Versailles

A little tour trip to Versailles today - but actually, it was a miracle I got there really!

The tour had an assigned meeting spot, so the night before I looked it up and wrote all the directions in my little notebook.  (Item: I have a lovely little lavender Moleskin notebook that I write everything down in. It helps me remember where I've been or where I'm going and is easier to refer to than a big map).

According to Google, it would take 30 mins to get to my destination, so I left a half an hour ealier just in case of accidents or delays.  The first leg of the Metro trip went fine, but when I went to change trains, I walked for ages to get to the second line - only to find that the entire section I needed had been closed for renovations!  

There were some people walking around advising people where they needed to go, so I grabbed a young girl and put my case to her.  Her English was pretty good, but she had to get some help from someone else to work out the best way to get me to the street I needed to be at......and the minutes started to tick away.  I walked all the way back to where I had started and took another train, and then walked faster and took another train, and then sprinted up the steps and finally emerged onto a street with no idea where I had to go next!  It was 8.56am and the tour was starting at 9am.  

I crossed the street, hoping to grab a cab and wave my little notebook under the driver's nose to get me to the meeting point - and then crossed back when I realised that there was no way I could get a cab from that side of the street. At 8.58am I grabbed a woman standing on the side of the road and asked her which direction the street I needed was - and then went back across the street again when she said it was where I had just been.  I bolted across and stood on the corner wondering what number of the street I was on and which direction I should walk to find the meeting point - 8.59am.

And just as I was about to panic, I actually stopped and looked at where I was standing. And there, right in front of me was a guy in a red shirt and red cap with the name of the tour company emblazened on the front.  The information girls at the train station had delivered me to exactly where i needed to be - and I was right on time.  Oh the relief!

Actually, I wasn't even the last person to arrive as everyone had been caught by the train change and it was another 20 mins before we set off for Versailles.

The palace of Versailles was originally built as a weekend hunting lodge and escape pad for Louis XIII in the 17th century and was expanded and improved by successive kings (Louis XIV, XV and XVI) before the French Revolution bought a swift end to the monarchy system in France.  The day was bright, sunny and hot, so when we arrived we set off to tour the gardens first before the heat of the day really took hold.  The gardens are extensive (like huge) and perfectly designed and arranged to provide a series of groves between forested areas and sweeping vistas. There are hundreds of fountains which are rarely turned on as all the water for the area has to be bought in by aquaduct.  (Apparently, when the king used to walk around the gardens each day, the gardeners would get his walking schedule in advance and whistle to one another to let them know he was coming - they would turn on the fountains before he approached and turn them off when he left so that they didn't waste water).  

You can roam the gardens as much as you like but unfortunately you can't get into any of the groves other than looking through the fence.  Luckily our guide had great stories about each of the areas how they were designed so we still learned a lot.  After two hours of walking we had barely scratched the surface of the gardens and we were hot and tired so we headed up to the Palace to tour the buildings.

The Palace gets about seven million visitors each year and it felt like at least half of them were there with us on the day.  Everyone on the tour got an audio guide and scattered to do our own thing so I walked around the rooms for awhile, getting bashed by tourists from every direction and seeking out open windows to catch a tiny breath of cool air (no air conditioners and it was HOT).  After an hour and a half I gave up and speed walked the rest of the buidings and headed for the cafe for a much needed sandwich, beer and headache pills.  

After a huge day of walking, hot sun, heat, and millions of people - I was completely done.  I dozed on the train back to Paris and crawled back to my hotel for a shower and a late afternoon nap before I could even contemplate dinner.