Daily Archives: June 27, 2007

It may be hard to believe but we had a difficult time getting started this morning after the late night last night (or should I say this morning!) Nevertheless, we managed to get up and out and headed to the RER station up the street for the trip to Versailles. I was interested in seeing what this “palace that all other palaces want to be” and where so much history took place. The energy level of the family, though, was a bit below what was needed to really *do* Versailles.

All I can say is: Wow! No wonder the peasants revolted! The sheer size of the place is insane and the opulence is beyond excessive. You thought things were big in Texas? Doesn’t hold a candle to this place. I don’t even know where to start. I can honestly say that the The Hall of Mirrors is the most amazing room I have ever seen and I shared my experience with about 200 strangers! While our Museum Pass did come through again, it still couldn’t make the busloads of other folks disappear and the crowds were a bit overwhelming at times.

If you wanted to escape the crush, however, you just needed to step out into the gardens which were breathtaking. Nevermind that Versailles is one of the few non-tropical places where they grow oranges (and have for centuries). It’s at least a kilometer from the house to the beginning of “the Grand Canal” – which actually goes nowhere but you can rent boats to go float on it!

We planned poorly and found ourselves in the middle of a major tourist attraction at lunchtime with no escape so we were forced to find a spot in the garden restaurant where we sampled the French version of pizza and cheeseburgers (neither were much of a hit I’m afraid!) Then back out to see more extravagance.

It was another cold, blustery day and we were done with “old houses” sooner than we might have otherwise been so it was back to the big city to chill out, watch some Wimbledon, test our savvy at the French version of “Who wants to be a millionaire?” (some guy missed a question about Lancelot and Guinevere – duh! I knew the answer and I don’t speak French!) Then we were out for a very nice meal at a local restaurant on Rue Cler. It’s a nice quiet night cuz I actually have to work tomorrow! There’s a reason for this trip and tomorrow is one bit of the evidence: I’ll be spending the day at the OECD. I promise not to bore you with the details!

/san/

P.S. Pedometer score: 21, 208 or just over 1o miles which I’m sure wasn’t quite enough to burn off the unbelievable rice pudding I had for dessert tonight!

We got a late start this morning since none of the sights on the agenda were open before 10 a.m. First stop: Napoleon’s tomb.   It’s walking distance from the apartment and we get there ahead of most tour buses.  I don’t know which is more impressive:  the building which was built by the “sun king” Louis XIV or the tomb they put in it centuries later.  The dome of the church has 24 kilos of gold leaf for decoration! And Napoleon’s sarcophagus is huge – inside he’s in a tin coffin inside a mahogany coffin inside two lead coffins inside an ebony coffin inside the stone sarcophagus! Talk about safe keeping… 

Across the street we get a dose of culture with the Rodin museum.  I know less about sculpture than I do about painting but I can appreciate what it must take to make a hunk of rock look like a person.  We got to see the famous “Thinker” statue as well as “The Kiss” which are both very cool.  We also saw lots of “naked people” as Gillian put it! 

Then we decided to really “do” lunch!  No cheap eats but a nice restaurant with lots of business folks and few tourists.   I got to have quiche and some claflouti for dessert – very french!  Gillian is becoming quite the omelet expert and loves the chocolate tarts.  Duncan has learned the French term for “chocolate lava cake”! 

Then more art – the Musee de Orsay.  This is the place I’ve wanted to see all week; it has a very extensive impressionist  collection – my favorite.  Unfortunately, everyone else has it high on their list too:  the line is *really* long. Our Museum Pass saves the day, however, and we bypass all the queues and go straight inside.  We can’t avoid the crowds here though and covering the fifth floor takes some time and patience.  It was really cool having artsy conversations with Duncan about the difference between Renior and Degas compared to Van Gogh and Pissarro.  (He’s not crazy about post-impressionist pointillism in case you are interested!)  The surprise bonus for today:  the museum houses the painting “Whistler’s mother” which I didn’t know.  It’s actually pretty impressive up close. 

Once we’re done with art for the day, we do the other thing that is popular to do in Paris:  shopping!  We head to the Opera district where the big department stores are and discover the wonder that is Lafayette!  I thought Liberty of  London and Harrods were impressive!  They’ve got nothing on this place.  The main building is 7 stories and has a stained glass dome in the center.  The housewares department is in a second building and the men’s store is in a third building!  We actually tried to shop there but it was too overwhelming!  I have to confess I was well out of my league!  The women’s shoe department alone was bigger than my local Macy’s and I’ve never even seen Jimmy Choo shoes up close!  We decided to revisit this experience another day because the big annual sale starts tomorrow so half the stuff we wanted to look at was under cover – literally covered up with paper and signs saying that they can’t sell these items until the 27th. So we’ll be back! 

We headed home for a short break then decided to do something different and eat out… again!  We found a great little Japanese restaurant right near the apartment which we all agreed had the best Japanese food we’ve ever had – the tempura was unbelievable and Frank was most impressed by the sushi.  Duncan did declare that the beef and cheese skewer was not to his liking though (!)   

Now we’re off for the highlight of the day:  the Eiffel tower at night! Unfortunately the Museum Pass was not going to save us here so we had to just suck it up and get in line which we did at 9:45 p.m.  It still wasn’t dark and we waited patiently in the cold and wind (Frank in shorts and me in my Tevas!) and finally got to the elevator a little before 11. We all went up to the second level (400 feet) where Frank (Mr. Vertigo!) opted to wait while the kids and I got in another line for half an hour for a lift to the top (900 feet).  What a view! There was Paris all lit up all around us.  It was really spectacular.  Duncan tried valiently to get Frank’s camera to take some pictures but in the cold, windy dark we couldn’t get the shutter speed quite right.  We viewed the whole city then headed back to the second level to find dad.  By now it’s midnight and time for us to be heading home…. along with the hundreds of other people still on the tower.  Unfortunately, the lift we were waiting for broke down and they didn’t bother to tell us (how very French!) so we waited for 20 minutes for an elevator that was stuck at the bottom!  The other one was working though and we eventually got down and got home about 1 a.m.  Hot chocolate all around and then off to bed.  I can honestly say that that was the second coldest I’ve ever been in the summertime trumped only by the infamous whale watching trip in Iceland in August 2005. (For those keeping track – Pedometer total: 26,160 or about 13 miles!) 

/san/