I’m still playing catch up on Paris. It was very busy there and not much time to write. Our down time was sitting in bars watching the world go by and lots and lots of walking.
We had great intentions of taking our picnic lunch to Versailles and we were packed up but it virtually started a light drizzle as soon as we set off. We lined up with many on the train platform and then came the announcement that the train was cancelled and the platform emptied. We stayed thinking we would just wait for the next one and would you believe they found a replacement train within 6 minutes. Versailles is huge. What can I say. Completely over the top. Crowds of people even on a wet day. I lasted about 10 minutes before sensory overload hit me. I can only take in so much gold paint, crowded rooms, portrait 3 and 4 high on every wall, statues and sculpture, marble, mirrors and grandeur. I even lost the ability to imagine how people lived in such surrounds. Eventually I just saw opulence and the arrogance of one man, Louise XIV who wanted to biggest and the best of everything because he could. I couldn’t stop thinking of what life was really like for those that lived over the fence. The gardens and the building architecture were of course magnificent and we were lucky to see the fountains in action but somehow it all left me a little depressed. I could certainly understand why there was a revolution. Greed always comes back to bite you in the end.
We spent considerable time that day chasing tickets to the football in England. It was the day we could enter the ballot and we had intended on using Versailles wifi but of course we picked the day their wifi was down and by the time we got home the ballot had sold out. We did however manage to buy some through a package deal we were told about by a Scottish family we met in Heathrow. The rest of the day was spent wandering the streets dining, drinking and people watching.
Jane treks Lycian Way 2022 