Europe 2016 - Day 20 - Palace of Versailles

We got to Paris yesterday after the train ride from Amsterdam. Our taxi could not get us to our hotel because a lot of the streets are closed for the football (soccer) matches that are being held in Paris for the European championships! He had to drop us off close and point us in the right direction! Once we settled in we went out to eat an early dinner since we had not had lunch. Then really early to bed - think this trip is finally beating us!

This morning we had to be outside this certain Metro stop at 8:15 for our tour. The hotel told us it was 3 metro stops from ours so we ventured out after crepes for breakfast. We managed to get there and meet up with the tour guides who accompanied us on the train to Versailles and handed us over to other tour guides! Not quite what we were expecting but it worked - at least until later!

The Palace is absolutely mind-boggling! It is so huge and so ornate! Our tour guide was very good - very knowledgeable about LouisXIV and Louis XV. It was of course very crowded and very hot inside but our guide was good - she told us we could not act like Americans, but had to be pushy Parisians for the day! Somehow, we pretty much always had front row views!

 

The chapel where he went to mass everyday.

Bust of King Louis XIV by Bernini. As our guide said, Louis XIV was always "photoshopped"!

 

 

The Hall of Mirrors which was really beyond description. The reason for the mirrors was to show everyone how wealthy King Louis (and France) was. Mirrors were very expensive and in this room there were 357 mirrors - when people came into the room they would really be astounded! Most had never seen a complete image of themselves because if they did have a mirror it was probably very small.

 

Obviously, something that wasn't there in Louis's time.

 

The gardens, except for this batch, had no flowers. Just greenery and fountains. The only run the fountains for short periods on the weekends. Our guide said that even in King Louis's day they would turn on the fountains that were in his sight as he passed and then turn them off again.

After the tour, it was raining. Lori and I stopped to get some lunch - more crepes! Hopefully, something different for dinner. We got back on the train to Paris - can't get the wrong train because there is just one way since Versailles is the end of the line. You can, however, miss your stop in Paris! Suddenly, we were one stop past our stop. We got off, found the Seine, turned left and started walking. Mind you, we were already pooped from walking around Versailles! It seemed to take forever before we got back to where we should have gotten off the train! Then the metro back to our hotel! By that time, we had over 14,000 steps and 13 flights so stairs!!!

Tomorrow - the Eiffel Tower!

 

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