Saturday 6 July 2013

Versailles and Paris (Saturday 6th July 2013)


The main feature of today's travels was a visit to the Palace of Versailles. We slept in as the tour didn't start until 2pm. After a late breakfast at a patisserie across the street (croissant and coffee) we strolled through the streets leading down to the banks of the Seine. Our walk was about 2.5kms. The day was warm and sunny and the streets busy. We passed a number of small, treed parks along the way and enjoyed the classic Parisian architecture – all those apartment buildings only 5 or 6 floors high lined every street and lane. As we approached the river the Eiffel Tower came into view. It is, without doubt, the world's most recognisble monument. Congratulations to the French for ensuring it will never lose its position of prominence in the landscape.

I must say that the number of places to eat and drink in Paris is astounding. Every street is lined with such a wide choice of bars, small cafes, brassieres and restaurants. One is spoiled for choice.
The other thing that is equally prominent is the number Renault Clios - specifically the Gen-2, the same as Kerry's. I'm not being blinkered in any way, they are just everywhere! Motor scooters and bicycles are the mode of transport of choice of you Parisians. They have a bike hire operation like the blue ones in in Melbourne and London. A great idea and it works in Paris because it's reasonably priced. The first 30 minutes are free and the next 30 minutes got one euro. So one can realistically and quickly get from one place to the next in central Paris for nothing and further out for one euro. Helmets are not required and every major street has a dedicated bike lane, sometimes on the footpath, not the road. I'm still trying to get the girls to give it a go. My last comment about walking in Paris is this – there are many streets to cross between the Place de la Republique and the river Seine. Every time we approached one the little red man would turn to green and we'd just keep on walking – no opportunity for an old bloke like me to rest for a minute or two!

We had a quick lunch at a restaurant across the road from the place the tour to Versailles was to leave. The bus left 15 minutes late for some reason and we arrived at Versailles at about 3pm. Not surprisingly we queued for about 45 minutes. So much for booking from Oz to beat the queue. What the website failed to mention was by booking online you skip the queue to buy the tickets not the queue to get in. the queue to buy the tickets was about 6 people long the queue to get in was about 600 people long!! Not impressed! The cost of entry is just 15 Euro so my advice is don't do a tour, just catch the Metro and walk up. All you'll do is save heaps of money and do it in your own timeframe.

The crowd inside was massive almost to the point of being claustrophobic. It was on par with the crush to get out of the MCG after a big match.
OK, the Palace is huge and impressive but we'd seen it before in winter. We had the whole place to ourselves back in 1987 and it was a much more enjoyable experience. This trip was for Emily's benefit. I know she was blown away by the size and opulence and her comment on seeing it from the outside for the first time while we queued was rather insightful – ES: “I can see why they revolted and cut their heads off”. We shelled out an extra 8.50 euro each and strolled around the gardens for about 45 minutes than back to bus and back to Paris.

There was a fair (fete) on the Jardins de Tuilleries so we wandered into that for a look. The Ferris Wheel afforded a great view of Paris from where many pictures were taken.
From on high, Emily and I spied the “chair-o-plane” ride so we jumped on that one next. It was good fun! By now it was tea-time so I opted for a barbecued sausage in baguette with mustard and onion and the girls for a hot-dog with fromage and mayonnaise. We all enjoyed a cool ice drink afterwards.

Emily lead us home via a different route through the streets of Paris. Tonight out local square is hosting a concert to celebrate the friendship between France and Germany so we are being treated to some of the best electronica music in Europe, floating free through our open window. Tomorrow it's a bus tour of Paris and, hopefully, a visit to the Renault museum on the Champs Elysees.

1 comment:

  1. The photos are great, Greg! It's nice to see K÷E so relaxed and the view from the wheel looks amazing. It seems like you are doing lots of walking. I hope your knee isn't giving you too much bother. xxx

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