Day 23 Report

This morning we had to get up an hour earlier (as if we haven't been sleep-deprived enough). I only managed to wake up because it was VERSAILLES DAY today.

We tried buying RER train tickets to Versailles at Porte de Vincennes but the station only has automated machines and the machines only accept coins or computer chip-embedded credit cards. We didn't have €11.40 in change so we had to drop off at the big Gare d'Austerlitz and buy from the counter (€5.70 two-way).

RER (regional) trains are huge - they have an upper floor and a much larger sitting capacity on both floors. The ride out of central Paris took around 40 min. I had a hard time trying to keep awake, so I read my photocopied notes on Versailles.

Many people got off at the Versailles-Rive Gauche station, and we followed the crowd till we found ourselves at the start of a long wide boulevard. In the distance, the sunlight glinted off the gilded gates of the Palace of Versailles.

The more we walked, the more people we saw ahead of us, till it seemed like there were five million people at the entrance to the palace. Even with the the museum pass, we had to stand in line. And by "line" I mean an insanely long queue snaking in long loops around the entrance. Although the line moved fast, it still took us half an hour to get inside the palace - and we had arrived less than an hour after the palace opened!

We had to leave our picnic bag at the bag counter. Then we were swept away by crowds jostling for a chance to take pictures of the countless ceiling frescoes, fancy chandeliers, gilded carvings, et cetera. It was horribly frustrating trying to dodge everyone and get a clear shot of anything. And the sea of people kept moving, so it was very difficult to stand still and take a picture, much less backtrack to see something that you missed.

As you can imagine, it was all very chaotic and there was barely time to register what rooms we were in before we found ourselves in the next room, and the next, and so forth. We managed to get a guide before we were swept along past a (closed) chapel, and a room containing handy family trees - except that we couldn't be bothered to read them, so they weren't so handy for us. Haha. Then the crowd swarmed down one long corridor which brought us through a series of rooms. All had walls with rich brocade wallpaper, and all contained various paintings and busts/statues of royalty. Three of the rooms were bedchambers - the king's, the queen's and the dauphin's (dauphin = crown prince, basically). The beds all had richly embroidered bedcovers and the king's bed in particular was extraordinarily high.

And if one ever needed a visual break from all that opulence, the windows in each room afforded good views of the sprawling gardens.

Finally we wound up in perhaps the most famous room in the palace - the Hall of Mirrors.

Our final stop was a long gallery that reminded me of the Louvre. The walls were filled with giant paintings of significant battles in French history (the names of the victors were printed on the bottom of the frame).

Then we found the giftshop. There was a door beside the cashier leading out to the grounds, but first I had to actually get past the cashier. I bought €31 worth of stuff (Paris' museum shops should thank me and give me an award), including an illustrated print of some kings and queens of France, as well as a kids' book on 100 events in French history (in French) and a more grownup Timeline of French History (in English, in case I don't understand something in the kids' book).

Then it was time for our picnic in the palace gardens.

Except that never happened.

Normally the entry to the gardens is free, unless there are fountain shows on in the summer. I was under the impression that these shows were only held on weekends, so imagine my surprise when we left the giftshop and saw the long queues to buy fountain show tickets. The tickets cost €8, which I refused to pay (which I know is strange, considering how much I just spent 10 minutes ago). So our planned picnic in the gardens became a sad little picnic beside a potted plant FACING the gardens.

On one hand it was a pity, because there are a few small palaces/buildings tucked amongst that huge expanse of greenery, and the pass covers entry to most of them. Plus the gardens looked so inviting. However, on the other hand it meant we were done with Versailles unexpectedly early - which was a very good thing, considering how many things we're trying to squeeze into this week.

So we returned to central Paris and took the Metro to the Invalides station. The walk to Les Invalides was long but the complex was not difficult to find since there are no buildings beside it - and anyway, it's hard to miss the gold dome of the church.

The complex was laid out in quadrangles. Our main purpose was to see Napoleon's tomb but it seemed to be at the other end of the complex, so we just walked down the corridors. The place apparently contains a few museums, but we only came across the Musée de l'Armée. The museum is grouped into different historical periods. However, we only found the arms and armour section and OF COURSE I had to pop in to have a look.

Finally we emerged at the other end of the complex, and entered the domed church. The church contains the tombs of numerous generals from modern French history, but the highlight is of course Napoleon's massive tomb (made up of six layers of coffins), which is right under the great dome. Inscribed at the tomb's base are the names of Napoleon's greatest victories.

I bought some postcards so I could get change for the souvenir coin machine, then we left and walked back to the Metro. Since it was still relatively early, it was the perfect opportunity to fit in what we had missed on Sunday - climbing the Notre Dame towers.

We joined the long queue to get into the cathedral, whereupon we entered and the first thing we saw was a sign directing us back outside to the tower entrance. :P So we went outside again and found an equally long queue that we had failed to notice on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the queue was not fast-moving because only around 20 people are allowed up every 10 min. Therefore we were stuck under the blazing sun for one whole hour, before we were FINALLY allowed through the green gates and up to the tower entrance.

From then onwards it was a long dizzying climb to the top. The steps were steep and narrow and worn to a depression in the middle from years of being trod upon. There was one respite nearly halfway up though - the tower giftshop, but we didn't buy anything. The steps after that were even narrower.

Eventually I struggled out into the sunlight and fresh air, and was rewarded with a good view of the Seine and the square below - and the Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Cœur, as usual. The were several signs on the parapet with excerpts from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The other thing of interest was the belfry, where the Great Bell (rung during religious ceremonies) is hung.

But that wasn't the highest we could climb. We had to wait to ascend the final staircase to the top, where each person was only allowed 5 min (although I don't think anyone was keeping time).

We left the towers and browsed the various souvenir shops across the road. Being so close to Île Saint-Louis meant that we had an excuse to cross over and have ice cream again, so we did.

They didn't have Caramel Beurre Salé today, sadly. I wanted Nougat au Miel (Honey Nougat) and some more Chocolat Noir, but Denise was in front of me and got the last scoop of the former. *grumble* So I got Cassis (Blackcurrant) instead, which was very sweet and tasted like a frozen blackcurrant drink. Well actually the sun was really hot, so the sorbet was melting fast and it felt like I was DRINKING blackcurrant juice. Haha.

After our nice little break, we strolled down Boulevard St. Germain and entered the first Metro station we came across. We took the train to Trocadéro. The walk was extremely short - we just left the station, walked past the first building from the exit, and there it was: the Eiffel Tower, looming up before us. We got the best seats on the parapet overlooking the fountains below, and took photos as the sun began to set.

The fact that the sun was beginning to set obviously meant that it was very late, so we gave up the idea of taking our long-due Seine cruise. In fact, we gave up on it completely, having decided that we'd seen everything there is to see along the Seine. So we returned to the hotel, where we were pleasantly surprised to find the elevator working again - not that we really needed it, but at least we could finally take pictures of it.