Château de Versailles, Tuilleries

July 31, 2008

Everyone’s got religion! Up at maybe 0715 to find Mom already up and readying herself in the bathroom, while Kim and Gerald were out to the boulangerie around the corner on rue St-Honoré for breakfast patisseries, so that all might hit the targeted 0800 departure for Versailles. Hardened veterans by now, we hit the road for the Concorde metro and #8 around 0815, exiting at Invalides and correspondent RER C Vicks Line to Versailles Gauches. It’s about a 35 minute shot. Exiting the Versailles station, it wasn’t at all obvious what the direction should be to Château de Versailles. Upon asking one fellow and being joined by another, we were given 2 directions. Each route was correct, but we should have taken the one which would have had us turn right and then left, down a grand, tree-lined boulevard that perfectly aligned itself with the gilt gates of Versailles. The route we took was effectively straight ahead ad around the corner to the right, past a café with characteristic outside seating. I made a mental note that this would be a good place to consider eating in future, as onion soup was 4.5 € and plats +/- 8 €. The route we took brought us in to Château de Versailles from the side, thereby limiting the initial impact we otherwise would have had. Nonetheless, it is an impressive sight that can best be described with photographs.

Because we had Mom in a wheelchair, we were greeted by a young lady who escorted us to the entrance. During the trip, I learned that every monument has free admission for wheelchair handicaps, as well as the individual wheeling them (not to self: another good way to say 2 X 45 € on a Paris Pass. She was also interested in studying business in a Canadian or American University, and I offered to do what I could to assist her if she gave me contact info - she suggested I look for her upon our exit, as she’d be around. Unfortunately, I remembered only when we were on the return RER - moral: strike while the iron’s hot I you want to be in business (school).

Being with someone in a wheelchair has certain advantages, not the least of which is escort to the start of various sections, through areas that are closed but made available during transit. We basically had 3 sections to our tours of the palace rooms: the first two being the ground floors of the adjacent North and South Wings before returning to the North Wing to tour its 1^st floor, which contains the Hall of Mirrors, in which the Treaty of Versailles, ending WW I, was signed; and the King’s Chamber, the bedroom of Louis XIV. The Chapel is located on the ground floor of the North Wing, with a ceiling that is above that of the 1^st floor. It is seen from both levels. Lynda seemed to think that the rooms of Napoleon, which she’d seen the previous evening at the Louvre was a more impressive sight, but one clearly has to give a dof of the hat to the Hall of Mirrors.

The King’s Chamber and its gilt fencing and impressive fabrics and bed span is a very impressive room - one in which flash photography is specifically excluded. This prohibition is the case in other rooms, but attendants regular allow flash photography; nonetheless, as is typically the case, Lynda would play the role of cop to tell me what I “should” be doing. In the case of the King’s attention, she made mention of the signing as we approached. There were then a series of statements by the room attendant, “No flash, no flash!” So spectacular was the room that, as we were exiting, Lynda said something like, “Why don’t you take a picture - they probably won’t be able to do anything about it.” I ended with a single shot, but Gerald had several…. I guess the importance on adhering to rules depends on how badly one wants something.

Lunch was now approaching, and we had the option of a cafeteria style or restaurant lunch where we were; a sandwich option part way up the central axis of the gardens; or restaurants located at the end of the central axis. We opted for the cafeteria style option, and had a pleasant sit down in one of the 4 large rooms provided. In my instance, the selection was a nice ham and emmenthal sandwich on baguette.

All were pretty thirsty, having endured Paris temperatures of 32C on the 28^th, 27C the 29^th, and 31C the 30^th. It turned out that today’s high was 34C.

We then headed out on a walk that took us down the central corridor of gardens, taking a trip to the King’s Garden, which is the upper left section of formal gardens. From there, we made our way to Marie Antoinette’s house. Her bedroom area and another area are quite sensational.

By this time, we were dragging pretty good, with little or no interest in seeing if there were gardens we hadn’t seen that we might consider. We shelled out 3.5 € each to take a trolley back, seeing a wonderful pool with ornamented central sculptures that were to the front left of the Château, but previously undetected.

We shlepped our weary bones back for our RER return. With its passage through the Eiffel Tower area, it appeared that the RER solely offered a means of finding transport near to the Eiffel; however, it seems clear that there is no RER or Metro station that eliminates the need for massive walking to the Tower.

Back at the apartment, the 3 untouched baguettes that had been accumulated over the previous 2 days, along with wonderful cheeses picked up the other day, were converted into a satisfying meal, accompanied by white Alsace and Vouvray wines – miam, as the French say.

That evening, without having seen the Tuilleries before, I skipped out around 2115. Very nice and not at all the length that I had imagined before reaching the Louvre (we should have done it a long time ago).