Paris: Versailles

After a short metro ride…and more stairs, we boarded the train to Versailles. We had a short walk up this beautiful tree lined boulevard to the golden main gates, and a horde of people grouped to go in with timed tickets.
The guide said they have 45,000 people on the weekends and 25,000 during the week.  Of course we went on a Saturday.

Versailles is truly a marvel with all the gold adorning intricate decorations inside and out. In fact after being squeezed like sardines into room after room of golden opulence I final said

“ENOUGH GOLD ALREADY!”

THE SAGA OF THE TICKETS – WI-FI – THE WEAK LINK

We got tickets to most of our events though an online service which for this most part was fine…except for Versailles. We were supposed to get the final bar coded tickets the night before.  What we got was a voucher that said – this is not the final ticket.  Not receiving the ticket we go anyway hoping the ticket will come through. WI-FI – We have it in our flat, on the train and supposedly at Versailles.  We get there…no WI-FI, and no tickets.  So a lovely lady in the ticket office proceeds to try to help us. She takes us to get WI-FI at a restaurant in the complex so we can figure out how to download our tickets.  An hour later we final find them by clicking a link – “ meeting location and tour guide’….suddenly there were the tickets.

SQUEEZING THROUGH VERSAILLES LIKE SARDINES
While it is incredible to see Versailles, on a Saturday is probably not the best choice.  We squeezed through room after room of famous portraits of French Kings and Queens that I had seen in classes but to see so many clustered together on walls of every room was a bit overwhelming.  But with the push of the throng taking photos at every turn, I was a little sad that I could not look at them more closely.

Here are some of the highlights.  I may try to do some paintings and add later.

HALL OF MIRRORS

Rain was on the forecast and we were starving so we left without going to the gardens and headed for a lovely cafe nearby…Chez Chapeau.
The best French Onion Soup I have ever had.

 

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