Third Time's the Charm!

1) Royal Chapel at Versailles; INCREDIBLE ceiling!
2) Hall of Mirrors
3, 4 & 5) Various rooms at Versailles

Allo! Allo! We’re back! Yes, in case anybody noticed, we actually skipped a day of blogging! What, you may ask, happened to TUESDAY?? (Were we in Belgium??)

Actually, we woke up yesterday morning, and it wasn’t raining. The sky was actually blue and pink! So, we headed to Versailles. Managed to get through St. Michel on to the RER C5, and about half-way there – RAIN! And I don’t mean a few gentle drops -- I mean a DELUGE! We got to the station at Versailles, got out of the train – walked about 10 feet, and then agreed that it would NOT be a good idea to go any further, conditions being what they were! So, back into the train and a return to Paris, and then our flat. R had several hours of work to do for Caltech, and it was so wet outside, that we just stayed in for most of the day! So, not much news, and NO pictures! Did get some good reading time in! Braseola salads for lunch with fresh baguette.

Around 4, I was starting to get antsy, so we decided to take a trek to the far side of town…actually, to the Republique area, so we could check out a hotel for our Australian friends, Norm and Marg and their upcoming visit to Paris. Found the hotel without too much trouble; it’s the Leonard de Vinci. Neighborhood looked fine; restaurants and shops all around – and of course this was the time when, once again, it decided to POUR! Down it came – hard – for about 5 minutes – we got SOAKED, even though we had umbrellas! R, of course, not too pleased with me, as it was all my idea! Oh well!!

Back to the flat to dry off and have dinner. Made pasta with R’s sauce; just great! To bed around 10 (couldn’t even make it to the end of the PSG/Auxerre soccer match!) but when we went out then to see the lights on the Eiffel Tour sparkle as they do every hour, the rain had stopped and there were stars in the sky! How ‘bout that?!

Decided to try again this morning to get to Versailles, (3^rd times the charm??) so we repeated out foray down to St. Michel and the RER C5 to Versailles. This time, it was actually sunny, though crisp! Amazing what a difference a day makes!

Got to our entrance, door A, right at 9 a.m. and surprise! They were just opening up!
So…we were in!

Now, Versailles. Well…they were hosting two separate exhibitions, the first on silver, and the second, an exhibition of portraits by the Swedish portrait artist Rosand. We hit the silver exhibition first – whew!! There was silver from all over Europe. They had pieces from Windsor Castle, and museums/castles in Denmark, Moscow and Germany. Seeing it all together – just remarkable! There were silver tables, silver chairs, lots of silver mirrors and picture frames, silver fireplace screens – some of these pieces must have literally weighed a TON! Very ornate; very lovely; and it did get me to wondering just who on earth got to clean all that stuff…

Passed on from the silver exhibit to the “regular” rooms – the King and Queen’s rooms; the Dauphin & Dauphine’s rooms as well as the fully restored Hall of Mirrors; just amazing, and in some of the rooms, it was just us! …I could live there! [Note added by RJB – No you couldn’t. Keeping all those mirrors clean and free of streaks would drive you crazy!]

The Rosand exhibit was very interesting. He might not have been the greatest portrait painter of his time, but he could do beautiful things with fabric and lace! Wow! He also got around – portraits of the royal houses of Sweden, Russia and France.

From there we meandered (and I mean that literally) out into the gardens. On our last visit to Versailles (successful visit, that is…) with Mom and Robert, we rented a golf cart outside of the chateau and used that to get around gardens. This time, though, we walked dutifully past the golf carts (grrrrr…..) and walked … and walked… we stopped at one of the small restaurants near the long pond and split a pizza Marguerita (with ham as well, actually!) and had glasses of wine for lunch. Then to the Grand Trianon!

It opens at noon, and we were (surprise!) the first ones there! (What timing!) Had a nice walk through – again, even had some of the rooms to ourselves! Have never been inside before; rather an interesting place! Walked all through and then back out into the gardens.

The Petit Trianon is closed for refurbishing. (It’s supposed to re-open in June 2008, but I don’t think they’ll make it; looks like they’ve got a LONG way to go!) However, the gardens were open, so we went and explored. The buildings inside the garden – the Queen’s Theatre, etc. – were closed, but it was wonderful wandering around the Temple of Love and the Queen’s Hameau. Beautiful day, and a wonderful walk!

By now we had more than covered our 10,000 steps, so we decided to take the mini-tram back to the Chateau. Not long to wait, and a VERY bumpy ride, but eventually we got there!

Decided to take the bus back, rather than the RER. (Nothing scenic from the RER, and we do prefer buses!) Caught the 171 bus from right in front of the Chateau, and took it on a leisurely circuit to the Pont des Sévres. Lovely, lovely ride – would highly recommend it to anyone heading to Versailles! At the end of the bus line, we caught the metro and with only one change, found ourselves back at Cluny and St. Michel; and the trusty 27 bus back home!

Rested just a bit – also did some homework, as I had some Marie-Antoinette questions that we researched on the web – and then headed out again to a shop I wanted to see opposite St. Paul on the Rue de Rivoli. Nice walk, and then back home for the day. BTOR for dinner; we’re in the process of cleaning out the fridge, as only a few more days!

Not sure what we’ll be doing tomorrow, but Philippa arrives from London tomorrow night. It will be GREAT to see her, even if it’s just a short visit!

So, more tomorrow!!
Much love,
m