Versallie, August 30 2007

We went to Versailles today. Following the suggestion of our tour book, we bought the Versailles one day pass at the RER station ahead of time. It took a while for us to figure out the platform and train number. But there were many tourists like us waiting for the same train. It was a double deckered train. We sat on the upper deck and had a good view as the train zoomed by the suburbs. It was a nice and sunny day. Only took about 30 min to arrive. It was very busy as we got out of the station. As we tried to get lunch before getting into the palace, we headed toward the closest and convenient, McDonalds, right across the street. French McDonalds actually have better menu than we do. Many more varieties. Portions were definitely smaller. We quickly ate our lunch and started a long afternoon of walks. Versailles covers miles of grounds besides the palace itself. As ambitious as I wanted to be, we didn't see the whole thing. When we turned from the main road, the chateau was right in front of us, though far away. The gate was removed, so was the statue of Louis XIV. Versailles was apparently under major renovation, so half of the front of the Chateau was covered up. That was disappointing. Still the enormous courtyard and buildings that surround it was very impressive. We entered the chateau thru a side door, and simply followed the crowd. There were 21 rooms in this tour, we saw the royal chapel where Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI got married, various rooms with potrait paintings of French aristocracy. The rooms that were set for public functions were all decorated lavishly with tapestries and paintings. Each room has it's own functions and themes, and was painted accordingly. The rooms were not very big in modern standard, but the details that went into each room was amazing. It definitely shows that the king didn't spare anything in furnishing his favorite chateau. After passing all these rooms that were named after the Roman gods: Hercules, Dianna, Apollo, Mars and Venus, we finally get to the Hall of Mirror. It was very crowded at this room, but what a place. Mirrors were expensive in 17th century, so to be able to furnish a entire gallery with mirrors showed your wealth and status. With the gilded candelabras, thematically painted ceiling glorifying the sun king,and the French windows that open to the gardens, this feels like the ultimate party room! It's got a great view of the gardens of Versailles, one can see almost the end of the canal that's about one mile away. From this room, we definitely can feel the epic scale of the place.



Then we entered the private apartments of the kings and queens. i overhead the tour guide who said the bed chamber of Louis XIV has about 45 kg of gold in various decorative items, paint, threads, statues, and furniture. Marie Antoinette's room was very cheery, with flowers on almost everything, from bedding, curtains and wall papers, all perfectly cooredinatd. It was nice that photography was allowed indoors, so we took pictures of all these rooms. We were not allowed to do so in many English palaces. After viewing these rooms, we went to the wings where the dauphin and his siblings reside. These rooms were relatively modest, compare to the grand style of the main chateau. Many rooms had original furniture still, so not difficult to imagine how they live back then.




We existed the dauphins apartments and walked into the garden. The view from the top of the stairs was just stunning. It was very well planned, with the chateau on the elevated ground, looking down to the basin with more gardens, the pond and the canal beyond. It's so big that the gardens seems to go on forever. By this time we were all very tired, but the tour must go on. Megan and Laurie got some soft ice cream alongside the garden, that seemed to energize them a bit. I imagined the kings and queens would have horse drawn carriages to take them to our next destinations.



The Grand Trianon was a retreat from Versailles. Even though Versailles was originally a retreat as well. It got too busy even for the kings that they needed to escape. It was a nice little place, with pink marbles and yellow and white facade. We quickly look inside the place, with more baroque furnishing, though more casually styled. A very nice geometric garden in the back with lots of flower. Then we walked toward the Petite Trianon. This the Marie Antoinette domain. This building was indeed very tiny, with only 7 rooms in two floors. It was her private quarter and her favorite retreat. It was furnished with many periodic furniture, but more like a middle class furnishing, no golden statues or velvet curtains. It was very bright and airy.




By this time we were really pooped out. And with closing time approaching, we couldn't see the rest of the Marie Antoinette Domain. We detoured and saw the tiny French Pavilion where the queen held summer concerts for her friends, and her personal opera house where plays were staged. We were about the last group of people heading out the garden. Catching the same train back to Paris with lots of tourists, we got off near Eiffel Tower. This was our last night in Paris, we wanted to go on a night boat tour on the Seine. Had dinner around the Ecole Militair with Rick Steve's suggestion. Le Basquet was modern with decent food. We rested our tired legs here for a while. Table next to us were three people, with a pug under the table. We noticed a lot of places in Paris actually allows pet dogs in the building, especially restaurants. It was very well behaved. At first we didn't know it was even there. Very unlike my own dog! We spied on the dog thru out the meal, it just sat there and slept. We also saw how the French ate cheese course after the entree. This guy had a full plate of cheese, probably 5 different wedges. It came with a mini baguette and butter. That was from of the dessert menu! he devoured that whole thing in about 10 minutes and washed it down with wine!





We left the restaurant around 9:15pm. The sky darkened, so we needed to get to the dock that's right besides Eiffel Tower. As we boarded the boat, the whole tower began to twinkle, on top of the night light. Every night after sunset, Eiffel tower would be lighted. But on the top of the hours for 10 minutes, extra twinklings would be on. It was pure magic, so beautiful. The boat tour came with audio guide, explaining different monuments, bridges, and historic antidotes. Quite entertaining. The boat rides was about 60 minutes, we saw many buildings as we saw in day light, but at night, it had a more mysterious feelings. The medieval towers of conciergerie in light and shadow, and the twin bell towers of Notre Dame in the flood light. I tried to catch glimpse of these images, but the boat was moving to fast, so most of the pictures came out unfocused, but still can get a feeling. It was about 10pm by now and the whole river bank, especially the left bank was busy. People sat by the river, talking with friends. We saw a group doing like a square dance. It felt like this city doesn't ever sleep. The air was still warm with a mild breeze. With the Eiffel Tower sparkling again, we disembarked and caught the metro to the hotel. After so many days in Paris, it was hard to leave. Truly a beautiful city.