The Grand Trianon

Last week we visited the main halls of Versailles with it’s dazzling halls, murals, and furniture. If you only plan on being in France once in your life, Versailles is not something you want to miss out on.

That said, the main hall isn’t the only spectacular place that Versailles has to offer.

Go out into the gardens aim for the Apollo fountain. You’ll find it directly in front of the Grand Canal, a little ways back from the middle halls of Versailles. You then have a couple of options, you can continue to walk straight and follow the cross of the Grand Canal. You will be forced to turn right, then you can keep going until you come to the lawns of the Grand Trianon. From the Apollo fountain you can also take the path to the right, and turn left at the second road. Personally, I recommend the third option. Take the diagonal path from Apollo’s fountain. It will lead you right to it.

The walk will take about ten to fifteen minutes, but don’t rush. If you’re following a tour you might not be able to, but if you can make your walk leisurely. The gardens were grown to be enjoyed, not hurried through.

The Grand Trianon also has a considerable waiting time, so you may want to go when others are having their lunch to avoid a crowd.

Much like the main palace of Versailles, the Grand Trianon is superbly decorated, though not quite as lavish as the palace itself. It is divided into two sections, with an elegant checkered open air walkway between them, be sure to explore both sides! Compared to Versailles’ main palace it’s pretty small, and it won’t take you long to go through at all, especially if you’re with a group tour, but make sure that you do leave a bit of extra time to view the Petit Trianon, it’s gardens, and the little mock village just behind it. You won’t want to miss them!

Now, you might be wondering, what is the Grand Trianon? I had to look it up myself! Even as a French-Canadian, I had never encountered the word Trianon, and I suspect it’s because of cultural differences between Canadian French and Parisian French. Trianon means a smaller villa on the grounds of a larger home. With Grand meaning big, the Grand Trianon just means that this is Versailles’ big villa. The Petit Trianon is, yes, you guessed it, the little villa!

This villa was used to host foreign dignitaries when they visited France, and could also be used as an escape from the pressures of palace life. For those of you who don’t think there are pressures in palace life, you’ve likely never heard of the Lever.

Lever literally means to lift in French. The ceremony started when the king and queen would slip from their true and often more plain bedrooms which were hidden deep in the palace, and discreetly get into the more luxurious beds. When they were ready, their servants would open the doors and roughly twenty courtiers would come in. They would assist the king and queen to get up in the morning, and yes, that does include witnessing the royal bowel movement. The king even had a name for it: his ‘Chaise D’Affaires.” His business chair. It was considered an incredibly important ceremony due to the fact that if you were invited, that meant you had a very privileged position in the monarch’s court, and you were able to have a brief word with them before their day began. The process would be repeated in reverse when the day ended in a ceremony called the Coucher, or ‘lay down’.

Like in Versailles, the bedrooms of the Grand Trianon have have balustrades in front of the beds. Those fences weren’t put there to keep tourists from playing Ninety Nine Monkeys on the world’s most luxurious mattresses. They were put there in the sixteenth century to keep the courtiers separate from the king and queen. Even though they were in the Grand Trianon and the King and Queen could expect fewer courtiers, the entirety of their lives were very much still on public display.

Interestingly, you won’t find any beds behind balustrades in the Petit Trianon, and I’ll tell you why that is next week, if you haven’t already guessed!

Today the Grand Trianon is still used to host foreign officials, so be sure to check the Versailles Website before you visit. You wouldn’t want to go when it’s closed, and miss the wonderful miniature palace that is the Grand Trianon!