Since this about the one billionth post on the internet about Versailles I'm not going to get too much into it except for a few thoughts.
If you decide not to do a tour private or otherwise, the best advice I have for you is to get up and get there when it opens. You can even eat breakfast there and have espresso on the grounds where Marie Antionette wandered in her gowns. You will get to see most of the place before anyone else arrives. We saw everything we could that was open and spent most of a very full day there walking the grounds, the palace, and all the surrounding buildings. The town of Versailles itself is quite lovely and also worth a bit of a visit.
It does get to be a lot, I think, especially for Americans as we are not so used to such ornamentation and perhaps our brains reject a lot of it after a while. There are a lot of travel blogs that will condescendingly tell you it's not worth visiting. If you are someone who gets to travel a lot I am sure a palace would bore you. For us normal people it is fascinating to walk around something so lofty in its presence in Western European History and of course, very important to the American Revolution as well, since the French support of the colonies helped bankrupt the country, not really a certain queen's shoe habit.
I thought the grounds were especially beautiful and I enjoyed the gardens and seeing the animals.
You will come across people, eventually, and you will hear over and over how everyone wants to live there or be a princess. But for me, I feel differently. The more I visit palaces, castles, and mansions, the more I have begun to realize the untruth of all the beauty. The dark secrets and disturbing histories of the people who dwelt in these works of art, as if majesty could cover the ugliness of their deeds. Of course, in this case it didn't last, as the French Revolution unfolded in the most dramatic of ways on these grounds as well. I also once again found myself questioning the wisdom of a species having all these grand empty buildings that we dedicate so many resources to while millions of people are homeless and starving. And don't think I'm only thinking about this in terms of France. I think about it terms of all places. I wonder how the future will judge us for such things.
But perhaps that is the draw of it: the darkness. To wonder if something of beauty can come out of such misdeeds and horror. If we could hide from the problems of the world like the monarchy did, like the very wealthy do now, unaffected by the sickness, war, and misery. It is an entitlement I do not comprehend, to be sure. Even when the world overwhelms me with its unrelenting hurt.
The truth is, art can relieve a little pain, and a touch of escapism is needed to survive a day. At this point there is not quite anywhere like France for such things. And Versailles is filled with art, pastries, and flowers, even as the ghosts of the damned wander around you.
