I was one of the last GIs kicked out of France by DeGaulle in 1967 - I left several months after the 4/1 date. While in France I took voice lessons in the French Conservatoire Nationale and sang in a local choral group. At a dinner one evening a gentleman from one of the former noble families made me promise to not visit a place I hadn’t previously studied. He called it “so much gargoyle gazing”. I missed Versailles. But I had the Will and Ariel Durant Story of Civilization. From my new post in Germany I spent some time pouring over the volumes that covered the Versailles then returned to Paris in 1968 expressly to tour it. What an intense experience. BTW I missed the students riots by a week.
But then there’s Fontainebleau! For reasons I don’t recall there was a minute military detachment on the grounds of Fontainebleau. As an Army auditor (enlisted mind you) it was my duty to periodically review its books. So monthly a driver would pick me up in Orleans and drop me off at the chateau. I would take an hour or so to do my duty then had the rest of the day to wander around the chateau until the driver picked me up in late afternoon to return to Orleans. What bliss!
Is it any wonder that when I got back to the US and returned to college (I’d flunked out first time) I majored in history but never got further that the Middle Ages?
I too highly recommend the Versailles series although I think I caught it on Amazon Price Video.