Day 4 - Versailles

Day 4 was one of those that you have while travelling where you have to keep going even though everything is conspiring against you. We had decided on Tuesday night to go to the Palace of Versailles on Wednesday, unless the weather was really bad. It is about 30 minutes out of town by train. so we decided to ask for a 7:00 AM wakeup call. I then stayed up until midnight catching up on Day 1 of the blog.

When the phone rang, we stumbled out of bed knowing we'd feel better with some coffee and breakfast, even if it was going to cost 20 Euros. However, the French do not open their cafe's at 8:00 AM, so we jumped on the metro for the first leg of our journey with an empty stomach.

We stopped near the Eiffel tower, and found a couple of dingy places open, but they did not take Mastercard and we were cash poor again. The next step was to catch an RER (regional) train for Versailles, which we did following the usual confusion. The good news was that our regular metro passes worked, so we saved some money on train fare.

We arrived in Versasilles and while exiting the station, Edith tripped and did a complete face-plant on the sidewalk.  She got up and the damage appeared to be a bruised knee and elbow contusion. She had done the same thing 4 years ago in Central Park, New York. The injuries did not turn out to be too serious and she soldiered on for the rest of this day and subsequent ones.

Versailles is a bit like Banff or Whistler, a resort town with one big attraction nearby. We limped over to the Palace, found a bank machine and had a coffee and Muffin (9 Euros total) after being ignored for 10 minutes by the staff.

Versailles is an amazing place. It was built in the early 1600's and became the capital of France when Louis XIV expanded it and moved there to live. It continued to expand and was one of the causes for the eventual downfall of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in the late 1780's.

The Palace (Chateau) is huge, but is dwarfed by the Gardens that go on forever. Elsewhere on the grounds are Marie Antoinette's house, and two large buildings called the Grand Trianon, where Napoleon resided during his time.

It was a grey day, so the pictures aren't the best, but that seems appropriate somehow.

After returning to Paris, we saw an impromptu dance session by four young black men. It was the perfect tonic for a grey day.

List of photos following:
1. An artists view of the layout of the Chateau and Gardens
2. One of the early large halls in the Chateau
3. The ballroom is full of mirrors and chandeliers
4. The Gardens stretch out from the Grand Chateau
5. The Hall of Battles was comissioned by Louis-Philipe in the 1830's to commemorate France\s great battles. Each painting is at least 30ft high.
6. Dancers on the Champs-Elysees.