Three straight roads lead away from Melun towards Paris, and it is necessary to be careful to take the central one, going through Lieusaint. This road goes as straight as an arrow to Montgéron and Villeneuve-St.-Georges, suburbs of Paris. By using the accompanying map, one will easily find the turning to Choisy-le-Roi, which crosses the railway to the left of the busy street of Villeneuve.
Choisy-le-Roi is a manufacturing suburb of Paris. The palace, in which Louis XV. spent his time in profligacy and debauchery, and where Louis XVI. and Marie-Antoinette often stayed, was destroyed in 1797, during the Revolution.
Beyond Choisy-le-Roi the road curves and twists frequently, and there are about 4 kilometres of pavée. Near Chatenay one reaches some straight sections of road, bringing one rapidly to
VERSAILLES
MELUN TO ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE.
The town is a large and pleasant outer suburb of Paris, with wide streets and large open spaces. Louis XV. laid the first stone of the cathedral in 1743.
The palace of Versailles is the largest royal residence in the world. It almost tires one to look at the enormous frontage with its great wings, and the waste of gravel, extending over several acres outside the gates and railings, gives a dreary appearance to the town side of the palace. It takes a whole day to go over the buildings and the park, and on a tour such as this it may be wiser to leave the historic palace for some other occasion. There is, unfortunately, no opportunity of including any adequate description of the buildings and their story here, but the literature obtainable in handy form on the spot is amply sufficient for all.
It was Louis XIV. who made Versailles the Court residence instead of St. Germain, and his successors, Louis XV. and Louis XVI., continued to spend vast sums on the palace, until it became the wilderness of great apartments through which the tourist is conducted at the present day. The two small residences in the park—the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon—were built for Marie de Maintenon and Madame du Barry, and were appreciated as retreats from the immensities of the palace.
ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE