The Gardens of Versailles

My today's post, The Gardens of Versailles, is part 2 of my blog series about Versailles in France (make sure to check out part 1: The Palace of Versailles Architecture and part 3: the Interior Apartments of the Palace of Versailles).

I went to Versailles in April 2016, and this is the photo essay of my visit.  Because I was there in April, it was still early in the season, and the gardens were not in full bloom.  It was still really beautiful, and April is a great time to visit, but do keep in mind that the gardens in April are not yet in their full glory, even though the fountains are working, and the trees and the hedges are fully trimmed to uniform shapes.  Keep scrolling and looking at the photos to know what to expect in Versailles in the Spring.

We arrived early in the morning (it was so nice and windy!), and the gardens were literally empty.  It was an unexpected surprise to have the gardens of Versailles all to ourselves! You can see in the photos that there is nobody around. Go to the gardens early in the morning in April, and you will enjoy the quietness and the serenity outside of the royal palace, without the tourist crowds:

The gardens are famous for their manicured trees.  The trees and hedges are meticulously trimmed and lined up in rows and other geometrical patterns.

There are lots of elevated vantage points from which you can see just how geometrically precise is the layout of the gardens:

Fast forward from early morning to the afternoon, and the gardens start to fill up with crowds, even in April. I can only imagine how crowded it gets here in the Summer.  This is a famous Latona Fountain with the Grand Canal in the background:

The fountain has a total of 4 tiers. The Greek Goddess Latona is on the top tier of the fountain. The other tiers have frogs, turtles, and alligators.

Above the Latona Fountain is the terrace of the Palace, the Parterre d’Eau. On a terrace, there are basins of water (with fountains) decorated with a series of statues. I am standing next to one of them.

More statues along the water basin:

Here is another one:

There are also interesting statues of the animals with water jets spurting out of their mouths:

When wandering the gardens, it's easy to lose your sense of direction and to not even know where these gardens end. We covered some ground but not all. Want to come back here in the Summer to see the gardens in full bloom and spend more time enjoying their beauty.