The First Sunday of Every Month, Many Sites Are Free in France
Les journées du patrimoine (heritage days) are the first Sunday of every month in France. This program was begun several years ago and is very popular. It encourages people to get out and see something -- there's no admission charged. The obvious major sites are very crowded on these days, but there's so much heritage in France, the country, sadly, cannot even keep up with maintaining it all. (The magnificent, unusual round cathedral in Beauvais is an example -- you enter at your own risk, and this marvel is about to collapse and is shored up inside with wooden structures.)
The Château de Sceaux is just South of Paris in a beautiful town, and you can get there by public transportation! (There is a bus -- check the Internet.) It contains Le Musée de l'Ile-de-France, the museum of Greater Paris. I show a lot of porcelain and china in this clip because many towns in and around Paris were and are known for their manufacture. There are also paintings, sculptures, furniture and other objects here. The castle is impressive, but the grounds are amazing. Formal gardens, a canal, lakes, fountains, woods and sweeping views. There's a huge stable museum to visit, I understand (we didn't see it) and an enormous orangerie which opens at 4 pm. We saw people fishing in the canal basin, sailing toy boats, biking, walking their dogs on leashes, picnicking (it's permitted and encouraged, but no fires allowed) and strolling. There seemed to be plenty of bathrooms available, and there is a café you can see at the beginning of this clip. There was also an additional photography show mounted cleverly outdoors. We didn't spend a penny here except to drive there and back. This is a mini-Versailles!
I am not a fan of Versailles. It is far from Paris and there is no good public transport connection unless you are smart enough to figure out how to take the public bus from around St-Cloud. It's costly and crowded, and picnicking is strictly forbidden. I'm not saying you shouldn't see it, but you need a full day for the grounds and another for the buildings. I haven't found Versailles to be a welcoming place, either (I worked there for awhile).
Just my opinion!
I have two channels on YouTube: CUTECATFAITH and SLOBOMOTION. Over on Dailymotion, my videos and slideshows are grouped under LisaFalour. I try to put up a lot of information about daily life in France. There's so much to see here besides just central Paris, and so many regions which are inexpensive and fascinating.