Recap: Paris, Day 5: Palace of Versailles

Wednesday... should have stayed at the condo. Everyone needed a break or an attitude adjustment. Oh boy. It was raining on our walk to the train station, and pretty much stayed like that the whole day. The train was pretty crowded again when we switched at a downtown station, which allowed for a brief sighting of the legendary King Kong, our guardian angel... The way out of the train was blocked again for me and Reese. The main obstacle was an incredibly oversized suitcase; it seemed like two or three large suitcases put together, and had a general canvas-type appeal, like maybe something used in the armed forces. Anyway, it just so happened to be cutting down our angle to get out substantially, and I had no luck ramming it with the stroller wheel to try and get around. Of course, the monstrosity's owner was sipping a latte about ten rows away and jabbering on to his compatriot, with no inkling that his car-sized suitcase could possibly be problematic to those departing the train. Once again, my frustration subsided as I returned to acceptance of missing the train stop, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large creature lifting up the massive parcel and bringing it careening into the floor of the train repeatedly - up and smash! up and smash! In no time at all, the 'suitcase' was reduced to a pile of rubble so compact that we had no problem leaving the train. Outside, I noticed my dad seemed a little sweaty and red-faced, which may have given away the identity of our 'mysterious' King Kong, but we were all content with the outcome. (Except of course, Mr. Latte, who was left with an unrecognizable suitcase). To put the Paris metro into perspective, here are a couple of pictures of the smooth setup we figured out for the maze of escalators in the stations. I still can't believe how huge the underground part of the Paris transit system was.Notice the exhausted look on my Dad's face. Hmm... could it be?

The palace was huge. Not overly quaint, or medieval, or picturesque, but really huge. The chapel at the start of the tour was the highlight for me, and we got a cute picture of Reese. (The one with the proper lighting to see the chapel got ousted for the cute Reesey picture, sorry). This, as it turns out, was the beginning of the end for Reese, and happened to be the only smile of the day (captured on film or otherwise). We couldn't take the stroller into the palace, and it was also nappy-time, so I pretty much stormed through the castle with a crying baby. At one point, it seemed like we had calmed the situation when Reese rode on my shoulders for a while, only to be informed by a 'palace guard' that a baby can only be held on the front of you in your arms. Seriously. The moment he came down, the crying started up again.

This is a pretty bad, unfocused picture, but one of the better ones we got as we ran through (of the dining/entertaining room that looked out over the gardens):

Ok, so picture this. You are in a pretty historic castle, and there are all kinds of old paintings and vases and the like scattered about the rooms. The rooms are also adorned with beautiful tapestries and linens for the monarchy's kings and queens of the day. Complementing the scenery are copious amounts of glass chandeliers embellishing the ceilings. And then you walk through one of the doors and see a huge piece of flourescent green/sparkly metal, in the shape of a balloon dog. No word of a lie. There was some crazy exhibit at the palace by Jeff Koons, notoriously known for infringing and tacky modern 'balloon' art. It drastically took away from the experience. Me and Reese made a quick egress to the gardens, while the ladies and my Dad checked out the Queen's side of the palace, including Marie Antoinette's apartment complete with the secret door she and her family used to flee for their lives. Jodi said it was pretty crazy to be there and see that stuff. After a bit, they joined us, and Erika enjoyed dancing in the gardens. I think in the summer the gardens would be fabulous. They were very grand and very big, but hard to enjoy in the present state of mind (cold/Reese).

The dancing was spontaneously beautiful and flowing, but when Jodi asked her to perform on cue, all we got was the 'clumping horse' dance. Cute though...

Here's a look at the palace from the back where the gardens are. The picture only shows half, but we weren't really in the photography frame of mind at this point.

We debated renting a golf cart to cruise around the gardens, but passed, realizing we still had a substantial train ride ahead of us. The two hour ride one way may have also contributed to the memories of the day. I suppose we are glad to say that we have been there, but I don't think I would recommend it in particular to anyone (especially with small children) when there are so many other attractions nearby that we enjoyed more. Overall, we felt that this palace was just huge/grand/over-done, with countless empty rooms with nothing on the walls but nameless portraits, as compared to the castles in Füssen, which felt lived in. Oh well, can't win them all. It's kind of funny that we are making a comparison at all. There is no way a year ago this time I would have thought to have been saying any of this. Anyway, Jodi just told me that she would go again, specifically in the summer for the gardens. Ah, how we view the past through a rose-coloured lens.

Jeff and Jodi