King's Garden

In side the king's garden, with Saint Louis 

Cathedral in the back.

Last Tuesday was a holiday in France.  Deciding to take advantage of the day off, we headed to La Potager Du Roi (the king's garden) in Versailles.  We've been to Versailles so many times, it's surprising that it took us this long   Located next to Versailles Palace, the garden and surrounding buildings take you back centuries, and you can easily imagine Louis the XIV's gardener and servants walking the rows of fruit trees and vegetable patches.

Back in the 17th century, the 9 hectare garden provided the produce for Louis the XIV and his court.  Now it's the home of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure du Paysage (The National School of Landscape Architecture).  



Like many of France's famous buildings and landmarks, the garden is behind a large stone and iron fence.  We found parking a few blocks away, but we were not entirely sure exactly where the entrance was.  We walked along the perimeter of the wall towards the palace hoping that the entry way would become obvious.  Eventually we saw a few people enter through an open gate.  We followed.  As we entered, we were a bit surprised at how quiet it was. There was hardly anyone there.  There was also a twinge of concern as the automatic gate closed behind us.   Another curiosity was the fact that we had to pay an entry fee, but there did not seem to be a ticket window around.  We shrugged off the doubt and continued deeper into the garden.  If we weren't suppose to be there, someone would tell us.  Until then, we'll just enjoy the autumnal day.

The garden itself was massive.  It was organized into square sections.  Each section had neatly planted rows of concentric squares.  Being the end of autumn, the fruit trees had lost all their leaves, and the only vegetables growing were cabbages.  The garden itself was peaceful. There was even a view of Saint Louis Cathedral which towers over the garden wall.  Thomas and I just ambled and wandered at our own pace.  With the crisp autumn air, it almost felt like fall in the North Eastern United States.

Eventually I found the group of people we followed into the garden.  It turned out to be a class.  We had followed students in.  Despite the fact that I checked the website and confirmed their hours, we definitely were not suppose to be there that day.  This of course made for a tricky exit.  When we got back to the gate, it was locked shut.  At the suggestion of a couple who was outside wanting to come in, I pushed all the buttons I could see on the gate which turned out to be useless.  As we headed back towards the school buildings were we had seen some people, another group of students buzzed open the gate.  Relieved, we quickly hurried out to freedom.

A nice little adventure.  We'll certainly be back, but in the springtime when the garden is in bloom.

Detail of the iron gate that encloses the garden.

The garden.

Fruit trees along the perimeter.