The Parterre du Nord is the formal garden immediately north of the palace, reached from the terrace through the north wing. Two long reflecting pools border the central walk, with bronze sculptures along their edges — the famous Knife-Sharpener and the Wrestlers, among others — and the whole parterre slopes gently down toward the Neptune fountain and the tree-lined allées beyond.
This is one of the best views in the gardens if you want to see the north wing of the palace from the outside. The scale of the building is easier to grasp from the parterre than from the forecourt, and the light on the stone in the afternoon is excellent. The path leading north from here takes you eventually to the Neptune fountain, passing the Dragon fountain and the Allée des Marmousets.
The bronze sculptures along the parterre pools are copies; the originals are in the Louvre and the Orangerie. But the copies are good, and seeing them in the landscape setting for which they were designed gives them more presence than they have indoors.