Love, Prison, and Stunning Stained Glass

Back to the last full day in Paris (I know, the blog is jumping around quite a bit).  After lunch near Notre Dame, we walked over, at Torie's request to the Pont des Arts, also known as the Locks of Love bridge.  It's one bridge away from Pont Neuf (one of the oldest bridges in Paris), and called "Locks of Love" or "Lovers bridge" because there are thousands of padlocks on the bridge.  It's a pretty neat place, and we locked one on as a family.

There were a lot of people there, and, needless to say, some scam artists.  One approached me and tried to pull his scam with a "gold ring" he found on the bridge -- I showed him my wedding band and told him I already had one and didn't need another one.  He then went on to pull it successfully on someone else.  We're so smart!

We then walked over to the Concieragie, the prison famous for being the last stop before death by guillotine during the French Revolution.  The most popular sight there is the final cell of Marie Antoinette, although they admit that they are not sure whether that's the cell or not.  The building was the seat of the medieval kings of France on Ile de la Cite, just a few blocks from Notre Dame.  It's an imposing looking building, and did not have much of a line. 

Next door, the line for Saint Chapelle was long, and we decided to head to the Right Bank and check out the Pompidou Center.  First, however, we stopped at a Patisserie for a snack.  While the vibe around the Pompidou Center was neat, the place itself isn't the wonder it was when it first opened.  The crowds, pedestrian streets, painters, and musicians make it interesting, but the building itself looks simply like a giant human Habitrail. 

We went back to Saint Chappelle, and the line wasn't any shorter.  It moved quickly though, and that was the security line.  Then, you go into a courtyard, and there is another, longer line.  Ugh.  Fortunately, we already had our tickets (two for one at the Concieragie), so we got pulled out of line and went right in.

It's a stunning church -- all because of the stained glass windows.  It is one of the most stunning places I have ever been -- and that's saying a lot!  A section of the windows were being painstakingly refurbed (not the right word), but the place was still staggering.   Each of the windows tells part of the Bible -- from Genesis to the childhood of Jesus to the Apocalypse. 

From Wikipedia:

The most famous features of the chapel, among the finest of their type in the world, are the great stained glass windows, for whose benefit the stone wall surface is reduced to little more than a delicate framework. Fifteen huge mid-13th-century windows fill the nave and apse, while a large rose window with Flamboyant tracery (added to the upper chapel c.1490) dominates the western wall. 

The pictures don't do it justice, but here's one:

 

 

We then headed back to the hotel to relax for some time and get ready for dinner.  Your faithful blogger did what he does best (blog, of course!).

Born on the Bayeaux

On our way back from Mont St. Michel yesterday, we stopped in Bayeux to do laundry (which is always a key moment for Carol!).  What a great town!  Narrow streets, shops and restaurants spilling all over, a beautiful river peeking through the middle of it.  We got lucky and found a parking space three blocks from the Cathedral, and a half block from the launderette (packing for 13 days would be too much, and paying hotel prices for laundry is nuts!).

We explored the town, having decided to eat there.  We went into the Cathedral, which is nearly as massive as Notre Dame.  The stone carvings over the archways were amazing, and the light through the stained glass danced on the paintings and the walls.  It was just a neat place to find.  We did not get to the tapestries (on the agenda for today), partly because we didn't want to Louvre it (rush through). 

It's only ten or fewer kilometers from our hotel, so we'll hit there again -- maybe for dinner tonight with Julia.  Torie found a very good restaurant not far from the Cathedral, and we ate well -- as well as relatively affordably. 

After dinner, we drove back to the hotel (an iffy proposition, since there is no actual address for the hotel that works on the GPS -- but now we just put in the nearby town and find it).  We had picked up a bottle of wine, some foie gras, and a baguette to have back at the hotel.  They wouldn't let Carol and I eat it at the outside tables or even on the lush lawn because they didn't want their restaurant patrons watching us eat our own food (Yes, it's as nuts as it sounds).  So we took it to the swimming pool area, enjoyed an '09 Bordeaux, and watched the sun go down till 9:30.  (It gets dark here at this time of year around 9:45!).

Impressionism and Napoleon -- Not Connected, Except Tuesday

So, Monday night, after our day of hitting all the high points in Paris, I stayed up going through the two guide books (Rick Steve's -- first time with that guide) and the DK Eyewitness Travel guide to France (DK are the best for what to see -- they don't have much other info (like where to do laundry).

After breakfast, we walked the 15 minutes or so to the Musee d'Orsay.  Carol and I had talked about ordering tickets ahead of time and printing them at the hotel, but then we forgot our good idea.  The line was already quite long, so we waited patiently again.  Once we got in, the museum was great.

Despite the long line ahead of us, it never felt crowded.  Built as a train station, the openness, combined with the stunning views through the huge see-through clocks, made the place quite enjoyable.  From the fifth floor, we had stunning views of Sacre Couer, which encouraged Maddy and I to growl "Sacre Couer" in our most dismissive French accents possible.

We first made a sweep of the impressionist wing on the fifth floor.  Yes, there were lots of people there, but you could see every Monet, Manet, Rodin, Pissaro, and Renoir you wanted to see.  As I've mentioned, Carol has always (well, since before I knew her) been a huge fan of Impressionism, and I've grown to like it (don't tell her).  Sorry to those who think I'm just following the crowds, but Monet's work was the most interesting, and then Renoir's.  There's a reason those two dead guys are at the top of the list -- they've earned it.

We then went through the Van Gogh section, hit some other areas, including sculptures and the strange works of Toulouse Lautrec.

From there we took the free bus (boy, I'm smart) to Invalides, so we could go to the Hotel des Invalides, St-Louis-des-Invalides, and the Dome Church.  That connector bus from Notre Dame to d'Orsay to Invalides sure proved to be helpful to us -- faster than walking (don't worry, we still did plenty), and easier than the Metro (none of the lines go along the river axis, which doesn't make sense, so we'd be spending time changing lines and going out of our way).

By the way, in one church with an impressive dome, I noted to the girls that if it fell down we'd all be domed!  They were not amused.

We did not go into the Hotel des Invalides -- just walked through the giant center courtyard to the St-Louis-des-Invalides, the church built at the behest of King Louis XIV for his soldiers to worship in while he was next door at the Dome Church. 

The Dome Church includes the grave of Napoleon, so you have to buy tickets -- it is no longer a church.  Marshall Foch (WWI fame) and other French luminaries are also buried there.  It was neat to wander around for a bit, and then it was time to go.

We caught the free bus back to Notre Dame area and found a passable, yet not cheap, place for lunch in the area between Notre Dame and the Sorbonne.  In 1984 when I was there the area was quite affordable -- it's where I stayed.  Now it's high priced.  Thanks Euro!

(B

Pictures from a Monday in Paris

The Louvre, early in the day

The Church of the Dome from the Eiffel Tower

 

On level two of the Tower.

 

Another cool thing about

Paris is you don't have to

identify everything!

Yikes -- the only outside shot

I have from Notre Dame.

One of the Rose windows at Notre Dame

Drive-by Arting

After walking back from Notre Dame to the hotel, we went one block further to check out the massive St. Sulpice Church, the second largest church in Paris after Notre Dame.  It's not nearly as beautiful outside or inside, but worth a look if you are in the neighborhood.

We got back to the room around 4:45 to rest a bit.  For some lucky reason, I decided to check the hours of the Louvre for Tuesday.  The guidebook didn't list hours for Tuesday, so I checked on the internet -- the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays!  (Why? -- Beats me!).  So we hustled back out of the hotel, grabbed a cab and sprinted over to the Louvre.  After an argument with the ticketseller (who's job it is to sell tickets, not to not sell them!) about how little time we had, we went in.

As many people were streaming out, we were rushing in.  First to see Winged Victory (not on purpose -- it was there as we went our hurried way), then the Mona Lisa.  We rushed downstairs to see the Venus de Milo, before finding -- after some wrong turns -- Hammurabi's Code. 

It all had the feel of a drive-by arting -- sprinting through a museum to see the major works.  While that is not the ideal way to see the Louvre, we had no choice.  If we didn't go then, we wouldn't be able to go -- it's closed Tuesdays (I  know, I mentioned that already), and we were leaving Paris on Wednesday.  Yes, we paid too much for the tickets for the time spent, but after we hit the big four, we covered some additional turf before being chased out.

At this point, we were all exhausted from the day's walking, sightseeing, line-standing, etc.  So we came out of the Louvre in the Garden of Tuileries, wandered around a bit, and got some ice cream.  My bad ankle was officially killing me, so we rested on a bench for a bit.  Carol found a creperie on TripAdvisor, that was a long walk from the hotel, and 1.7 miles from our current location at the Garden.  We grabbed a cab that would only take us within three blocks of the restaurant -- it was down a very narrow road. 

After getting into the restaurant (below the Sorbonne part of the Left Bank), the one person working tried to lose our business.  First, she tried to put us at a table too small for four people.  I said no, and she wasn't happy with us.  (By the way, at that point there were two other people there, and it was a little after 6pm, so the place was not packed, and never got crowded while we were there).  So she did the passive-aggressive French thing and didn't wait on us for a while.  Finally, she got reinforcements and took our order.  The food came quickly though, and was quite good, so we went ahead and got dessert crepes too.

So, while we didn't have the tour guide Monday as planned, we did cover all the major sites in Paris.  My advice -- at least order tickets on-line and print them at home for the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Musee d'Orsay (foreshadowing) so you can skip the lines and save a bunch of time.

Sacre Bleu!? No -- Sacre Couer!

Back to Paris -- I'm behind on that by a day and half.  When I last wrote about Paris, we had just finished lunch on the Champs d'Elysee.  So we walked up behind the Arc d'Triomphe, seeing it for what we expected to be the last time.  We caught the Metro to Pigall, at the base of the mont that Sacre Couer is on.  While the neighborhood has improved since the 1980s, it's still a bit on the sketchy side.  Walking up, there were all these cheap souvenir shops, and men playing a con game I'd never seen before. 

Unlike my first unsupervised visit to NYC back in the mid-1970s (a little rougher than now), I was not tempted to get taken in by the sharks.  Back then it was three card monte, and now they use something else in their shill game.  Fortunately, back then my brother Rick let me know it was a scam, so I didn't lose money then either.  But, here below Sacre Couer, the games were going on full steam -- there were probably 20 or so con men offering the game. 

We then took the funicular up to Sacre Couer.  The basilica is much more interesting outside than inside (primarily because it was started in 1875 and finished in 1914).  Not only is it perched on a hill high above Paris, but the design is more Middle-Eastern and decidedly untraditional. 

Taking the Metro from another nearby station, we headed to Cite so we could go to Notre Dame.  After getting discombobulated coming out of the Metro, we eventually found our bearings (we were looking at the Right Bank when we thought we were on the Left Bank!) we went first to Bertie's Cupcakes, just a couple of blocks from Notre Dame.  It's highly recommended on Trip Advisor, and was quite good.  It was just a small place jammed into a tiny storefront, but a well-needed break. 

We then went into Notre Dame -- we never saw the way to go up the towers, so we wandered around one of my favorite places, and I told my favorite bad Notre Dame joke (be sure to ask me to tell you).  2013 is the 850th anniversary of the cathedral, and they had a big area to sit outside and look at the cathedral, which we did until there was a storm in the distance and it started raining.

Giverny Made A Great Impression on Us

Carol is a huge impressionist aficionado, particularly of Monet.  Our original plan had been to go to Giverny (his home, his garden, and the famed water lily pond) on our way to Normandy (Giverny is in Normandy, but on the very outskirts).  I had scratched that plan when we were stuck in the tunnel hell of Paris. 

Looking at the clock, and sensing a need to make a gesture of apology for my extended fit of anger (see post below), I suggested we should still go to Giverny -- get lunch in Vernon (the nearby town) and then go to Giverny.  Frankly, it didn't really matter what time we arrived at our hotel in Normandy, so long as it wasn't dark (which doesn't happen till about 9:45 at night here even now in August!). 

We had lunch at a restaurant on the circle in Vernon -- a nice small town.  The only drama with the lunch is whether we were parked illegally (well, we were, although we didn't get a ticket -- there was a place further down to buy a parking coupon).  The police car cruised past our car twice, but didn't stop to write a ticket, which would have been quite the capper for the car caper.

Then we drove to Giverny.  Whoa.  Very cool.  I honestly like Monet's work (don't tell Carol), particularly the paintings he did at Giverny (and also his amazing paintings of the Rouen Cathedral).  I was not sure what it would be like, although Doug McAuliffe said it was definitely worth a visit.  He was correct.  Monet's backyard was an amazing (and huge) garden with explosions of color and different flowers everywhere.  I probably went crazy with the camera. 

Then, we crossed under the street (a small country dirt lane in Monet's time) to the enchanting water lily pond (I know, you never expected to see those four words in a row written by me!).  It was like being in a Cathedral.  People were silent and moved.  The place is spectacular.  When I get a chance, I will post some photos, although they won't do it justice.

After that, we took the long drive to our Normandy hotel, arriving around 6pm.  It was down some country roads that involved major turns.  It's a good thing Carol found the directions on the hotel website, because we never would have found it.  Frankly, even those directions weren't right!  If I hadn't seen a sign for the hotel, we would have followed the directions and made a wrong turn!

We walked around the ample grounds of the country hotel, and had a great dinner in the restaurant.  It was definitely the fanciest place we have eaten so far on the trip.  I'm pretty sure the sommelier did not like me -- he hovered over me before I cracked the wine list, and I asked him to come back after I perused it.  I narrowed the choice down to two  Bordeauxs to ask his advice, and ended up going with his recommendation of an entirely different bottle.  It was great, but I sensed he wasn't happy with me.  The food was great though, and the rest of the service staff was great until we waited 15-20 minutes for the bill! I was on the verge of tackling someone to get it.

Soon we are off for our D-Day tour (which, after the snafu with the Paris tour, I really hope happens!).

In Which Our "Hero" Has a Bit of a Meltdown

Okay, so yesterday was NOT my finest hour.  It started out fine, but then I lost my temper in a big way.  We went to Charles de Gaulle airport to get the car, and our travel agent had sent us to the wrong terminal.  So we didn't get the right sized car -- it will be tight traveling once we pick Julia up.

That wasn't the problem.  And, the problem isn't that the French are stupid, although that doesn't help.  It rained hard all night long (and was still raining when we took the car from the airport), and that caused flooding at low levels on the major highways.  That caused a five mile, 45 minute back-up.  That's not what made me angry.  When I say the French are stupid, it's because this can't be the first time in recent history that it has rained hard, so why aren't there road drains in the areas where there is flooding?  Heck, all they have to do is drill a few holes in the concrete barriers and there would not be the flooding.  And when I say flooding, I mean I had to move over two lanes to keep from going through water so deep the car would have been endangered.

No, I lost my temper because when we were trying to get to the A-14 to Normandy, the tunnel was closed and there were no signs directing another route.  So, we had to take the southbound tunnel, which was closed to, so the back-up to an exit most of the way through the tunnel took forever to reach.  That's when I had my meltdown, because with technology, we were dependent on the GPS (actually the iPad map because the Garmin GPS is worthless in France!).  And, of course, the GPS and the iPad maps kept telling us to go through the closed tunnel.  It wouldn't reroute us. 

I cursed a blue streak -- stuck in a tunnel going the wrong way, with no way out.  Finally, we got out of the tunnel and hit on the idea of heading toward Chartres (wrong direction, but anything to get us out of Paris) to get heading out of the city.  Of course, if we had done what I wanted -- take the train to Caen from Paris and pick up the car there, it would have not required back-tracking through the hell that is Paris traffic in the rain, flooding and construction, but our travel agent couldn't make that work.

We weren't done yet -- we ended up taking a crazy route through Paris.  We could see the Eiffel Tower (definitely not what I wanted to see), and I made a bitter joke about being Clark Griswold driving endlessly around the Arc d'Triomphe.  A little later on, we were headed straight to the Arc d'Triomphe!  Seriously -- there it was in the distance (not far, but not close), and we were headed right to it.  Finally, we were directed by the iPad onto the Periphery Road (a sort of Beltway) and eventually made our way out of Paris, but not before seeing some of the neighborhoods (or arrondissements) that we hadn't seen -- or wanted to see!

We finally made it to the A13 after about 2.5 hours of stress and wasted time.  I did not handle myself well.

Dinner and a Show -- the Eiffel Tower from the Seine

We Got There At the Right Time

We're at the point on the blog where things now go out of order.  Last night, we did a dinner cruise on the Seine on a boat called the Marina de Paris.  I thought it would be fun, but it was even better than that.  First, we headed east, pretty far past Notre Dame.  Going along the historic buildings (we left from Musee d'Orsay) was neat, as was trucking under the bridges.  But watching people and looking at other boats on the river was an added bonus.  We went past picnickers, impromptu parties, and even people dancing along the banks of the Seine. 

The food was quite good (three of us had the salmon, Torie had the steak, of course).  The appetizers and desserts were quite good too -- samplers of each. 

It was neat going under the Lover's Lock Bridge (see related post to be written), Le Pont Neuf, past the Institute of France (not in that order), Notre Dame, Ile St. Louis, the Hotel de Ville (city hall), the Conciergerie (prison), the Louvre (both coming and going), and Pont Alexandre III.

There were two highlights, both involving the Eiffel Tower.  The first was when we turned around for the second time -- we were past the small scale Statue of Liberty at Pont Bir-Hakeim.  It was lined up with the Eiffel Tower in the background -- I will post some photos.  The second was when the Eiffel Tower put on a light show just as we went past it.  Perfect timing.  The lights on the Tower went crazy dancing, and the boat (a long, glass covered boat with perhaps 40 people out of 100 actually on it) played music to go with the lights.  I took a video and hope to post it.

Photos from the First Day. . .Versailles

Breakfast on the Blvd St. Germain

Versailles was packed

First pic outside the gates

Apollo Fountain

The front gate of Versailles, which we saw

at length whilst waiting in line.

The Hall of Mirrors

In the Courtyard

Time to Rally

We had breakfast at the hotel -- it's continental, but better than just a couple of rolls and coffee.  There's good yogurt, great croissants, excellent cheeses, and solid breakfast meats. 

Then, we sat in the lobby to wait for the 8:30 arrival of our tour guide.  At 8:45, when no one had shown up, I went to the front desk, and they said that our travel agent had never confirmed the tour. 

Now, I know what you are thinking?  What does the great Iron Tourist need with a tour guide?  (Okay, you may not have included the word "great" in your thought process, but you should have!).  Well, the thinking was that it is Paris in August, and the tour guide would be able to get us around the lines and show us parts of the city that wouldn't occur to us.

So, now we had lost some time and we had to improvise on the fly.  We walked down to the Louvre
but the line was too long, so we resolved to save that till Tuesday (foreshadowing).  Cursing our travel agent's inability to send one final email confirming the tour, we grabbed a cab and headed to the Eiffel Tower.  The line was crazy long, and since we didn't have advance purchased tickets (the guide was going to handle that), we had to wait in the line. 

Eventually we made it up -- and it was worth the trip to go all the way to the top.  Fabulous views all around, and you can't shake the feeling that you are part of something amazing from the time of Jules Verne and the turn of the previous century (no, daughters, I wasn't alive then).  Stunning feeling, and I never had the uncomfortable feeling I get at steep heights. 

From there we walked to the Arc d'Triomphe to have lunch on the Champs d'Elysee.  The bummer is that the day was half gone and we'd only covered the Eiffel Tour.  The other observation is that August is tough time to come to Paris.  Unfortunately, off-year Augusts are the only time we can travel overseas for an extended length. 

And, I know, having lunch in the shadow (figuratively, not literally) of the Arc d'Triomphe is not a smart way to eat an affordable meal.  But, at least the food was pretty good.

Life Is A Moveable Feast

A few blocks away from our hotel is Les Deux Magots, which is one of the Grand Cafes of Paris.  It was Hemingway's favorite, and is ours too.  Sartre, Picasso, Joyce (James, not Dr. Brothers) also hung out there.

The girls immediately translated Les Deux Magots the same way I did silently to myself. . .the two maggots.  (Magot apparently means "saved money for future use).

But, the place was fantastic.  In cafes, you don't sit across from each other, you sit next to each other looking out at the world as it goes by.  Between the cars, the bikes, and pedestrian traffic, Blvd St. Germain has a lot to offer.  It was quite entertaining.

In addition, we got a show from the pigeons.  One landed on the table one row below us and started eating all of the peanuts and cashews (it wouldn't touch the pretzels).  The couple at that table didn't do anything -- did not shoo it away.  It gobbled down nut after nut for quite some time.  I watched as our waiter arched an eyebrow at the spectacle, but did nothing. 

The follow on show from the pigeons came above us.  While the first row of tables was outside, we were in a glassed in area with wide open floor to top areas.  Still, after flying in through the open front windows, they tried to get out through an upper side window.  The same pigeon slammed into the glass twice before figuring out the exit.  Oh, those whacky pigeons!

The food, while nothing fancy, was delicious.  We had a healthy sized plate of assorted cheeses, and then various tasty sandwiches, etc.  The Rose was nice and crisp.  I would highly recommend to anyone that they go to Les Deux Magots to wile away a few hours.

After dinner that first day, we walked back to the hotel and promptly went to sleep!

First Riffs from France

My French is terrible. . .I have zero facility for foreign language. . .but at least I have some modest Spanish facility (which means slight Italian). . .but the French of yesteryear would have hated me. . .now they just want my money. . .so they put up with it. . .and Carol/the girls are better with the language, although they are Spanish-speakers, and French is not in their wheelhouse.

So, time for my first rant of the trip about how the Euro has ruined affordable travel in Europe. . .in 1984, after buying my train ticket, I had $20 per day to make my way. . .obviously, with a family of four (with Julia making it five on the 10th of August) it can't be that cheap. . .plus we are in Paris. . .but everywhere we go in Europe, lunch isn't affordable. . .and nor is dinner. . .boy I miss the affordable days.

The service here has been great. . .even in the restaurants people are generally responsive. . .the hotel folks are wonderful. . .and the free connector bus route was well-staffed with volunteers to point the way and answer questions.

Shockingly, we are on our third day in France and we've only had some Rose wine. . .don't want to drink wine at lunch and sleep away the afternoon. . .and the restaurants we are going to aren't high end (just high priced!). . .finally found a wine shop and bought some bottles. . .probably won't have till Normandy. . .instead of Go West Young Man!, open a wine shop in Paris, young man!

Time for the biennial ice rant. . .I know it's from the days in the '50s, 60,s 70s, and even '80s when fridges were small and electricity was expensive. . .but live a little now!  More than zero or one piece of ice in a drink won't break you. . .yes, we are Americans and love our ice. . .guilty as charged. . .but guilty for a reason!  At least the water is generally chilled when served. . .and every place sells/has sparkling water on the menu.

Strange how little entrepreneurship there is here.  In Spain and Italy, there are ice cream vendors on many street corners. . .very few water sellers/ice  cream, others on the streets.

Don't misunderstand me. . .these riffs are not complaints (well, ice and Euros are), just observations.  Enjoying Paris a great deal. . .some of the best parts isn't the sights or museums (although all good). . .but just walking down the street and seeing street life.

My Palace in the Country

The line for the Chateau de Versailles snaked up and down the huge front courtyard.  Somehow it all stayed coherent -- there was definition to the line itself, although I have to believe that the employees do watch over it.  So, there we were, baking in the hot sun, no shade, and jet-lagged to boot.

Frankly, the possibility for whiny teenagers and a whiny spouse was frightening.  To their credit, neither Carol nor Maddy/Torie complained about the wait.  The snaking line had the benefit of moving, so for the 55 minutes it took us, at least we weren't just standing in one place.

We decided not to do any sort of audioguide (which is generally interesting), mostly because we were too tired to stand in another line to rent it, and then we did not want to spend the time necessary to listen. 

Okay, so it wasn't the most enlightened tour of a humungous palace we've ever done.  But, given the lack of sleep no one had the patience (well, maybe me, but I'm pretty much a saint, you know) to spend too much time learning.  Instead we were happy just to wander from room to room, Americans in Versailles, get pushed by Asian tour groups (personal space is a good thing, people!) and marveling at the opulence of it all.  Frankly, it's kind of revolting!  (Sorry, both puns are intentional in that sentence!).

The Hall of Mirrors was the most interesting, but the throne room, the King's Bedroom, the Royal Chapel, the Queen's Bedroom, and, actually most rooms were quite interesting to see -- it was just 80% of the Virginia Bolgers and two thousand (or more?) of our closest friends (well, physically closest people, anyhow).

By the way, I know this is old news.  I know I marvel every time at the amount of ornate work that went into the palaces, cathedrals, and churches of Europe.  Some day we will get to Asia -- but generally we don't have the kind of time such a trip requires.

I gave Louis XIV credit -- he expanded Versailles and made it his base of operations so he could control all functions of government, control the nobles, and run the country himself.  Not exactly the best form of government, but at least he knew the best way to keep control, not be a moron, and keep the country moving in the right direction.  From today's times, it's easy to criticize that set-up, but the guy knew what he was doing to keep control.

After we stumbled out of the palace, we headed back to the main drag.  The handful of water sellers who were there earlier were gone.  We stopped at an outdoor café near the train station and way overpaid for really good ice cream. 

Everyone slept at times on the train ride back -- Maddy and Carol the whole way, while Torie and I took turns dozing off in a sun & jet-lagged induced stupor.  I woke everyone up upon arrival back at Invalides, and we caught the free bus back to the Notre Dame area.  From there, it was just a short walk back to the hotel.

We showered off the airplane and stand in line in the sun grime we had accumulated.  Thank God France has upgraded its showers since 1984!
 

The Garden of Overrated and Fountains

The line for the Palace of Versailles, as we had been warned by the guidebooks, was quite lengthy.  So we headed first for the Gardens, behind the palace.  There are a ton of fountains there, and lots of greenery, but not much in the way of flowers.  While it is huge and somewhat overdone, it's also not as pretty as the Schonbrunn palace gardens we visited in Vienna two years ago. 

The main fountain (Latona) is undergoing restoration, so that also took a bit away from it.  We were there in time for the fountain show, which occurs only on weekends and Tuesdays.  That part of it was pretty neat. 

The plan had been to take a tour of Paris on Monday (foreshadowing), and since we didn't know what we would do on the tour (more foreshadowing: moot point!), Carol came up with the smart idea to hit Versailles on Sunday after landing.  Yes we would be tired, but you have to push through it or else it gets tough to acclimate to the jet lag/time changes (six hours difference).

Anyhow, we walked through the gardens, finding shade where we could.  After heading down to the back-up main fountain (the Apollo Ornamental lake) and the Grand Canal.  From there, we walked the longer way then necessary to the Grand Trianon -- a small palace kind of out of the way (as out of the way as a small palace gets) -- but it was 11:30 and it did not open till noon!  So, the Gardens open at 8, the main Chateau at 9, but the Trianons (Frand and Petit) don't open till noon?

Oh well.  We cut through an angled path to the Grand Canal and had lunch nearby it.  Hopefully, it is the worst meal we have in France.  We did not expect much, eating at a restaurant on the Palace grounds, and it did not even meet those low expectations (except it did meet our expectations of high prices).  The problem was, we were trapped.  It would take thirty minutes or so to walk back to town to a "real" restaurant, although I'm skeptical how real it could be -- just another tourist trap (don't worry -- my biennial rant about how the Euro has ruined the affordability of Europe is coming).  At least by the canal we received some cool breezes.

We wandered around some of the side gardens, careful to stay in the shade until we got to the path of the three fountains, the Dragon Fountain, and Neptune's Fountain. 

It was time. . .time to hope that the line to get into the Chateau wasn't  very long.  However, when we got back to the front of the line, it might as well of read, "Hope dies here."

Off to France

The flight over was pretty uneventful – we had upgraded Carol and I to Economy Plus – which is still coach, but at least has more legroom. We all slept a few hours, but not the whole flight. When I stepped foot in France, it was for the first time since 1984. Carol was in France in 2007 with the cooking ladies, but they only spent 24 hours in Paris – the rest of the time was in Provence.

The passport wait was non-existent, so we breezed right in. Julia is studying at Oxford, so she won’t be joining us for the first week. She’ll miss Paris – although she did come for a long weekend two weeks or so ago, and she’ll miss most of Normandy.

The trip to the hotel was also uneventful – the driver spoke English but was not very talkative. We got to the Hotel – the Esprit St. Germain on the Left Bank early on Sunday morning. As expected, it was too early for our rooms to be ready, so they directed us to the tiny workout room area, where we cleaned up, changed, and headed out.

We grabbed an excellent breakfast at a café on Rue St. Germain – great croissants, bread, fluffy eggs. We then headed to the RER station to catch the train to Versailles. Which is easier said than done, since the area we went to – on advice of the hotel staff – was closed and under reconstruction since June till the end of August.

However, there is a free shuttle bus from near Notre Dame to the next open station – Invalides. So, after catching the bus along Seine and seeing the Louvre and other famous sights, we caught the train out to Versailles.

The Villa Tour

Well, this is an experiment.  The tour I videotaped (via iPad) was to long to easily transfer, so it has been compressed.  If it doesn't look good, I won't leave it up.  Heck, it's worth a go.

Our Private Beach

Trip Favorites

The trip tradition, with the Stapletons humoring me and playing along:

Favorite Activity
Torie: Snorkeling
Maddy: The Baths
Toni: Hanging on the beach
Carly: Cave/rocks at the Baths
Carol: Relaxing at the beach
Glen: Savannah Bay kayaking
Anne: Jumping off the sailboat
TJ: The Baths

Favorite Meal or Restaurant
Maddy: Coco Maya
Carly: The Parrot Club
Torie: Coco Maya
Toni: Coco Maya
Anne: Coco Maya for lunch -- what a welcome!
Carol: Coco Maya
TJ: Coco Maya
Glen: Coco Maya

Favorite Part of the House
Toni: Pool
Carly: Bedroom & pool
Torie: My hammock
Carol: Sitting by the pool
Maddy: The pool area
Glen: The conversation circle/pool
TJ: Pool
Anne: Maid, and, ok, pool

If we go again, I'd like to:
Glen: Go to Anegada and also bring Julia
Carol: Go sailing again
Torie: Scuba dive
Maddy: Hike
TJ: Power boat
Carly: Hike
Anne: Go for two weeks!

What Makes Virgin Gorda Special/Different?
Toni: House with daily maid service
Carly: Lack of people (except the Baths)
TJ: The solitude and raw beauty
Anne: Vistas/sunsets
Carol: The perfect views and water
Maddy: Our special beach
Torie: The very blue water
Glen: The combination of the perfect house & perfect beach