All That Glitters is Gold
Final Day in Paris - Versailles
Thursday arrived with some clouds but not the rain that was originally expected. This was a nice surprise because we had saved our trip out to Versailles for our final full day. Before meeting up with the tour group that would take us on the 45 minute journey south west of the city, we had a quintessential French breakfast at a café across from our hotel.
Approaching Versailles was a pretty funny experience because for about 44 minutes, you see pretty normal outer-city/suburban scenery. In the last minute of the drive, you see the palace which arises out of all the normalcy, all sparkly and grand. As we would learn, construction of Versailles was started by Louis XIII, although he never ended up living there due to his untimely death. After that, both Louis XIV and Louis XV lived and added to what we now know as the palace and gardens of Versailles. It seems that a major theme in building extra rooms and secluded areas in the gardens was to ensure they had some privacy for their many mistresses. Although it hasn’t been a royal residence since the end of the 18th century, it preserves the history of the people who lived, worked, and slept around there.
Despite arriving in the morning, we could see even from a distance that it was crowded, but once again my dad had the foresight to get us on a tour where we could skip the line. After meeting our guide, we went around the back to get in faster and begin our tour. At this point, we were basically professional tour-goers but even with our experience, it was a challenge to stay with our guide. Fortunately, the ceilings of each room we went into were spectacular and completely unobstructed by all the people below. It is hard to express in just a few pictures truly how over the top the palace was. Being immersed in floor to ceiling opulence does not have the desensitizing effect you might think. Instead, it was room after room of over stimulating colors and gold, and considering we only saw a handful of the 2,300 rooms in the palace, I can only imagine what walking around the whole thing would be like.
My favorite room was the king’s fake bed room which had big red curtains which gave the whole place a red glow. Our guide told us it was fake because he never actually slept there but instead, would make a show of going to bed in there when he hosted parties, only to sneak through a hidden door to his real bedroom. I’m still not really sure what the point of this way, but the overarching theme was unnecessary spectacles and shows of wealth. Apparently the nobles would also insist that their servants stand around and watch them eat dinner which could take up to 3 hours each night, so the French Revolution is making more sense to me.
Speaking of the Revolution, our guide told us that in 1793, all of the furniture was sold. Since then, many but not all of the pieces have been recovered and put back into the exhibits, although some things we saw were only replicas. The clock in the King’s public bed room was the original which made it my favorite piece on the whole tour.
After passing through more over-the-top rooms with intricate ceiling paintings and sculptures of Louis the XIV and his glorious curly hair, we came to the Hall of Mirrors. This was undoubtedly the most impressive and most crowded room on the tour. The enormous mirrors reflected the beautiful day outside and the many people out on the grounds. The windows were open so we enjoyed a nice breeze as we made our way through, trying to get unobstructed photos. The chandeliers were my favorite part and there were a lot of them. I can only imagine what it would be like to walk alone through the hall when it was candlelit and everything was sparkling. No wonder it is still used for diplomatic events.
We passed through a few more rooms, including the Queen’s public (fake) bedroom before heading for the gardens, pausing to get some macarons from Ladurée as Mary had recommended. I got the Marie Antoinette tea flavor which was excellent.
We were a little short on time to do too much exploring given the scheduling of our bus back to Paris, but what we did see was amazing. Adding to the scene was music piped in on hidden speakers playing regal trumpet fanfares. The fountain in the entrance to the main part of the gardens was just as fabulous as you’d think. It featured many gold turtles and frogs around its tiers and was topped off by an intricate marble statue. I cannot wait to see the equestrian events at this year’s Olympics which are set to take place deeper in the gardens.
Having enjoyed our stroll and the fresh air, we headed back to Paris with a plan to keep the garden theme going with a visit to the Jardin du Luxembourg. First, we made a very important stop to the outdoor cafes by the Eiffel Tower which was near where our bus dropped us off. Refueled, we took a regional train a few stops to the gardens, walking by the Sorbonne (University of Paris) where Marie Curie studied.
When we arrived at the gardens, we found a lovely place to sit by a grassy lawn full of flowers. At the top, there was the official Paris 2024 sign which I am sure will be shown on TV approximately a million times during the Olympic coverage. We meandered around enjoying the nice weather and relaxed nature of the area, which was full of tourists and Parisians hanging out.
Eventually it was time to hop on the metro to go up to the 10th arrondissement where we had our final dinner reservation of our trip. When Anna and I visited in 2022, we stayed in the 10th and enjoyed its less fancy and edgier vibe. Many young Parisians (and also us that one weekend) sit on the side of the canal in the evenings with drinks and food. Others enjoy the many cafes and bars in the neighborhood. We had picked a cozy restaurant where Anna and I had been for breakfast not far from Gare de l'Est, one of the major train stations in the area.
Our final French dinner did not disappoint, with the highlight for me being the pistachio crème brûlée I had for dessert. We then headed back to our hotel to finish packing and prepare for our trip to the airport the next morning. We planned to take the RoissyBus which picked up by the opera house which was close to our hotel. My parents wisely thought we should find the exact spot before we all had luggage and grumpy attitudes the next morning, and this proved hugely important due to all the construction going on pre-Olympics. A light rain had started to fall by the time we got back which felt like a fitting end to this part of an otherwise sunny vacation.