Then you ride the RER out to Versailles and walk to pick up your bikes. Then they take you on a short ride to the covered market in the center of town to buy food for lunch because the tour lasts all day. The market is housed in four buildings that surround a large open square.

The tour of Versailles itself begins at the edge of the park, which is open to the public. At that time of day, (around 10 o’clock or so), there were a fair number of runners and people walking their dogs.

From there to to le Petit Trianon (Trianon being the name of a village that had to be demolished in order to make way for the King’s project). This was Marie Antoinette’s refuge for “simpler” living. The scale certainly seems more reasonable.

There are watercourses and streams (perhaps always the same one) that we kept crossing during our visit. In late June, the water was muddy, and the fish living there seemed to be gasping for air at the surface.

Next time, we’ll explore The Hameau de la Reine, Marie Antoinette’s fake peasant village.