Tuesday (June 27th) was our day trip to Versailles. We got a little bit of a late start that morning (considering we wanted to be at Versailles by 9:30) but didn%26#39;t leave the apartment until 9:00. We walked over to our closest RER stop which was Pont L%26#39;Alma, and that%26#39;s when the trouble started. I knew, thanks to info on this site as well as my own research, that we couldn%26#39;t use a regular metro ticket to get to Versailles. However, when we tried to buy tickets, the ticket window was closed and locked! There were probably about half a dozen other people milling about with the same problem. I thought about it for a minute and came up with what I thought would be a workable plan. We would use our regular meto ticket to travel one stop ahead and hope that we could find an open ticket window at that station. While we were looking at the map a nice British woman came over and asked if we needed help. We explained our predicament and she suggested that we actually go back one stop to Invalides instead of forward (to Eiffel Tower) because it was a bigger station and we%26#39;d have a better chance of finding an open ticket window. Then we were faced with the predicament of having to leave the metro and re-enter again on the other side, which would force us to use another metro ticket. The British woman said that the turnstile on the other side was broken and we could just push through. This made us really nervous, but nonetheless, we were on a mission. To make a long story a bit shorter, we went to the other platform, put our tickets through, and it worked! When we got off at Invalides we put our same ticket through again, and it still worked. We called these our %26quot;magic%26quot; tickets and kept them as souvenirs.
We finally made it to Versailles and initially it wasn%26#39;t what I expected. There was lots of construction going on outside and there were all of these tour busses lined up (at least a dozen). There were tons of guys selling trinkets. It was like a bad version of Disney World. Fortunately we didn%26#39;t have to wait too long to get in since we had museum passes. Generally speaking, I really didn%26#39;t like the inside of the palace. It was just too much. Too much gold leaf, too much marble, too over the top - even by today%26#39;s standards. Plus, it was so crowded and got very hot. I felt like I was in a herd of cattle. Making our way outside and into the gardens was such a relief. This was the part of Versailles that I really enjoyed. The gardens were stunning. We were feeling a little overwhelmed, but decided that we would still take a walk down to the Grand Canal to take a look around. We took the scenic route and just wandered through rows and rows of perfectly manicured shrubs and trees. It was great. We eventually made it to the canal and set up our picnic on one of the benches. It was such a fantastic way to spend part of our day. Fortunately, we had very good weather that day. After a while we decided to venture over to the Grand and Petit Trianons. I%26#39;m so glad we did. I thought these buildings were much better and nicer than that palace - just really beautiful. You can tell that there had been a woman%26#39;s touch in putting the places together. I especially liked the petit trianon. It was smaller, but still very elegant. One complaint I do have is that you had to pay .50 to use the toilet by the Grand Trianon. I thought that was just silly. The old woman working in the bathroom actually dragged a little girl out of a stall because she hadn%26#39;t paid her money.
After the toilet incident we decided to wander back towards the palace and stopped on the way to get ice cream. Delicious! I had the mint chocolate chip and my husband had the melon sorbet. He craved it every day after that and for some reason we never could find it again. Lots of places had mango, but no melon. Anyway, we finally managed to reach the palace, picking up trash along the way. We had noticed a couple of empty bottles on a bench and we thought it was shameful that someone would leave litter in such a beautiful place, so we picked it up, along with a couple of other trash items we found during our walk. We should have been wearing green suits.
We finally made it back to our apartment and decided that we would stay in for dinner that night. I made some ravioli and my husband bought a huge piece of salmon quiche from one of the places across the street. After dinner we watched a bit of the World Cup on t.v. since France was playing. It was really funny because every time France would do something well (score a goal, or block a shot), we would hear an uproar from outside - people in apartments next to us or in cafes below. We could have just turned the t.v. volume off and listened to the game that way. My husband gave me a bit of a hard time when I told him we needed to leave so that we could go and try once again to catch the elevator up to to the ET. Fortunately, I won that argument. Surprisingly, the lines were still fairly long when we showed up at around 10 p.m. We met a nice group of Canadian college girls while we were in line. They were on a 6 week whirlwind tour of Europe. They were traveling to something like 16 countries. I thought that was pretty crazy. They were only spending 2.5 days in Paris which was really a shame. They didn%26#39;t plan their trip well because the main thing they wanted to see was the Louvre, and it was closed that day, so they were going to try and rush to see it the next day before they left.
We finally made it to the second level and the view was really amazing. While we were up there we heard car horns honking and people yelling. Apparently France had won and made it into the quarter finals. I couldn%26#39;t imagine what things would be like if France had actually won the whole thing. It would have been total madness. We made it back down fairly uneventfully and got home about midnight. We had to shut all the windows because everyone was still honking horns and yelling. This continued until at least 1 a.m., which was when I fell asleep.
Wednesday
This was Musee D%26#39;Orsay day and I was very excited. We showed up at 9:15 and were the first in line (at the reserved ticket entrance) along with another couple. Like us, they also thought that the museum opened at 9:00. Rick Steve%26#39;s guidebook is wrong, because the opening time was 9:30. No problem though, we just hung around and chatted for a few minutes. When the doors finally opened, I headed straight for the escalators up the the impressionist area. We stepped into a room full of Van Gogh%26#39;s, and we were the only people in there. It was fantastic, and kind of surreal at the same time. We took lots of pictures and soaked it all in for a while. We enjoyed the rest of the museum as well, but this was definitely our favorite part. We didn%26#39;t spend nearly enough time there, maybe only 2.5 hours, but there were many other things to see, so we were off to Notre Dame.
The line to go up to the tower was extremely long and I was considering leaving it for another day. However, we stood our ground and about an hour later it was our turn to go up. One thing I didn%26#39;t like about this experience is that they let you go up, but only as far as the gift shop, and they you%26#39;re held captive there for a while. I didn%26#39;t buy anything primarily based on principle. I felt like I shouldn%26#39;t have to be held hostage in a gift shop when I had already paid my 8 Euros or whatever for the privilege of climbing 400 steps. After a long torturous climb, we made it to what we thought was the top, but it was wasn%26#39;t. Still, we took some nice gargoyle pictures and enjoyed the scenery. Then we trudged up to the real top and that was definitely a claustrophobic climb. The view was basically the same from that level. We caught our breath for a while then made our way down. I decided that we should check out Berthillon and get some ice cream. Surprisingly, both my husband and I were disappointed. First, he was disappointed because they didn%26#39;t have melon, so he opted for chocolate. Second, the cones were tiny. The ice cream was good, but it wasn%26#39;t significantly better than what we%26#39;d previously had at the Tulieries or Versailles, and it was only half the size.
We then wandered over to the Latin Quarter to check things out. This is definitely a very lively area. My husband said he wanted to stay in this area the next time we came to Paris. We found this wonderful shop that has all these hand made artisan crafts. I don%26#39;t remember the name exactly, but I think it was Pays de Poche or something like that. It was near the corner of Rue Galande and Rue de Petit Pont. We bought a few really nice items here. We were starting to get tired so we decided to head back home, but agreed to come back to the LQ later to have dinner, which we did. We found this wonderful little restaurant called Aux Trois Mailletz and had a very nice meal. We considerered this our %26quot;fancy%26quot; meal for the week at a whopping cost of 69 Euros, not including dessert. This place was fun because they had a piano player inside and these two women would get up and sing opera songs. They were really fantastic. It was great entertainment. One of the owners was very friendly and was chatting with us during dinner. This restaurant is just opposite the great shop I mentioned above. After dinner we walked around a bit more and grabbed a gelato. I was too full to eat all of mine, so my husband took care of it for me.
We came across this group of young people in the square who had all kinds of instruments and started playing some really good music. About two minutes into it, half a dozen police officers swarmed in and made them stop playing. They took all of their ID%26#39;s and were asking them questions. My husband and I started booing and then the rest of the crowed joined in. The police weren%26#39;t too thrilled about that. I don%26#39;t know what the problem was but 20 minutes later, they were still questioning them and wouldn%26#39;t let them play. One thing that seemed to be aggravating the musicians was that right across the street there were performers who were break dancing (and blocking the sidewalk), but no one was doing anything about them. I don%26#39;t know how it all ended, or why it began in the first place, but we decided we%26#39;d call it a night and caught the metro back to our place.
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De Milo
Are you still in Paris? I know that the Haagen Daz ice-cream place on Boulevard St Germain has the melon ice-cream. It%26#39;s just opposite the Cluny, near the cnr of Blvd St Michel. I agree with your husband. I chanced upon the melon ice-cream and the raspberry sorbet..... both absolutely fabulous!
:o)
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Great trip report.
Agree withyou about the Berthillion ice cream ,didn%26#39;t impress us either. I guess we have good ice cream at home.
Shame about the litter, it is something we don%26#39;t do here , very unpopular, but I have noticed in Europe in general( especially southern europe) it is more common. The sides of the highways in Iraly were pretty gross by my standards.
The World cup isn%26#39;t over, and I would love to be in Paris is France wins. My dad( french) sits in from of the tv and yells so loud his nieghbors think he is having a fit, and his dogs cover upstaris LOL
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I was interested in the comment you made about Versailles being %26quot;too much%26quot;....I think that is part of the allure of the Palace...so much opulence in a time of so much poverty in France during it%26#39;s %26quot;heyday%26quot;...I think of St Peters in Rome the same way.....truly lovely, but way too much gold, marble and opulence. But considering the historical times that these places have survived, being there is truly marvelous. I haven%26#39;t seen Versailles yet, but plan to on our trip to Paris next year. I%26#39;m hoping that the construction that you mention will be gone, or lessened, by then. Construction in Florence %26quot;almost%26quot; ruined my trip there last year. But, with the euro so strong, I guess it%26#39;s time for some facelifting to be done to alot of historical sites.
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rudyjane -
I think you%26#39;re absolutely right - so much opulence during that time is part of what makes Versailles a special place. By all means, I think everyone should see it at least once. However, I think from an aesthetic perspective, it%26#39;s very overdone and slightly tacky. That%26#39;s why I preferred the look of the smaller buildings. They were still exceptional, but more understated and elegant.
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%26quot;We came across this group of young people in the square who had all kinds of instruments and started playing some really good music.%26quot;
I was there also! I thought the grtoup was very very good too! One of the best I have heard play there!
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I really loved Versailles. Naturally, the decor of the palace is so different from that of my home, but sometimes I like to believe that in a former life I lived in such style. I%26#39;m looking forward to seeing the movie %26quot;Marie Antoinette%26quot;, but it won%26#39;t reach Israel until January. (However, many movies debut here at just about the same time they do in the U.S.)
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I think a person has to see Versailles at least once as there is nothing quite like it--but agree that somehow it is just too big and overdone. big and empty for the most part. So big it is almost a caricature of itself. I prefer Fonatinebleau--the chateau and gardens are quite wonderful but smaller and more intimate and somehow more real. Fotainebleau is a nice day trip from Paris and a nice pretty town in its own right. Chantilly and it%26#39;s chateau are also quite nice--another easy day trip.
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Ouch! sorry for the lousy spelling! Its Fontainebleau!
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