After breakfast in the hotel, we set off for Versailles by train. Luckily, two other guests, Charles and Violet (from Northern Ireland) were going as well, which was very helpful in negotiating the trains! We arrived, with hordes of other people, around 9.30am, in the rain.
Although we didn’t have to queue for tickets, we still had to queue to get into the Palace and so got rather wet.
The interior is sumptuous, very gilded and very large. The Hall of Mirrors is spectacular and you could just imagine the Balls that must have been held there. The State Apartments have amazing ceilings and paintings and the bedrooms, I’m sure, were bigger than our house! The Queens’ bedroom is beautiful, with a floral counterpane and floral tapestries on all the walls. Apparently 19 royal children were born there over the years (hopefully not to the same Queen!).
The Dauphin’s apartments (i.e. the Prince Charles of his day) were much less ornate but still pretty grand, with Madame de Pompadour’s harpsichord and organ, plus a wonderful day bed that was very tempting!
We had taken some photos of the gardens through the windows during a break in the rain and thank goodness we did as we were unable to walk around them because we would have got soaked. Never mind, at least we were able to get some idea of what they were like.
We had a bite to eat in the Café and then decided to head back to Paris proper, to visit Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. We cleverly got the right train into the city centre and then had to get a bus (because the Notre-Dame station was closed) to the Ile de Cite, the island on which both Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle stand. We had a short walk when we got off the bus, along narrow lanes, filled with shops, cafes and people – all very Parisian.
Along the wall alongside the river are lots of souvenir stalls and paintings – all very colourful and interesting and then we crossed the river onto the island and arrived at Notre-Dame.
Before we left Australia, we had purchased Paris Passes, and one of the selling points was that, because our tickets were therefore pre-paid, we would not have to queue at any of the venues. Whilst this had applied at Versailles (although as so many other people also had the Pass we did still have to queue for a short while), the official at Notre-Dame just shrugged and said “Their problem, not mine”!! Luckily, although the queue was very long, it was also very quick.
Inside, the Cathedral is very grand and just what we expected, with beautiful stained-glass and statues. We would like to have climbed up the tower but, as the queue for that stretched around the block, we gave it a miss and went to Sainte-Chapelle.
Once again, there was a queue, and once again our Paris Pass did not give us priority but, as this was somewhere we had both wanted to visit, we didn’t mind. However, it started to rain again but we had a Good Samaritan behind us, a lovely Korean bloke who held his umbrella over us! (See photo). We eventually entered the building and made our way up a very narrow, spiral staircase to the first floor. Oh, my goodness, we were blown away by the beauty of the stained glass here – it is absolutely magnificent and far outweighs any we’ve seen before. People were just sitting around, staring in amazement at the glorious colours – it was just like sitting in a kaleidoscope.The windows depict 1,113 scenes in 15 windows, telling the story of mankind from Genesis through to Christ’s resurrection. The church was built between 1242 and 1248 because Louis IX wanted to house the relics of the Passion of Christ – the Crown of Thorns, which was bought at a cost exceeding that of building the Chapel itself, and a piece of the True Cross. Apparently these relics were lost during the Revolution (although how genuine they were is open to speculation).
Next to Sainte-Chapelle, in the same grounds, is the Palais de Justice and next to that is the Conciergerie but we couldn’t face another queue in the rain!
We really needed a caffeine fix after all that and so wandered back off the island to a café which, as luck would have it, had the TV on, showing the Olympic Diving! We had two delicious cups each of café au lait whilst we watched and then decided to try and find our way back to the hotel before going out to dinner. We eventually realized we would have to catch a train, at least part of the way, and it was two very weary little ducklings who finally traipsed up to our room!
After a short rest we went to find somewhere nice for dinner – luckily, just across the road from our Hotel, was a typical French restaurant, Le Diplomate. We had a lovely meal (and thankfully, could understand what we were ordering so didn’t get any nasty surprises, unlike Di with her boiled potato instead of a toasted sandwich, in Spain!).
