Nothing Can Rain on My Parade!

Erin and I wanted to have this wonderful, magical trip to the Chateau Versailles Rive Gauche on Saturday. We got dressed in the morning in our cutest, most Parisian tourist clothes we could find, and were off! We bought a 5 euro round ticket* and headed out southeast of Paris on the RER! As we're riding in the train, we realized that this particular day in Versailles was going to be full of rain! It was pouring outside our train! Oh my goodness! We're totally stupid! And, of course, we didn't bring an umbrella or raincoat or anything.

Now, let me fill you in on a little info about Versailles. Versailles is a huge estate, with a palace in it. This estate is, of course, mostly outside!! Versailles is known for her outdoor gardens, fountains, parks, and beautiful cobblestone paths! Well, now all Erin and I can do is pray for the rain to stop...

We arrived in Versailles Saturday around 11:00am, ready to enjoy some marvelous architecture, artwork, but mainly interior decorating! But, yes indeed, the rain continued to fall...

We exited the train and made the unanimous decision that, yes, today, we were going to get wet. Not just a little, "oh my, I think my shirt has a sprinkle on it..." But...the real, wet, down and dirty, French rain!**

Erin and I then waited in line for the ticket counter (out in the rain) and there were countless vendor people selling stupid parapluies (umbrellas). Of course, all of the vendors knew we were dying for some protection from this deluge. But, being the stubborn, wannabe Frenchies, Erin and I continued to wait in the pouring rain. (It also appeared that all of the other tourists got the memo that it was going to rain immensely that Saturday...)

Finally, Erin and I ented the palace. And, wow, was it worth the wet wait! We bought a 7.50 euro ticket to see the King's Apartments, Hall of Mirrors, and the French History Museum (which somehow we missed...I really don't know what happened with the whole museum part of our tour...) Anywho, the palace was incredible!

It was crazy...All of the ceilings were just intoxicated with Greek gods and Greek mythology stories! Each "apartment" was dedicated to a different god or goddess. The paintings on the ceilings were unbelievable. I can't even imagine what the Sistine Chapel must be like... Some of the ceilings had sculptures protruding from the walls. It was just amazing.

But, the most interesting part about the Greek adoration...was that all of the walls were adorned with Christ images and stories from the Gospels. It seemed that Louis XIV had a love for both the secular and the non-secular...hummm....sounds a wee bit like us American Christians...hummm.... Louis would have a huge painting of the Last Supper on his wall, and then a huge mural of Diana, the hunting goddess, on his ceiling. Very intersting...

But, the thing that struck me the most in this crazy playground of Louis the XIV, was that it truely was just his playground! Everything from the paintings to the carpet to the furniture to the ceilings to the walls was mere decoration. Louis XIV and Marie-Antoinette were not trying to display pieces of art in a gallery...They were merely decorating their home! Versailles is simply interior decorating at its finest!

Another fun tid-bit about Versailles...which just makes me smile. Erin and I found all of these secret passageways throughout the palace! It was sooo much fun! Hehe! Yeah for movies teaching us about fun things like secret passageways in palaces!

Number of kilts seen (wore by men, of course, in the complete ensemble.) = 1
Number of times a garbage man has offered me a ride = 1
Number of times I've fallen on the Metro (underground train) = 7
Number of berets I've seen= 2 (and both were American tourists)




*Student discount price. Paris loves her students!
**It was actually kinda dirty...it kinda tasted like salt.