Walking all over Versailles (22 July)

Versailles did not disappoint.

We got an early start this morning and took a combination of metro and RER (a trainish metro) to get to Versailles. I would just like to say that I was kind of the leader for this whole adventure and I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out public transportation. It used to really terrify me. Buses still terrify me, but I suppose I’ll figure them out sometime, too.

We arrived at Chateau de Versailles soon after it opened. My first view of the palace caused me great excitement. I’m not sure why I’ve always wanted to see it or why I’ve always been so fascinated with the1789 French Revolution. It just provides and interesting perspective into the fickleness of human nature. I still remember writing a short paper about why Robespierre was a good leader (despite his head-chopping tendencies). It’s interesting to see how the masses are motivated and how the bourgeoisie and the royalty respond. And it’s interesting to see how the well-meaning ideals that formed the foundation of our nation could be so easily twisted and run amuck. First we toured the palace, then the gardens, and then Marie Antoinette’s hamlet. 

In front of the palace. You can't even see it all here. Like I said: ridiculous!

The six of us in the palace courtyard. The chariots would come here.

As I walked through the Palace with the hordes of people, the word that kept running through my mind is ridiculous. The whole thing is absolutely ridiculous! It’s gaudy, gold, detailed, and overwhelming. Louis XIV wanted to prove that he had control over everything, so he used even the architecture of his palace to prove it. Well, Louis, there is more to life than a palace. Louis XVI forced the nobles to go live at Versailles so he could control them. They had to be there every day when he woke up and when he went to sleep. They also watched him eat his dinner at 10 every night. He thought he had them under his thumb, but he forgot about the third estate, I guess.

Hall of mirrors. There are windows on the right, mirrors on the left.

Proof that I was in the palace. You can see me in the mirror.

King's bedroom where the bourgeoisie would have to go and watch him go to be and wake up

In guard chamber, the audio guide talked about the morning of 6 October 1789 when that chamber was surprisingly empty—the Parisians were outside of the gate and demanded that the king’s guards leave. That was the day King Louis XVI went to Paris, never to leave again. As "Citizen Capet," he later lost his head at the Concorde where I had been the day previous. See, Louis? There is more to success than controlling a palace, some nobles, and a lot of gardens.

But the gardens were still beautiful. Holy cow—there are acres and acres of land with gardens, fountains (50 of them, in fact), and maze-like hedges. We wandered through them, quite enjoying a break from the crowded chaos of the palace. We grabbed some paninis for lunch, got attacked by bees, and headed out toward Marie Antoinette’s Estate. To put the enormity of the gardens in perspective, at this point we had walked about a mile, all on only a small fraction of the Versailles gardens.

Kathryn, Sarah, and I looking out over some of the gardens

A flower in the gardens with the back of Versailles in the background

Marie Antoinette’s hamlet was lovely. There were quaint building, beautiful flowers, barnyard animals, and barnyard smells. It was so peaceful. It was actually built so that the queen could have a life away from the pomp and frill of the palace.  No one could go without invitation. I’m not sure how that worked because she didn’t invite me.

On a bridge where we watched these crazy fish for a long time

Still at the hamlet. It was lovely and relaxing.

We walked and walked back toward the palace area and into the city so we could get back to Paris. Along the way we stopped at a bakery. Everyone told me to be sure and try the food while I’m here. I did succumb a little bit and tried a chocolate macaroon and later a raspberry tart. Both were excellent.

Once again in Paris, Kathryn and I decided to check out a museum about the pipes and drainage of Paris. We thought it’d be different than anything else we’ve done . . . and it would have been if it had been open. The pamphlet we had lied to us. So instead, we sat out by the River Seine and just talked. It was lovely. We were pretty tired, so we headed back toward our hotel, stopping at a grocery store and inventing a dinner of spreadable cheese, crispy bread things, broccoli, and ice cream (we have to be a bit creative when we don’t have a fridge or microwave, but I think we’ve been pretty successful). Then we went to the hotel and ate it while watching the news about the Oslo bombing (sad) and then we studied a bit. We have our finals at 7 am on Monday morning.

Paris is being good to me. Tomorrow we have much of the day to explore and then Angela and I take a 7:00 train back to London. It will feel good to be “home” again—I’m sure that’s what it will feel like after having been in this non-English speaking place. However, being around French has helped me learn more about which elements of the English language were adapted from the French after the Norman invasion in 1066. So this is an important part of my language study, too.