Versailles is Big

I've been teaching about Versailles for 20 years. But until you walk the grounds you cannot possibly fathom the scope of the place. That is why travel is so important to one's education. Textbooks can tell you it's big. Photos can show some of the grandeur. But seeing it in person...unbelievable.

A mirror selfie in the Hall of Mirrors

One of the big takeaways for me during our trip to Paris was how inevitable the fury of the French Revolution was. Why were the members of the Third Estate so vengeful? Walk the grounds of the Louvre. Walk the grounds of Versailles. My gosh, it's sickening to see how wealthy the Bourbons were. And to think that when they went bankrupt they had the unmitigated gall to ask the poor for more money. Revolution was inevitable. The Bourbons deserved what they got.

We took the RER train from the Invalides station which was about a ten minute walk from our apartment. The train ride lasted about thirty minutes. We stepped out of the train station at Versailles and followed the advice of several websites to avoid following crowds and take the beautiful tree-lined promenade just left of the green canopied Starbucks across from the station.

It was a cool morning and a pleasant five minute walk to the first gate,t he first majestic gate to the majestic palace. We walked into the large courtyard and headed to the left to the pre-paid timed ticket line. Once again, the best advice I have to offer...pre-paid timed tickets purchased in advance. We walked past dozens of people already in line before the place was open.

We also had a plan. As soon as the gate opened we fast walked to the room I wanted to see most...The Hall of Mirrors. It was in the Hall of Mirrors where the first truly unified German Empire was declared after the Franco-Prussian War in the 1870s. It was in this same room where The Treaty of Versailles was negotiated after The Great War. Very few rooms have the historical impact as this one. And we got there first. There was no one there. We got to enjoy the place for about five minutes before the next few tourists wandered in. So surreal to be in a room of such historical import.

We then wandered the rest of the palace. Unbelievable grandeur. Unbelievably ostentatious. We eventually headed outside and as wondrous as the palace is, it's the palatial grounds that really take your breath away.

Yeah, the gardens are beautiful. Yes, everything is manicured. Yes, there are statues of naked people everywhere. Dozens of fountains. But what takes your breath away is how much territory this place covers. You literally cannot see the end of the grounds. The gardens of Versailles extend beyond the horizon in all directions. It's more like a national park than a museum with some nice gardens.

We rented a golf cart for an hour to cover more territory, even that wasn't sufficient. We turned the cart in and walked. And walked and walked again. We took a mini tram train to the outer palatial estates of Marie Antoinette and the Queen. This is where the royals could pretend they were provincials living on farms.

Versailles was extremely impressive. Beautiful beyond words. Despite walking the grounds for hours we saw just a fraction of the place. I would go again in a heartbeat.

Thinking

After several hours at the Louvre, we ate at Angelina's then walked over to the Palais Garnier and spent some quality time in the Opera district. More on that later.

On our way back to our apartment we stopped at the Musee Rodin. Located by the Invalides it was conveniently located close to our lodgings. 

The Museum is actually a small estate in the middle of the city. It was an oasis of greenery and shade on a hot day in Paris. Seeing Le Penseur (The Thinker) in person is surreal. It is truly majestic. The mansion that houses many of Rodin's work is very impressive. 

As we were walking I finally felt the heat of the day becoming oppressive. This was the hottest day of our stay and the temps would cool considerably the next day. After 25,000 steps I felt my heart racing and I began sweating. Fortunately the Rodin estate had a nice shaded cafe where I ordered a cold Coke and we could sit under the trees and enjoy the breeze. In a few minutes I was right as rain. 

The Musee Rodin is an underrated place of beauty under the shadow of the gold dome of Napoleon's tomb. 

Mona

The Louvre. I had heard stories about this place since I was a kid. I had heard it's so big you can get lost for days. I had heard the lines to get in are massive. I heard you can't take it all in. So I did some research.

First, as big as this place is, King Louis XIV thought it was too small. Despite being the largest palace in Europe, he felt cramped. So he began work on the great palace of Versailles. As you walk around the grounds outside you can see why the people finally had enough and rebelled. Not only is it massive, it's extremely ornate. Huge statues, decorations inlaid with gold, all right in the middle of town. Not only was the king rich, he rubbed his wealth in the people's faces.

First, we read to avoid the main entrance, the one by I.M. Pei's glass pyramid. Everyone goes that way. So we purchased timed tickets in advance for a 9:00 am slot when the museum opens. We also had read to use the Pont des Lions entrance. This entrance is only about 200 yards away from the main entrance. It's between two massive lion statues so you can't miss it. We got to the entrance about 8:55 am and there was only one other couple in line. I thought maybe we had come to the wrong place.

 But promptly at 9:00 am the security guard moved the rope and let us through...just us and the other couple. There was no one else in line behind us. We walked straight through security, got our tickets scanned and were in. No wait. But we could see the massive line, moving slowly through corralled gates by the big glass pyramid. All it took was five minutes of googling to find an alternative entrance.

We had also downloaded the Louvre's official app. The app has a GPS feature which allows you to type in a work of art and it will guide you straight there. We already had the Mona Lisa dialed in and we quickly followed the blue line on my phone screen. We fast-walked down one big corridor then turned left and into her room. We really wanted to beat the crowds.

And there she was. And the room was nearly empty. There was only like six or seven people there when usually there are hundreds. We had an unobstructed view of Mona. No jostling, no pushing and it was very quiet as everyone looked at her in awe.

I immediately appreciated the hype. Many who see the actual Mona Lisa say they are disappointed, mainly because the painting is smaller than they expected...but I already knew that she would be small. Plus, usually you are fighting crowds for a view. And we had the room to ourselves and a few other quiet souls. 

See, here's the deal...all those prints, postcards, umbrellas, photos in books, none of them can truly capture the essence of this painting. She seems to float in front of the background. Her eyes follow you around the room. The background seems alive with a translucent mist. It is a spectacular painting, especially when you're not fighting for position with hundreds of other admirers. 

 That's me...with Mona Lisa looking over my shoulder. And she truly seemed to be looking over my shoulder. She seemed to follow me with her eyes wherever I went and we had room to roam to look at her at every angle. But not for long. People soon began streaming in and we left her to look at the other majestic works of art all around. When we passed by that same room an hour or so later it was crammed with people and selfie-sticks. She was definitely worth getting to early. 

 So what else to say about The Louvre. You could spend days there. No way you can see everything in one day. We had made a list of some must-see works and used the Louvre App to find them. Some of those works included the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Delacroix's Liberty Leads the People and The Coronation of Napoleon. We saw sculptures by Michelangelo. We focused mainly on the great paintings and sculptures. We didn't spend as much time in the rooms of Egyptian antiquities or treasures from the Americas. We enjoyed every minute of it.

So, go early. Go through a side entrance. Make a plan. It was definitely worth it. If I lived in Paris I would meander more and go for days.

Shakespeare and Co.

After exploring the Ile de Cite and Notre Dame we walked across the bridge over the Seine to find the famous Shakespeare and Co.

Shakespeare and Company was a bookstore founded by Sylvia Beach in 1919 and became a hangout for such literary luminaries as James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway among others. Beach published Joyce's Ulysses when no one else would.

So this bookstore was on my must-see list whenever I would get around to going to Paris. And it is a supercool place to visit. Rooms and rooms of wall to wall books, a book lover's paradise. Rooms seem to unfold into other rooms and there is no coherent floor plan, at least at first glance. Each room of books has its own unique character. Some rooms have high ceilings, others require you to stoop low. There are twisty staircases and ladders and little alcoves.



The whole thing seems organic and real, totally unlike the modern antiseptic mega bookstores you find on the strip malls in America. Those mega bookstores have really hurt the independent book sellers over the years. Fortunately some indies are making a comeback. Dallas has two that I really like, The Wild Detectives in Oak Cliff and Deep Vellum in Deep Ellum.

Shakespeare and Co was a highlight for me of our trip to Paris. My only complaint was that it was too crowded with tourists...I know...I was one of them. Maybe it was the time of day...after lunch. Maybe it's always that busy with people who make it an essential stop on their literary pilgrimages. I can't fault them, I was doing the same thing. I would just like to have been able to hang out for several hours in a hidden corner reading. Selfish wish I know. Alas, too much to see and do in the City of Lights to linger for too long. We spent quite a while there.





Of course I had to buy a book there. I debated what to get? One of the Lost Generation? The Beats? I went with one of my favorite authors who is also French. I mean if you're in France, at a famous bookstore, you got to buy Camus right? You can't go wrong with any purchase there, but I bought The First Man by Albert Camus. The clerk stamped my book book with the bookstore logo to prove I purchased it there. I will treasure it forever.

Sainte Chapelle

After Notre Dame we walked a couple of blocks over to the Sainte Chapelle. I'm embarrassed to admit I had not heard of this chapel before going to Paris. But once in Paris everyone said it was a must see. And man oh man were they right.

The Sainte Chapelle was built in the 1200's as the personal chapel for the king. Although it is significantly smaller than Notre Dame, in someways it is even more beautiful. The main chapel features beautiful stain glass windows on every side. 360 degrees of luminescent majesty.

Absolutely a must see in Paris. One of the most amazing structures I've ever seen.

Bell Ringer

Notre Dame.

An old story goes that the Cathedral of Notre Dame was wired with dynamite by the Nazis near the end of World War II. A low ranking soldier was commanded by his superior to trigger the detonator and blow up the Cathedral as the Nazis withdrew from Paris. As the Nazis evacuated Paris that low-ranking private just kept looking at Notre Dame in all its beauty. He looked at this building that had taken two centuries to build. And he couldn't bring himself to trigger the explosives. He couldn't bring himself to blow up Notre Dame. He couldn't bring himself to blow up something of such great beauty and grandeur. He unplugged the detonator, packed up his stuff and evacuated with the rest of his unit.

Notre Dame is truly that beautiful. At all times of day. At sunset it glows pink with the reflection of the sun.

It is free to enter the church. But we wanted the full experience and purchased timed tickets to climb the bell tower. Another day, another climb of very old stairs. 387 steps! Over a hundred more than the Arc de Triomphe. Paris was getting us in shape.

Since our tickets were timed we didn't have to wait in line. We sat and enjoyed a tea and coffee at a cafe directly across from the north bell tower until it was our turn to go up. Notre Dame uses an app to notify you when its time for you to get in line. Very convenient.

We climbed up the winding staircase and exited into the first bell tower. Huge bells. Old and ancient and impressive. Then we walked along the terrace between the two famous bell towers. This provided great views of the city and of the roof of the chapel. Then the bells began to ring and they were awesome. It was awesome to be standing there by the bell towers as the old bells rang.

But we weren't done. We climbed even more stairs up the south bell tower. We went all the way to the top of the tower which provided even more spectacular views.

We eventually made it down and exited the tower section. We then got in the line, which moves pretty fast, to enter the actual cathedral. Just massive. Gothic cathedrals were specifically designed to make you look up. These massive buildings were designed to make you feel small, to know your place in the universe. To know your relationship with God.

I've been in a lot of Gothic cathedrals but this one was special. It's the oldest one I've seen. It's also the biggest I've seen. The ethereal light of the rose windows was...well, I really don't have the words.



We bought our son a copy of Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris, more commonly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He likes reading and we thought he'd enjoy a copy of Hugo's work actually purchased in the bell tower of Notre Dame.

284

Once again, another monument in Paris did not disappoint. The Arc de Triomphe is more impressive in person than the hundreds of photos I've seen. The traffic circle surrounding the arch is so busy you have to descend some stairs subway style to get to it. Being underneath it, you do indeed feel pretty small, which is the point right? This thing was built to satisfy Napoleon's ego. I did enjoy the beauty and scale, but I could not get it out of my mind that the arc is and was a monument to extreme braggadocio. Reminds me of someone who currently resides in the Oval Office.

But the Arc has evolved into a monument of pride for the French people. That I can appreciate. Just a few months earlier thousands gathered at the arch to celebrate winning the World Cup. It's become a symbol of victory and resilience. Hitler's troops marched through it to humiliate the French and then had to march back through in disgrace as they were forced out of France.

We had ordered advance tickets online which allowed us to bypass the long ticket line. The nice thing about these tickets was that there was no set date or time to use them. After you printed them off they were good for a year. You don't have to have tickets to stand beneath the arch...but we wanted to get to the top.

We walked up the 284 steps to the roof of the arch. Tight spiral staircases that seemed to go on forever. There was a museum and bathrooms at the top floor before you exited to the roof. There's a model of the arc and a screen on the floor attached to a camera that looks straight down below you in the center of the arch. They should have also had water available to purchase up there. Walking up those stairs is not easy.

The views from the top are of course amazing. Several tree lined avenues branch off from the Arc de Triomphe according to the great urban planner Haussman's street design of the 19th century. Wonderful views of downtown and the great square shaped defense building. Great views of the Eiffel and Invalides on one side. Views of Notre Dame and the Pantheon on the other. Spectacular views all around. Definitely worth the price of the ticket and the walk up the endless stairs. BTW, the elevator was out of order while we were there. But walking up the stairs made it feel like you had accomplished something.

Yeah, the Arc de Triomphe is a must see in Paris.