Versailles!

It is Wednesday and we spent the day at Versailles. As Terry had been before, only I took the tour of the house, then we met in the Gardens for lunch. In the afternoon we hired bikes and rode to Marie-Antoinette's hamlet - amazing, then around the lake. It was a pretty spectacular day, and we are both a bit sunburned and tired as a result of our efforts.

The tour was an hour and a half with an art-historian. Sophie, could her name be any more french?, really knew what she was talking about. The tour led us into the private apartments of King Louis XV, and XVI. It was interesting to hear her talk about what their daily life was like, and why these private apartments were built. Besides their apartments we saw the Opera that Louis XV had built in the palace. It is pretty interesting, all trompe l'oeil painting so it could be finished in 2 years.
I also saw the public spaces, interesting, but not as personal, the Queen's apartments, which had a lovely fabric used throughout, and the Hall of Mirrors. The hall is undergoing some renovation, so it was not the impressive site others have seen. It was still impressive, and I will hope to see it again after it has been cleaned. The process doesn't finish until 2007, so if you really want to see it, plan accordingly.

The grounds are amazing! We really enjoyed riding around them - huge! and seeing the hamlet. The little village Marie-Antoinette had built is so odd. It looks like it would be a set for Hobitan from Lord of the Rings, it's very sweet, but fake. It was fake when it was made. There are lots of animals, cute goats, ducks, pigs, sheep, swans, etc. We both took tons of photos there, and are dying to see them. The rest of the grounds are fun, some parts are quite manicured, while others are maintained, but not in any specific way. Except for those trees! Cut into squares on the bottom and top, they create allay after allay. The views are beautiful, it looks like a painting. I'm sure I've seen many painted there.

We are in the Marais district, it's Wednesday again, we still have days of info to upload. Suffice to say, it has been quite a good time. Today we are eating in this area, on a quiet square off the main streets. We both like this area, and find it quite comfortable and interesting. Tomorrow we are going back to the amazing resturant we ate in on Monday night. We got there just after 10pm, and were unable to try their special wine pairing meal, so we are going back. The food, ambiance, service and wine were so spectacular we just have to go again!

Friday we leave for our trip around the country. We may have internet access from our hotels, so we will be able to upload more of our experiences. Terry says that Marie's hamlet is a simulacra within a simulacra, and of course he is correct. So Au Revoir until later!