Two Week Roadtrip Begins: Versailles & Paris

One of the highlights of this past year in France was the opportunity to share two weeks with my parents as we took an extended road trip through France, Germany, Austria, Holland, and Belgium. We enjoyed planning to see things they would enjoy, as well as visiting areas that Shereen and I had not been to. Here’s a recap of the itinerary, highlights to follow: Orleans, Versailles, Paris (Louvre, St. Chapelle, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower), Mont St. Michel, Normandy D-day beaches, Meuse-Argonne WWI cemetery, Neuschwanstein castle, Munich, Salzburg, Rothenberg, Flossenberg concentration camp, Berlin, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Bruges.

The first challenge would be the flight over the Atlantic. My mother does not like flying and neither of my parents had flown to another continent before. They arrived on a Friday morning; I worked while Shereen picked them up at the airport. It had not been a fabulous flight, mom got sick on the way back to Orleans. Our strategy was to take things easy until they recovered from jet lag, but they did have enough energy to walk into Orleans with Shereen and get lunch from a sandwich counter. I arrived that evening to eat the remaining Pizza Hut slices.

Saturday we tentatively planned to visit Versailles, if the travelers were up to it. By late morning everyone seemed to be fine, so we drove to Versailles for the afternoon. Our arrival was poorly timed to avoid waiting in line, and we had the pleasure of experiencing French efficiency at the ticket counter. Inside the door the line split in two, the vast majority going to the left, and a short line going to the right. Unfortunately we chose the right. With only 10 people between us and the ticket counter, we waited for over 30 minutes. It was extremely frustrating to see several people who had been behind us, but chose the line to the left, entering the palace well before us. We never figured out why the line was so slow; it may have been that the wrong employee was behind the counter. The tour consists of the palace and the extensive gardens. We found the gardens to be the most enjoyable. Inside the palace the rooms are elaborately decorated, the highlight being the Hall of Mirrors, where the Treaty of Versailles was signed after WWI. After meandering through the rooms listening to the audio guide we found some food at a café before entering the gardens. The gardens are HUGE, a bicycle is almost a necessity. The weather was nice and we acted like royalty on an afternoon stroll, with the fountains spurting in time to music. Statues guard the walkways, which divert in geometric patterns: here rectangles, there circles, behind triangles, and lead to hidden theaters with more fountains and more statues. About the midpoint we were near the fountain where a god of the sea in his chariot is being pulled out of the water by dramatically charging horses. Beyond this was a large reflecting pool with rental boats guided by tourists splashing their paddles, surrounded by a grassy expanse covered with tourists picnicking and enjoying the sun. After running into a dead end we were able to find Marie Antoinette’s house at the back of the garden (at this point we were exhausted from the walking), cute but not spectacular. Before returning we joined the crowd by the reflecting pool to rest.

Since the jet lag recovery was going better than expected, we upped the ante on Sunday and went for the Paris one day tour. Shereen had no interest in fighting the crowds to see already seen sites, so she stayed in Orleans. The Louvre was the first stop in the morning. This was my 3rd time to the museum, so I had a good idea of where to go. The Louvre is far too extensive to see everything in one day; the best plan is to go straight to the most interesting things and then see how much energy you have left. To avoid the hordes, we got in line before the museum opened and then made a beeline for the Mona Lisa to get there before having to elbow others out of the way. In my opinion the Mona Lisa is one of the least impressive objects at the Louvre. Yes, it is a nice painting, but you can get a far better look at her on the internet. In the museum she is isolated on a partition wall, a pane of glass shielding her, with a roped semicircle allowing us to approach no closer than 20 feet. And the painting is small. Within the same room, a much more interesting painting is the Wedding Feast at Cana, which covers almost the entire wall opposing the Mona Lisa. In the halls nearby are the massive paintings by Delacroix, David, and others. One of my favorites is a two-sided painting standing in the middle of the aisle, showing David wrestling with Goliath from the front and back. From here we walked to the Venus de Milo, passing the equally impressive Winged Victory of Samonthrace, and after through the rows of mummy cases in the Egypt section, stopping at the tall, black stone Code of Hammurabi, then more statues including one of my favorites Milo Crotana (Milo, attempting to show his strength, has his hand stuck in a tree trunk while a lion attacks him; the lions claws are leaving impressions in his legs as they tear the flesh), and finally the extravagant chandeliers and over decorated furniture of Napoleon’s apartments. We had seen less than half of the museum in over 3 hours, but had seen quite enough to be satisfied.

From the Louvre, it is a pleasant walk along the Seine to the Île de la Cité, a small island in the middle of the river where Notre Dame and St Chapelle cathedrals are located. While waiting for the English tour of St Chapelle we walked to Notre Dame, stopping to see the birds and flowers at the outdoor market. The canary’s make quite a racket. Notre Dame is a typical European cathedral, imposing and gray. Having seen something similar in almost every town we visited, I found it of little interest. But I was very interested in returning to St Chapelle, one of my favorites, for my second visit. We entered the church through the peasant’s entrance into the common people’s chapel. This is the first floor of the church, a long narrow room with low ceilings. The commoners were not to associate with royalty; they worshipped in this muted environment while the king prayed in the spectacular chapel on the second floor. Narrow spiral staircases lead up and out into a brightly colored room. Here the walls stretch to the high ceiling, the gothic architecture allowing maximum room for the spectacular colored glass. The glass seems to cover the entire wall and the room is a feast for the eyes as the sun blazes outside. The difference with the usual gray stone of other cathedrals is dramatic. And the glass panels contain stories from the Bible. Starting with Genesis, where we can see Cain clubbing Abel and Noah with a golden cow in his ark, you can work your way around the room moving through the Bible. Not all of the books are included, some of the Apocrypha is shown and medieval history and legend also intervenes, but fascinating nonetheless. In my opinion, more interesting than most cathedrals, despite its relatively small size.

Then into the metro to visit the Arc de Triomphe, which we circled before walking down the Champs Elysses a short distance. It was getting late, time to see the Eiffel Tower. Popping out of the metro near the tower we found a place to eat. The wait staff found it quite humorous as our embarrassed waiter talked with us in passable English. The tower almost never disappoints visitors and we were no different. We ascended and stayed on the observation deck to watch the sunset. Then arrived back on the ground to see the light displays dance on the steel structure.