On Sunday we woke up early again and headed to the metro to hop a train to Versailles. It was a good thing we got there when we did; like Rick Steves says in his most recent Europe travel book, Versailles is a "zoo." There were crowds upon crowds of swarming people, and those prone to claustrophobic panic attacks should stay far away from this place.
We got into the already formidable line and checked our bags, stepped back out into the heat and started our tour. We went into the palace first, going into one of the many hallways. There were about a bajillion rooms, each full of frescos and portraits and gilded knick-knacks. There was the Hall of Mirrors; I enjoyed the chandeliers the most--there were a ton of them hanging down from ornate ropes, all in perfect rows down the hall. Then there was Marie-Antoinette's bedroom, which was packed through of pushing and shoving people all trying to get a picture of her rather ordinary-looking stuff. I remember there being several hallways with busts and sculptures of famous people, including Charlemagne, Voltaire, L'Hopital, Descartes, and Russeau. There was another hallway with a magnificent arched skylight that housed a ton of giant war paintings, some of which depicted Napoleon riding his horse.
After this maze of a palace finally ended, we went out onto the scorching hot grounds to see the gardens. It seemed like everybody and his brother had a garden--the king had one, the queen too (probably because they needed to get away from each other from time to time so they could scheme in peace). There were fountains and sculptures and large basins full of stagnant water, flowers planted in incredibly detailed patterns, a musical fountain show (a new installment, no doubt), perfectly trimmed trees, and miles and miles of hedged pathways. It would have been a nightmare to get lost in there; it was a good thing we had a map.
There wasn't time to see the Marie-Antoinette estate, but we felt like we saw plenty of good stuff. We all met outside the palace in front of this big horse statue, and then (of course) sought out the nearby McDonalds for a much needed iced drink.
We headed back into Paris to meet our LBAT friends Abby and Dan, and then headed to Cafe Delmas, a neat little cafe with really tasty ice cream. I am constantly deprived of decent vegetables here so I got a Caesar salad, and it had beautiful thin slices of parmesan cheese and nice cruncy croutons. Abby and I split a strawberry/chocolate/praline ice cream, and it was good down to the last spoonful.
The LBATers split off to go to the Eiffel Tower to watch a movie, and we headed back to the train station, where we saw (gasp) yet another one-legged pigeon! The first one we saw was in front of the Monte Carlo Casino, and we named him "Nubby." Nubby's bretheren pigeon at Saint-Lazare was even less fortunate--he had a stump plus a few mangled toes on his other foot. Maybe he got them caught in those creepy anti-landing spikes that adorn the support beams and store signs of public places... At least he looked happy, pigeoning along like pigeons do.
The train ride back was surprisingly short--it could be that I'm finally getting used to the constant traveling. Too bad there's only a few weeks left. Our next two trips are to Amsterdam for a big music festival, and then to Prague.
Sorry for not posting pictures yet! They will be up soon--my internet is out in my dorm and it's driving me up the wall...
Great Pictures!
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