We sucessfully made it to the train station, got our tickets, and hopped on the first train that came through about the time they told us.
The Eiffel Tower hovering in fog & snow. I took this picture on a whim, not even sure the Tower would even show up through the train window and through the din, but it did! I was glad!
We sat back and enjoyed the ride. We knew it would take about 30-45 minutes, so we didn't pay much attention to the signs whizzing by. But when we finally stopped after 50 minutes and were not at our destination, we began to worry. We found an elderly lady who couldn't speak a bit of English (but who was the only one left on the train) and through gestures, she let us know that we going the wrong way! We'd taken the line all the way up to the north of Paris instead of south to Versailles...bummer! We were anxious to get to the Castle and have plenty of time to tour it. So we not so patiently waited for the train to stop-n-go it's way back to where we exchanged trains. Then, it was an interesting time getting to the right side of the tracks to catch the south-bound train. We barely got there before the train came puffing in. The doors are automated, so if you're running late, then too bad! We thought we had a minute, so I stopped to get a picture of Kendra with the train depot in the background. But her smile turned to desperation when she saw the train pulling in behind me. "Ahhhhhh! We gotta hurry or we'll miss it!"
Whew! Made it! Now we could relax back and enjoy it again! :)
And we made it! The Chateau de Versailles! ...also known as the Sun-king palace. It is the largest castle (château) in Europe and used to house 20,000 nobles in it's day! It was the center of the French monarchy until the 1789 revolution which overthrew King Louis XVI. It's French classic style was copied by monarchs throughout Europe during the 18th century. It is told that the château was built for Louis XIV since he wanted to get away from the business of Paris. The construction began in 1664 and not finishing until near his death in 1715 about 50 years later. The above information and the following quote is from Paris-tourism.com; I thought it was interesting:
"The Palace of Versailles was never meant to be a home, kings were not homely people. Second only to God, and the head of an immensely powerful state, Louis XIV was an institution rather than a private individual. His instability, comings and goings, were minutely regulated and rigidly encased in ceremony, attendance at which was an honour much sought after by courtiers. Versailles was the headquarters of every arm of the state. After the death of Louis XIV, the château was abandoned for a few years. Then Louis XV moved in in 1722. It remained the residence of the royal family until the Revolution of 1789, and at this time the furniture was sold and the pictures dispatched to the Louvre. Thereafter it fell into ruin and was nearly demolished by Louis-Philippe. And in 1871, during the Paris Commune, it became the seat of the nationalist government, and the French parliament continued to meet in Louis XV's opera building until 1879. The restoration only began between the two world wars.The many buildings attached to the castle form a small town. The whole complex is a magnificent monument. The garden facade is 575 metres long with various annexes dotted here and there in a park which is several kilometres in both length and width. The park shows the skill of Le Notre in making good use of the natural resources on the site."
Here is the first front gate, or the outer gate.
Then an expanse of grounds before coming to the second, or inner, gate of gold to the heart of the castle.
The gate was beautiful! Beautiful artwork and detail.
When we asked where to buy the tickets, we were given very bad news....the castle is always closed on Mondays! :( :( So we determined to make the most of the outside! We walked around as much front perimeter as we could, peeked in the windows, and had a lot of fun anyway imagining living back in that time. After learning about the 70 meters-long hall of mirrors and the king & queen's luxurious apartments, I wish even more we could have gone in to see it. But I also read that unless you pay extra for guided tours, you really can't go into many areas of the castle alone. And the tours have long waiting lines. So, I guess it all worked out okay...we already saw a castle when we went to the Louvre, and we had a wonderful time there!
So, here's the entrance by me sticking the camera in through the inner golden gate! There was some construction going on the left side of the entrance.
This is the building we were able to really peek inside on! Again, bigger than lifesize statutes on top.
We think this must have been the castle cathedral - with the stained glass windows and decor inside.
We took several pictures outside, too.
"Help! Help me! I'm imprisoned inside the castle gate!" :) If you want to feel insignificant though, take a look at the hinges alone on this gate door!
Couldn't help but point the camera downward at the tire tracks on cobblestone. Seems there should be thinner wooden tracks and horses hooves, huh?
After we'd exhausted all the picture-points of the outer castle, we headed back into town for lunch. We figured we'd at least be able to say we ate at Versailles!
We found a restaurant that looked wonderful, but were told that they were not serving supper yet...it was only 4:30pm. Oh! Well, we saw a few others eating, so we asked if there was anything they were serving. Yes: snacks. Great! As it turned out, it was exactly what we'd have considered a light meal anyway! We shared a pasta dish with bread, and Kendra just loved the half-baked chocolate dessert with ice cream.
Ahhhh. Hunger satisfied, we happily boarded the train for the trip back to Paris.
Back at Paris, we used our newfound knowledge of the subway system and way around to go last-minute shopping. It took a bit longer than we thought since we kept remembering one thing after the other. By the time we were finished, it was nearing 8pm, so we headed back to our hotel, dumped our bags, and then went down to the corner to where we'd eaten supper the previous night.
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