Versailles and Chartres
 

Can you do these two in 1 day w/o a car?

Hi<BR> You could, but I wouldn't recommend it.<BR> Take 9:00 AM train to Chartres - takes about 1 hour. Visit Cathedral for 3 hours. Train to Versailles-Rive Gauche 1 1/4 hr.<BR><BR> See Versailles for 3 hrs.<BR><BR> Return to Paris at 6:30, tired out and you haven't really seen either Chartres or Versailles.<BR>

I did it the other way - got to Versailles when it opened, and then to Chartres in time for the 2:30 Malcolm Miller tour. I certainly didn't see either place exhaustively, but if you want to see both and you only have one day it's not impossible.<BR><BR>By the way, Chartres to Versailles Chantiers or vv. is a direct train and only takes about 50 minutes (Chantiers is not as close to the Palace as Rive Gauche is, however).

I definitely wouldn't reccomend it unless you want to just graze through to say you've been there, done that. Each site as well as surrounding town could be a full daytrip.

In Chartres I've always wanted to got to a little place called &quot;Pique Assiette.&quot; Its the former home of a recluse who everyone thought was crazy. He was always scrounging through everyone's trash. When he died (or maybe when he was still alive; I don't know the full story) they found out he had made a huge mosaic of his entire garde (and perhaps house, again, I'm not sure). In any event, my sister said it was absolutely incredible, and ever since I've wanted to go there. Next time in Chartres.....BTW, &quot;Pique Assiette&quot; refers to all of the broken dishes he used (assiette means plate). You could say he was a master at recycling, or as they call it today an &quot;Environmental Artist.&quot;

I would certainly not recommend trying to squeeze both into one day. Each deserves *at least* a half day. As jahoulih mentioned, you should definitely try to take a Malcolm Miller tour at Chartres. It was one of the highlights of my trip to Paris. Do a search on this forum for Malcolm Miller and you should get lots of information. He's an amazing person.