Renaissance nor the viewing of Hollywood's movies can begin to prepare
one for the sheer magnitude of wealth and showiness of the Palace at
Versaille. The aristocracy under the leadership of Louis the XIV
spent one half of their entire GDP for a year to create the palace and
the incredible grounds that flourish to this day. 1500 fountains. The
hall of mirrors. Sculpture and paintings of Louis everywhere. The
French like to build monuments to themselves. It was a step back in
history being there. You could easily see the members of the court
strutting, primping and playing social cat and mouse in self absorbing
games of decadence. Amazingly fun to see. Makes me want to study
history!!
From the rant above you have perceived that we toured Versaille
yesterday. Took the train from Paris the 14 miles to Versaille,
entered the grounds with the 1000's of other tourist there and walked
through the palace using a Rick Steves free mp3 tour I downloaded from
the iTunes store. It was perfect. Quick enough to keep us interested
but complete enough to give a feel for the times and the activities,
pointing out enough details in the painting and sculptures to bring
the experience to life.
We returned to Paris about five in the afternoon, we thought with
enough time to see the Water Lilies of Monet at the Oranges gallery,
but they closed an hour earlier than advertised and we missed them.
Then, I ran to Notre Dame to climb to the bell tower but they
mysteriously closed 4 hours early, so I missed that, too. We ate
dinner at St.Germaine cafe, then took the subway (called the Metro) to
the Arch of Triumph and the Champs de Elysses. Ran to the top of the
arch for a sunset view of Paris, then strolled down the dissapointing
Champs. Dirty, commercial-the least interesting part of Paris by far.
Everything else was so cool. This stretch of commercial real estate
was not. Another quick ride on the Metro and we were back at 88 Rue de
Bac for our earliest night in-11:30. Another magical day in Paris.
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