PARIS DAY THREE

Thursday we had decided to visit Versailles, to see the palace there. This journey required first a Metro ride, then jumping on an RER (suburban train) train to Versailles. After a bit of confusion (i.e. getting on a train headed the wrong direction and then having to get off halfway there to minimize the cost of our trip—our passes were good only for Zones 1-2, so we went as far as we could then got off at the last station in Zone 2 and bought a ticket for the rest of the trip) we made it to Versailles. The palace is a bit of a walk from the station, and we came upon the palace from the main/front side, which gives you a cool view. The main gate is VERY gold-looking, and you can begin to get an idea of the size of the place from that side.

Versailles (like everything we visited except the Eiffel Tower and churches—all churches in France were free to visit) was included in the Paris Museum Pass we’d bought at the Louvre on Wednesday, so that definitely made it convenient as we went places and didn’t have to buy tickets or even really worry about the cost.

Once inside Versailles, we each picked up one of the free audio guides and started the tour. The first place we got to see (as it is located immediately beside the audio guide/information area) was the chapel. Pretty cool, and like the other French churches we saw, ornate in carving for sure, but without the (somewhat gaudy) gold paint and trimmings we saw in England. We were able to actually go IN the chapel, but could get a good view of it from the doorway and later the upstairs doorway.

Then we walked down a hall of statues, through an exhibit of photos of Versailles, and into the rest of the rooms which included the King rooms, Queen’s room and Dauphin’s rooms. Of course the King’s rooms included the Hall of Mirrors. The Hall of Mirrors is definitely room, although perhaps not as dazzling on a cloudy day like it was when we were there. We have photos so I’ll post those when I get a chance.

We saw the Queen’s Chambers, including the doorway Marie Antoinette escaped through, next to her bed. They said that when morning came that day, the guard room (immediately beside her bed chamber) was “unusually empty”.

Even the Dauphin’s chambers were extravagant, which I guess was good since at least a couple Dauphins only ever got to live there (and never lived long enough/outlived their father long enough to become king).

After the inside tours (which, honestly, included a lot less than I would have expected given the size of the building), we went outside to see about going to the summer house, but the cold mixed with the chance that even if we walked the gardens to it, the building would be closed discouraged us from that. So we heard back to Paris on the train.

We ended up back in Paris a bit earlier than we thought we would, so we set about knocking a few more things off our to-do list. First, we went to the Musee d’Orsay, where we went a bit more speedily than we had at first in the Louvre, and limited our visit to the pieces we really wanted to see (i.e. the famous impressionist pieces). I think women used to be naked a lot more, given the number of such paintings in the museum.

We headed out of the Musee d’Orsay and headed for the Hotel des Invalides (which we had passed our first day in Paris), mostly to see Napoleon’s tomb. We briefly explored some other exhibits there, like a hall of armor, but since really it was Napoleon’s tomb we were there to see, we moved on.
Napoleon’s tomb is, well, exactly what you’d expect given every caricature there is about him. It basically said he was the originator of all things good, and I was even looking for an engraving somewhere saying he’d invented the internet (as there is quite a spirited argument about this, I thought it would have been helpful if he’d just claimed that as well).

Next, we walked back up to the Seine, hopped on the Metro and headed for Les Halles, since that was the closest station to the neighborhood that included some pastry shops recommended by our tour book. Turns out Les Halles is a gigantic mall, so we checked that out a bit, then headed onto Rue Montorgueil. There, we found lots of people shopping, and we grabbed sandwiches, checked out a wine shop, and picked up some pastries for later. Walking back, we checked out an outdoor market (not too spectacular) and then headed back into Les Halles to take the train to our hotel.

We’d decided to try the Eiffel Tower again, but on the way home decided it was too foggy for it to be worth it, and the weather hadn’t been any better than the day before so it was likely to be closed again.