Paris is cold and dreary in December, but Versailles is awesome
December 24, 2004First full day of my Paris adventure, and it’s cold and dreary out here. To be expected this time of year I suppose.
Flight arrived yesterday morning, and one of our stewards was so stereotypical French. He had that little triangle beard, the one that’s just under the lip and that you only see on French people.
We got to the hotel–Rennaissance Paris de La Defense–and had our room by noon yesterday. Mom wasn’t feeling too well so she decided to take a nap and I went out to see a bit of the city. Rode the Metro rail to the Arch de Triumphe, then walked down the Champs Elyssee to take in the city life. Ate a chocolate crepe, it was okay but nothing special. Took lots of pictures.
Last night Mom was feeling better so we went to the Eiffel Tower, and took lots more pictures. The night photo feature on my Sony is amazing, but you have to hold your hand steady because it has a long exposure. Still, I remember when that was a feature you could only get on high-end digital cameras.
Anyway, today’s adventure was a trip to Versailles. The RER, which is the rural rail connecting the city to the suburbs, is very confusing. Tooks lots of help from the locals to get us to Versailles.
Once there we did the tour of the Grand Apartments, walked around a bit in the gardens, and then did the tour of the Royal Apartments. Of the three I’d say the Royal Apartments was the best part. THe audio tour is included for that one, and it’s worth listening to as you stroll through the rooms.
The Grand Apartments were only okay, not really anything as amazing as the Royal Apartments where the king and his family lived. And this time of year, the gardens aren’t anything special either. But they are impressive in sheer size–it’s 3.5 kilometers from the main chateau to the back end of the Grand Canal. That’s on helluva large garden.
Tonight we’re hoping to see Notre Dame. Midnight mass is too late, Mom doesn’t want to have to take a taxi back home (Metro will be shut down by the end). So we’re just gonna take some photos and then head back home. Tomorrow is CHristmas and we figure most everything will be closed so that’s the day we’re gonna do Euro Disney. That’s definitely going to be open.
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