Versailles is filled with wonderful little streets that lead to courtyards filled mostly with antique and antique reproduction shops. You’re also never far from a boutique filled with beautiful clothes for les enfants. Only restaurants must out number children’s shops in France. One friend just had a baby and another has one on the way, giving me great excuses to have fun buying miniature clothing. I also found a jewelry store where I picked out several fun pieces and was able to hold a fairly long conversation in French with the owner. I took French in college and brushed up a little with some Pimsleur tapes before this trip, but I’m far – make that very far - from fluent (and as you might have guessed by my FT name I wasn't exactly an étudiant d'étoile). Lucky for me our conversation mirrored some of the text book dialogues. Rod was most impressed. I didn’t tell him I used most every French word I know and just might have thrown in an Italian one or two when I got stuck. In Versailles, we ate simply – crepes one night; calzone and pasta the next.
We visited the palace on Saturday. We planned to visit Sunday as it would likely be one of the only places open that day, but the conceirge said that all the tour groups from Paris would have the same thought and the palace would be jammed. The Palace at Versailles was a getaway for the king, but he shared it with 10,000 members of his staff. Though the place looks immense, when you consider that many people had been living there it doesn’t seem quite so spacious. To escape the large numbers of people in the main palace, he also had a smaller getaway on the same grounds.
On Saturday, it was pretty empty and we took one of the self-guided tours that included the hall of mirrors (how is it that security is so lax in a palace that people have time to scrawl and etch graffiti in the glass?) and the king’s bedroom. The bedroom had several benches at the foot of the bed. We read that the hottest ticket in town way back when was a seat to watch the king go to sleep and wake up. Whatever.
We also walked around the grounds and had hot chocolates and panini at one of the snack bars in the park. Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm is considered a miniature Versailles and we certainly saw why – looking up from the gardens they look almost identical. Because it was fairly cold the statues in the gardens were all bundled up, but I’m sure it’s quite impressive in spring.
Back in the hotel they offered a one-hour Internet access card for $12. We had sent some emails home to check on 13-year-old Zach/Twiz and my mother who was kind enough to come down and shuttle him to his various classes and activities. We had left Zach a few hundred dollars in cash for food and his Amex card.
On Saturday we received the following email:
Guess what? I got a great deal on a refurbished laptop. It was supposed to be $350, but we got him down to $300 and it comes with the case and modem and a 60-day guarantee. I used $100 of my money, but you can pay me back when you get home.
Message to Zach:
Having a nice time. Versailles is a nice town and, while it threatens to rain, it hasn’t so far. BTW, we did some shopping too. We bought a Boxster. I hope you weren’t too set on MIT. I’m sure you’ll find a UC school you like.
Message from Zach:
You guys are mean. But if you spent my college money on the Boxster, do I get to take it to college?
Message to Zach:
Fat chance. Take the laptop.
We checked out about 4 p.m. on Sunday. The only outrageous thing on the bill were $3 charges for each toll-free call. Local calls, including those to Paris, were free. We had the concierge call a cab to take us back to the train station. Oddly enough I didn’t see a single cab in Versailles with a taxi sign on top. I don’t have a clue how you would spot a cab from the street. The hotel called a car and we were off for Paris.
Next: Eating our way through Paris
[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 11-24-2002).]