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We woke up a little late because we were exhausted from the previous day. Hurrying down for breakfast, we were delighted to see the
veritable feast that we would be presented with for breakfast each morning: four kinds of rolls/pastries, orange juice,
plain yogurt, honey, four kinds of jam, and choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. After eating our fill, we left for the nearest M�tro station.
The RER
is faster and has a greater extent than the M�tro. We purchased two round trip RER tickets to Versailles
and then headed over to the M�tro ticket counter to get Musee tickets. After obtaining the tickets, an elderly couple who
seemed even more confused than us, recognized us as English speakers and asked if we knew how to get tickets to Versailles. They told us that they were Australian
and were on a four month tour of Europe. After following us back up to the RER area, we pointed them towards the
ticket counter, told them what they needed to buy, and headed down to wait for the train.
We were fortunate to haved helped them, because they soon repaid the favor by alerting us to the fact that we were waiting on
the wrong side of the tracks.
We arrived in Versailles and found that everyone on our train seemed to be heading to the same place we were. We tried to
hurry, but it was no use; the rest of France had already beaten us to Versailles. Versailles
was a royal ch�teau whose location was chosen to allow Louis XIV to escape the crowds of 17th century Paris. In 1660, Versailles
was only a royal hunting lodge, but by 1682 it had been transformed into a royal palace, and Louis XIV moved the seat of govenment from Paris to Versailles.
Its most famous, and last, resident was Louis XVI, great-great-great-grandson of Louis XIV. Louis XVI's execution on January 21, 1793, signaled the end of the absolutist monarchy in France. Versailles
is often seen as a symbol of the decadent lifestyle of royalty, paid for by the oppressed masses.
The lines at Versailles were the worst we had
seen outside of an E ticket ride at Disney World.
The line looked to be at least two hours long,
but we'll never know because thanks to Rick Steves,
we had purchased our Musee pass at the M�tro station. We did have to stand in a much shorter line that only took about
five minutes.
After dropping off our backpack, we purchased audio tours for both of us. Following the guidance of the audio tour, we walked from room to room, marveling at the ostentatious displays of wealth.
Some of the rooms were so crowded, it would take us ten minutes to walk 30 feet across a room.
The crowds didn't dampen our enthusiasm, although we were disappointed to see that the famous Hall of Mirrors
was undergoing restoration.
For lunch, we bought a slice of pizza, a chicken salad sandwich, and a Fanta at 'Le Cafe'
and ate at the base of the the statue of Louis XIV out front. After lunch we decided to visit the gardens of Versailles.
When we arrived in the gardens
we were disappointed to see that none of the fountains were running, since we had read that on Sundays they would be turned on. We had
seen them running from the windows of Versailles that morning, and we didn't know if we had missed the only show or if they would be turned on again.
We followed Rick Steves' tour through Louis XIV's amazing gardens. Like the rest of Versailles they were a testament to Louis' power, wealth and wasteful lifestyle.
Louis had an entire
orchard of orange trees planted on wheeled pots, so they could be rolled into a greenhouse in the winter to keep them alive.
Louis' gardens had num
erou
s fou
ntai
ns,
pre-fab Roman ruins,
classical statues,
and grand canals for him to enjoy,
but now they are a municipal park where
anyone can come to relax and play.
Rick Steves' tour led us through the gardens to Louis' Grand Trianon. To control the nobles of France, Louis XIV required them to live at Versailles (a very expensive prospect and
one that forced many of them to rely on Louis' largesse). Since the palace was quickly overun with French nobles, the Grand Trianon was built to provide an escape for Louis XIV. Le Hameau
was Marie Antoinette's retreat. It consisted of 12 buildings and was essentialy a 'Disneyfied' version of a typical
peasant village, a place where Marie could retreat from the pressures of Versailles and pretend to be a simple peasant girl, although without the famine and disease with which the average peasant would have to contend.
On our way to the Grand Trianon, we had overheard someone saying the fountains would be back on at 3:30.
It was getting close to 3:30, and the Grand Trianon was about a 30 minute walk from the fountains, so we hurried through the Grand Trianon and ran
most of the way back. The fountains were now running, so we revisited some of the more interesting ones for about another 45 minutes.
While we were admiring the fountains, a large crowd of
people dressed in period costumes arrived and proceeded to stroll through the gardens.
We had planned to go to the Louvre on this day, but since we didn't leave Versailles until around 4:30, we decided to put it off until the next day.
Notre Dame was a convenient stop on the RER line that we were taking back from Versailles, and since it was open fairly late, we decided to fit it in before dinner.
We left the RER station and crossed the bridge to the Ile de la Cit�, where Notre Dame is located. Rick Steves' "Historic Paris Walk" starts at
Notre Dame, so we decided to walk as much of it as we could before dinner. Notre Dame was one of the first Gothic Cathedrals.
Its construction began in 1163 and was completed in 1345. After visiting Notre Dame, we continued to the back of the island where we saw the "M�morial de la D�portation",
which is dedicated to the 200,000 French citizens who died in the Nazi concentration camps.
We crossed back over the River Seine to get to the Left Bank. Walking along the river, we saw used books, postcards, and artwork for sale. There
is also an incredible view of Notre Dame from the Left Bank. We were getting hungry and and the Artus Hotel had a list of recommended restaurants
so we headed back there to peruse it. We went to check out a few promising restaurants, but they were all either closed or more expensive
than we had hoped. We ended up at L'Atlas, a restaurant just down the street from our hotel, because they had an English translation on their menus,
reasonable prices, and the possibility of a table on the sidewalk. There didn't seem to be any sort of reservation system.
Whenever a table opened up someone would quickly appear next to it and wait for it to be cleared. Using this method, we secured a table for ourselves after a short
wait. We had mussels with french fries for one meal and some kind of chicken with pasta for the other. We shared both meals and a bottle of white wine and then spent
an enjoyable hour wandering the streets of Paris near our hotel, before retiring for the night.
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