Day Five: Versailles, Louis XIV and a Lovers' Spat

We finally got to Versailles! Even though we went to bed after 3:00 a.m. this morning, we still were able to get up at a decent hour and get out of the apartment by noon. We made our way through the bustling Montmartre village, grabbed a few croissants for the road and walked to the metro.

Our experience with the metro system so far has been great (except for setting off the alarm a few night's ago and the one time that everyone had to get off and wait for five minutes before getting back on again). One thing we are impressed and a bit frightened by is the speed of the metro here. I would hate to see what would happen if they slammed on the brakes. I'm pretty confident that we would not be coming home from France for some time.

Today was our first day taking the RER, Paris' commuter rail. It's about a 30 minute ride out to the city of Versailles where the grandest palace in Europe is located. We expected to run into crowds at the Palace even though we were going late in the day. Thanks to our trusty guide of Paris we knew to get the Paris Museum Pass to avoid those killer lines. Once again, it felt great to see the LONG line for tickets and to be able to walk right into the palace. If you do plan to visit Paris and will got to a number of Museums, you will want to get this pass!

Okay, so this palace is totally off the hook. Talk about decadence (see the hall of mirrors in the photo). But more interesting than that to us was learning about Louis XIV, "the sun king" as he deemed himself. He was a king who did some great things for France. Ryan and I were discussing how these days, if someone rises to power it's because they have the ambition to do so. When royals ruled, there were many who didn't have the talent or the personality that it took to run a country. With Louis XIV, this was not the case. He was very comfortable in the role and ruled for more than 70 years. During this time France was a force to be reckoned with.

Louis XIV was a "poor little rich kid." As the story goes, his father died when he was a very young boy and he and his mother were treated very poorly. When he got his turn on the throne, he didn't forget this ill treatment, but instead of saying "off with their heads" he instead built Versailles to show his, and France's, power. He invited all the royalty to stay there and distracted them with wealth while he ran the country as he liked.

So far, he doesn't sound like a great guy, but word is we was very approachable, even with the lower classes and that he was very well liked. He was a true Renaissance man. His confidence and wealth made the the premiere king of Europe. When people referred to the "the king" throughout Europe, it was Louis XIV they were talking about (one of his bed chambers to the left).





Ryan and I rented a golf cart to tour the gardens and the rest of the grounds. We spent more money on this that anything we've done so far. I'm going to try not to think about it too much. If we walked there's no way we could have made it to what turned out to be our favorite part of the tour -- the small village that Marie Antoinette had built.







At the far end of this huge property is a small Chateau that Louis XVI gave to his bride Marie Antoinette. She made it her own and spend a good deal of time there, but much more interesting was the small village that lies beyond the chateau. Marie missed her home in Austria and, it seems, longed for a a more simple life. She had a small village built complete with a working farm. There was a building that she stayed in and other small homes that workers lived in. Pretty amazing that Marie recognized the emptiness of her life in the palace. I understand her desire to live in a village like the one she created. It was peaceful and absolutely lovely. I want a village that that!

One thing that was funny about the cart we rented is that you had to stay on a specific path that was not marked. You only had a map to go on (once again a map -- our favorite). And if you did go the wrong the way, the cart would stop and a (loud) announcement would go off telling you were not going the right way. We happened to make our mistake in a very crowded area which resulted in a lots of staring eyes and we put the cart in reverse and turned around. All this while the classical music that the cart plays is blaring out.

When were were done with Versailles the palace, we went back into town to find a creperie we had eaten at 10 years ago. It feels like much of this vacation has been focused on looking at maps, getting confused, wondering around and then finally finding what we were looking for. That's what happened with the creperie tonight. Of course, it's all about the maps. Our maps stink. : )

We had a traditional French crepe meal -- first a dinner crepe and then a dessert crepe and what else? Let's say it all together now...a cafe creme. Magnifique. Our waitress was happy to hear we were from the US. She's the first French person who has asked us where we are from. Come to find out she is a student who plans to study in NYC (she visited and fell in love with the city). She was kind enough to snap our photo after dinner.



As we walked back to the train Ryan (who is extremely observant) saw something we both got a kick out of. Someone had stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a ancient-looking sculpture mounted on the wall of the alley we were walking through.

On the ride home we got to listen to an American couple fight. The woman seemed to be the worst, but of course we don't know the story. At one point she told her partner to stop talking and not to say another word or she would move. It went on for a while until they both were silent looking out opposite sides of the train. They were sitting across from each other. A little while into the ride, Ryan tapped my arm and I looked up to see that they were now sitting together and she was smiling at him and trying to get him to come around. Wow, that was quick. I guess no one can fight for too long in the city of love!

Our last adventure was a walk back through the still busy village of Montmartre. We each grabbed a little snack to take home with us and made our way back to the apartment.

Tomorrow we are doing something different. It's our last day in Paris and we will each spend some time on our own. We will split up in the morning and go our own ways. We will each be responsible for picking up some lunch and finding our way to the Eiffel Tower, where we will meet for lunch and share our adventures with each other (and with you!).

Time for bed. It's an early night for me. Only 1 a.m.! It's hard to go to bed too much earlier in a place where the sun doesn't go down until close to 10 p.m.

Au revoir!