GIANT disclaimer!! I really did love Versailles, and Chloe is tired of hearing both my trademark “I liked this more than I thought I would” and “THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER,” both of which I said at Versailles.
First off, Versailles gardens are my new favorite thing ever, and I could have spent the entire day wandering the gardens, discovering statues and fountains. We found the coolest places, including some with little to no other people. I love water (yes, I’m a Pisces) and I’m very recharged by water, calm, and quiet, so the gardens were lovely. Certainly, in their quiet spaces, I found the gardens to be a refuge from the city we’re surrounded by. I grew up in a rural area and am unused to living in a city. Fredericksburg does not count in my brain either.
Garden appreciation break:
For me the soul-crushing aspect of Versailles came after a lovely four hours in the gardens. As a group, we were sunburnt by then, running out of water, and a little hungry too. Then we stood in the sun for thirty minutes waiting for the group to get together, the lil speaker packs and earbud to be distributed (yes, one singular ear bud), and wait for our time to enter. This part was still fine. I was riding the high of the gardens and bugging everyone around me with photos of the cool fountains we found. Even entering was okay, I’m used to the security now and I was excited to get another pretty ticket. And of course, I knew that it was July at a MAJOR tourist destination and that the castle would be packed, I was prepared for that. Stepping into the first room was incredible and I took it all in.
The difficulty started about half an hour in. I was still very impressed and loved looking in each new room. However, the standing started to hurt my back (I’ve got two titanium rods, yay spinal fusion powers!) and I was working hard to pay attention to our guide. Then in the next room, some poor person (who I hope is okay!!) had fainted. So I started to get anxious about that, especially with no water left, the mask, and the heat. My attention started to wander from the tour guide, since my brain caps at fifteen King Louis-es. I watched the other MICEFA students taking Instagram photos. They are not HISP people, and while they seemed to enjoy Versailles, they were definitely not in it for the history lecture. I know a few of them skipped out in favor of an earlier train home.
Once my attention wandered, it did not want to return. Maybe it went to the garden and liked the fountains, but I was done with King Louis the 231st. Every room started to blend together, and though they were gorgeous, being on my feet in the heat, in a crowd of my closest 10,000 friends, I was less and less interested. And as one does when you’re a museum nerd stuck in a museum that is your personal hell, I started to think about my recent visit to Eastern State Penitentiary.
Wow, what a shift. Versailles, a gem of the French empire or something, to the Pennsylvanian prison. But hear me out: my visits were not so different. I visited both during peak tourism time, in the blazing heat and for both, I spent half my time wandering around sprawling grounds with headphones on listening to people talk. So why did I have such a favorable opinion of Eastern State? Granted, the tourism numbers are not equal on any level. But as my feet attempted to secede from my body at Versailles, I looked around for a chair, bench, or spare bit of floor where I wouldn’t be stepped on. I remembered the abundant benches at Eastern State where I sat at one and listened to part of the audio tour for 15 minutes. We talked about this in urban planning, and the same echoes true for museums. It’s important that in order for a person to enjoy a space (be it a park, museum, or elsewhere), they can have their needs met. This includes access to restrooms, places to rest for a bit, and other creature comforts.
Furthermore, I enjoyed being able to choose what I was interested in and wanted to learn about. I was super into learning about the LGBTQ prisoners held there, whereas my sibling wanted to hear everything about the dog that lived there. When there is a set tour, the visitor has less control over their experience. For me, having some autonomy over my experience and how I learn is ideal. I worry as a museum person (grad student? emerging professional? cue existential crisis) that when a person who doesn’t visit museums or historic places much has a frustrating experience it can turn them off from similar experiences that could be really cool.
But I realize that not every museum experience can be ideal and there is no one ideal for everyone. For a place like Versailles with an enormous number of visitors each year, I know that they’re really just trying to move as many people as possible through. Maybe this is the best plan, with seven giant separate tour groups all crammed into the same room with earbuds in. But jeez. I can’t imagine it’s the best for the building, those interested in the actual history, or those who just enjoy taking things in at their own pace. Still, I’m grateful for the opportunity to see such an incredible castle! The Hall of Mirrors was absolutely gorgeous. It was beautiful and I definitely do not regret visiting at all. Text me if you want to hear more about fountains, gardens, and statues!!
one of my favorite things about the musee d’orsay was the number of benches 🙂