Sleep When Yer Dead Tour: Paris Trip #2

I am not meant to see the Catacombs of Paris.

I learned that this weekend. Last time, I tried to go but it was a Monday, the only day of the week that the Catacombs are closed. So I thought I'd for sure see them this time. No dice. I tried to go Sunday, and couldn't figure out why they were closed. Turns out it was a national holiday. May 8 marks the end of the Second World War. Drat anyhow.

I left the house early Saturday morning (6:00) to catch my 6:50 train to Paris. I got in around 8:30, dropped off my suitcase at the hostel, and hopped on the metro to go to Versailles (I knew it would be a full day, so I decided to do it first). The metro wasn't moving. Apparently there was a "suspicious package" found at the next stop, so they shut down the Metro for a few stops in each direction, for who knew how long. Balls. So off I went, walking to the stop for the train that would take me to Versailles.

All my hard work and frustration paid off. The palace was beautiful. This is only half of it. 

As you can see, the line was ridiculously long. It moved pretty quickly, though. I was impressed. 

The first gate I had to enter to get into the palace. 

The second, golden gate. Gorgeous.

Enormous, uneven cobblestones that nearly killed me. I'm still amazed that women can walk in heels on these things. I could barely do it in my boots!

Sketchy street vendors. These guys have Eiffel Tower keychains, postcards, jewelry, scarves, cheap kids' toys, and a bunch of other random stuff. And they're very aggressive. 

The golden gate again, with Marie Antoinette's monogram and Louis XIV's sun emblem.

The entrance. The building on the left is dedicated to "All the Glories of France". There have been many glories over the centuries. 

I love the defiant, fluffy crow on Health's staff. 

Inside the golden gate. The gold on the windows and roof is just a small indicator of the enormous wealth of the palace. 

The chapel and organ surrounded by white marble. The chapel is almost always the first room you see when you enter palaces and castles. I'm not sure why. 

The first of many elaborate, beautiful keyholes in the palace. The wood around it is carved so it makes a continuous pattern, flowing together. 

Joan of Arc is quickly becoming one of my favourite French historical figures. This statue is one of many in one of the halls of Versailles. There are statues for famous writers, philosophers, soldiers, and rulers all over the palace. 

A monument for the greatest of the great. You can see Louis XIV (as Apollo, the Sun God), Molière, Voltaire, Racine, Corneille, and a bunch of others on the mountain.

All the ceilings in Versailles are painted like this, with gods and angels on every surface. Each room is themed after a different Roman god; Jupiter, Mars, etc. This is one of the biggest painted ceilings in Europe. It was too big for me to get a picture of the whole thing, so I took a series of smaller ones. The painting was done on canvas, which was later raised to the ceiling. 

The artwork was incredible. Everything on the ceiling is flat, even the corners. I kept thinking that the urns in the corners were 3-dimentional!

One of the most beautiful busts of Louis XIV I've ever seen. I love that solid stone can be made to look like it's blowing in the wind. 

One of the many examples of golden decoration in the palace. Everything about this building screamed wealth and power. Some may call it ostentatious. I loved it. 

The Hall of Mirrors. I was floored. There are windows on the right and mirrors on the left to reflect the light. The entire thing glowed. The chandeliers added to the room's majesty.  

The ceiling in the Hall of Mirrors. Wow. 

Louis XIV took the Sun as his symbol because he thought that, just as the sun gives life and warmth to the Earth, a king should provide life and warmth to his people. He was a very influential and popular king. The people loved him!

The King's bedroom. It's not very big, but it was the centre of many important ceremonies, such as the levé and couché. The levé happened every morning when the King woke up. People would come flocking in to help him with his morning routine: going to the bathroom, washing, getting dressed, etc. The couché happened every night before he went to bed. Again, throngs of people would come in to help him undress and get ready for bed. 

The King's bed. The King and Queen occupied different wings in the palace. 

A bust of Marie Antoinette. She and her husband Louis XVI were living in the palace in October 1789, when the French Revolution started. 

The hidden door that Marie Antoinette used to escape when revolutionaries stormed the palace. The guards had fled, after being warned about the plans of the people. If they had stayed and tried to defend the palace, they would have been killed. If they had stayed and allowed the people to take the King and Queen, they would have been traitors to their country. So they fled. Marie Antoinette and her husband did not escape. They were taken prisoner, and beheaded at the guillotine.

The top of Marie Antoinette's bed. All I can think of is how badly those feathers need to be dusted. I'm turning into my mother. 

What a splendid room to wake up in every morning. 

The Queen's bed. I love the light colours, and the flowers embroidered everywhere. 

The dining room. Every now and then the King and Queen would invite people to come watch them eat. The red cushions are for grandchildren, and the rest of the room was standing room only for nobles, servants, and other interested parties.

There are several rooms dedicated to Napoleon in the palace. This painting commemorates his becoming Emperor of the Republic. It shows Josephine being crowned Empress at Notre Dame. The artist took some liberties with the inside of the church, but I still think it's stunning. 

The Emperor himself. 

These chairs were created for the Ministers of Parliament. Each chair bears a design to reflect the Minister that uses it. For instance, the chair for the Minister of Justice has scales on it, and the Minister of Education's chair is adorned with books and scrolls. 

The Hall of Battles. The walls are covered with paintings of the many battles that France took part in, and there are plaques and busts all over dedicated to the great generals, soldiers, and thinkers who died in service for their country. 

I love this staircase! The marble in the other rooms is really colourful; red, green, pink, etc. But I love the black and white hallways. 

This is one of the hallways that I love. Off to the right are a bunch of gorgeous statues representing Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Spring, and Winter. To the left are the gardens. This is directly under the Hall of Mirrors. 

I saw something like this in Cuba. The road underneath the royal bedrooms are cobbled with wood so that the horses and carriages below make less noise. So clever! 

One of my first looks at the vast gardens of Versailles. An immense amount of thought and planning went into putting this all together. 

Walking around to the back of the castle, this is the grand view of the gardens. They're made up of about 16 smaller gardens all linked together. Each of the smaller gardens has a central fountain, and several smaller fountains. There are gorgeous marble statues scattered all over the grounds. Way at the back of the picture is the Grand Canal, where people can rent boats and paddle around for the afternoon. 

These guys still freak me out when I see them. They wander around with their fingers almost on the triggers of their weapons. President Sarkozy put them in place to... make the people feel safer? At least these guys look less out-of-place in their camouflage in a garden than they do roaming the streets of Paris. Thanks, Sarko. 

The fountains! They don't run all the time, but twice a day, they switch on for about 2 hours at a time. While they run, loudspeakers blast triumphant classical music through the gardens. It's really neat. When the palace was built, there was no water at Versailles. A pump system was devised to bring water up from the Seine to flow through the fountains and fill the enormous Grand Canal. 

Some of the courtyards were stunning and intricate, others were simple and beautiful. This one was heavily Roman-inspired. I love the coloured marble.

Jupiter driving his chariot out of the ocean. 

Pluto attacking some unfortunate nymph. 

The paths weren't paved. They were covered with dusty white shale instead. This is what my boots looked like halfway through the day. 

Not far from Versailles are Marie Antoinette's castles (yes, plural), the Trianons. There's a big one and a little one, and they share some gorgeous gardens. 

Imagine yourself in the 1700s, dressed up in your finest outfit, in a horse-drawn carriage clattering up to the Petit Trianon to have a meeting with Marie Antoinette. This is what you would see. 

These are the roots of a tree called Marie Antoinette Oak. Over 600 years old. 

Some information about the Lady herself. Apparently she was the 15th child of a noble Austrian family, born Nov 2, 1755 in Vienna. Louis XVI gave the Petit Trianon to her when she was 19 years old. 

The chapel. Very open and austere. 

I adore this courtyard. 

This room was dedicated to warming up the food that was served at the royal table. The kitchens are in a separate building, so that they wouldn't be in the way. 

A tunnel under the palace that servants could use to access different rooms without being in the way. 

Part of the Grand Stairway to the upper levels. Can you make out Marie Antoinette's monogram in the middle? 

One of the many reception rooms in the little palace. I love the harp and piano. 

The Lady herself. Gorgeous. She loved her gardens, and had the floors in the Petit Trianon redone with green marble to reflect the beauty of the green gardens outside. 

You didn't think I stopped taking keyhole pictures, did you? 

Marie Antoinette's personal attendants wore these uniforms. Neat-o.

Looking down at the Grand Stairway. I love the tassel on the light. 

A beautiful old oak in the garden outside the Petit Trianon. 

A sheltered walkway linking the gardens.

I love imagining what people in the 1700s would look like in enormous gowns swishing through gardens like this. The walkway is covered with glycine, which I have learned is wisteria in english. The flowers hang down into the walkway. About 2 weeks earlier they would have been in bloom, but I was just a little late. It would have smelled amazing. 

The queen's personal theatre. I love the way that everything is ornamented and beautiful. It really shows how wealthy and grand the Republic used to be.

The walls aren't papered. They're hand-painted canvas. These little touches are so incredible!

A billiards room. I can imagine stuffy nobles trying to play in elaborate suits and a haze of smoke. This made me think of my brother and dad. 

Coming up to the Grand Trianon through the gardens. I am always surprised at how awed I am with the grandeur of everything here. One of my friends tried to tell me that she has ceased to be impressed with things like this. I believe she has no soul. 

The Grand Ballroom. I love imagining the important events held here. The conversations, the gossip, the alliances forged and broken over a gathering of royals and nobles.

One of the Queen's reception rooms in the Grand Trianon. It was made to resemble the King's Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, but with a higher level of comfort. I love how bright it is thanks to all the windows and mirrors. 

Another one of the beautiful flower beds just outside the Grand Trianon. I love the idea of little bushes and flowers growing in intricate patterns. I can't imagine how much work it must be to maintain. 

The Hôtel des Invalides. During Napoleon's time, this was a hospital for wounded soldiers, poor people, or anyone else that needed medical attention. Now it's the final resting place of Napoleon's ashes. 

Yes, another picture of the Eiffel Tower. I've taken a lot. This is from the back of the Hôtel des Invalides. I love the cannons in the foreground. 

A little shed all covered in ivy. Way too cute. I like to think that hobbits would live here.

I was wandering down the street and noticed an enormous Canadian flag fluttering in the breeze. I thought I might have found the Canadian Embassy. When I walked up to see what it was, I discovered that I had found the Canadian Cultural Centre. Neat!

Reinforce the stereotype, eh? This made me smile. I love that the Boston player is falling through the ice. 

I wanted to go in to see what the French think about Canadian culture, but it was closed for renovations. Bunch of hosers. 

My hostel for the one night I stayed in Paris. I DO NOT recommend this place!!! If I didn't book last-minute, I could have stayed in the Plug-Inn, the hostel Breanne and I stayed in last time. This place was too big and too busy, with too many people and too few bathrooms and showers. There were 3 bathrooms/showers for 40 people, and the showers were nasty. I also had to rent my sheets and the key card to the room. There was someone in the room that I slept in that didn't rent sheets and slept on the bare mattress. The thought sends chills up and down my spine. Ick. 

Sunday morning I woke up early to make the most of my day (and escape the nasty hostel). First stop: the Musée d'Orsay. I was there before it opened, and the lines were very short and fast-moving. This is one of the statues outside the museum. 

Unimpressed graffiti tree. I thought it was cute. 

The museum is in an old train station. It's kept a lot of the architecture, but the interior is quite modern. 

There were signs up all over that said that it was forbidden to take pictures inside the museum, but I had to take a few. There was an exposition of work by Edouard Manet, a man touted as being the father of modern art. I didn't know much about him initially, but I quickly fell in love with his work. This is a painting of Charles Baudelaire, one of my favourite French poets. Manet was close friend with a lot of writers, like Baudelaire, Zola, and Mallarmée.

This is one of Manet' most famous works. The Dead Man, or The Dead Toréador. It is believed that this was originally part of a larger work that Manet cut up because he was unhappy with the other parts. I learned that Monet did the same thing. The result is a focus on the "better" parts of the work, and an emphasis on things that may have gone unnoticed in the original painting. 

Vincent van Gogh's self-portrait. This picture doesn't do it justice. His eyes look so sad and disturbed. There were a number of van Gogh's works at the museum, including the painting he completed a month before he killed himself. I wandered around humming "Vincent" by Don Maclean for most of the morning because of this painting. I can't stop thinking about his eyes. 

"Chrysanthemums" by Monet. I love the texture and the detail in his works. Each petal looks like it's jumping off the canvas. Click on the picture to see a bigger version. 

Whistler's Mother. This was an unexpected pleasure. It was a lot bigger than I had imagined. 

The museum as seen from the second-floor walkway. The middle concourse is full of statues, while the rooms off to the sides are filled with paintings. My favourite statue here was "Eve After the Fall". I don't remember the name of the sculptor. It was Eve sitting on a rock, her long hair flowing around her, with the apple on the ground at her feet and the snake slithering away. Her face haunts me. It's full of regret and pain. If I didn't know she was stone, I'd swear she is about to cry. Compared to the serene, austere faces on the other statues I've seen, this one was quite a shock. 

Statues outside the museum representing the virtues; justice, beauty, wisdom, etc. There was a display inside the museum explaining how statues like these were cast. It was a lengthy and difficult procedure. I had no idea. I find myself developing a huge appreciation for art here. It's really hard not to. 

The Pantheon! Thank goodness it was open. Last time it was closed for some political event. 

This building is dedicated to the great thinkers of France. It used to be a church, and was turned into a historical building. I love the Roman-inspired architecture. The place is immense. 

Under the Pantheon are its crypts. Great men of the country are buried here. This is the tomb of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, writer, philosopher, and musician. 

"Here lies a man of nature and truth," proclaim the words on the side of the tomb. 

The autograph of Louis Braille. 

François Marie Arouet, called Voltaire, was a philosopher and writer. His novel "Candide" was the first book I bought here. 

"He fought against atheists and fanatics. He inspired tolerance. He took back the rights of man from servitude and feudalism."

The room that houses the tombs of Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, and Alexandre Dumas. Three of the most influential writers that the country has known. 

The very narrow spiral staircase from the crypts to the ground floor of the Pantheon. 

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote my favourite book ever, "The Little Prince". This wall is dedicated "To the memory of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Poet, novelist, aviator. Disappeared during an aerial reconnaissance mission July 31, 1944". 

This is a memorial for Rousseau. His face is carved into the stone at the front of the scene. From left to right are Music, Nature, Philosophy, Truth, and Glory. 

The buildings here are incredible. Even "modern" architecture here looks like it was pulled from centuries ago. 

The CIty Hall of the 5th Arrondissement. Paris is divided into 20 Arrondissements, or districts. They spiral out clockwise from the middle of the city. Each arrondissement has its own city hall. 

After the Pantheon I hopped on an open-top bus tour of the city. We had to stop to let all these rollerbladers go by. I'm not sure what it was for, but there were thousands of them. 

Yes. Yes I do. 

The Arc de Triomphe all dressed up for the holiday. 

The road leading into the Place de la Concorde. The Hôtel des Invalides is at the back right of the picture. It freaked me right out that there are no lines painted on the roads for traffic to follow. There was an intense amount of traffic here. I'm amazed that there aren't more accidents.

Yep, another Eiffel Tower picture. I really like this monument. 

The Military Academy. Once this open area was where soldiers would train for combat. Now it's a place for Parisians to chill out on the grass. Napoleon studied here when he was young. His instructors said of him that "given the right circumstances, he could go far". Ha. 

Le Pont Alexandre III, or Alexander III's Bridge. There are 4 golden Pegasuses... Pegasi... Hm. What is the plural of Pegasus? At any rate, there are 4 columns on this bridge, each adorned with a golden Pegasus. The statues at the feet of the columns represent war in one direction, and peace going the other way. The bridge was made with stones taken from the destroyed Bastille prison after the French Revolution. The prison represented everything that was wrong with the powers of the country. The people built this bridge with the stones from the Bastille so that, even after it was destroyed, people could still trample the power of the monarchy. 

As I was wandering around trying to find a Metro stop, I stumbled upon the famous Paris Bird Market. Every Sunday merchants appear selling everything from canaries, doves, finches, and chickens to hamsters, rats, rabbits, and other pocket pets. The noise was astounding! Most of the merchants were gone already and others were packing up, but I got a picture of some goldfish for sale. 

My train from Paris to Dijon was stopped for over a half hour on the way back due to the "loss of an animal" on the tracks. I think we hit a deer. While they cleaned things up I watched this guy. He's sitting on some sort of contraption with a fan that blows him across the sky. If I wasn't so terrified of heights, I may be tempted to try it. 

Well, that was my second weekend in Paris. I got very little sleep and took over 600 pictures in 2 days. Despite all the transit troubles, I managed to get around quite well and had an excellent time. Sorry this post is so late, but the first time I tried to post, Blogger ate 3/4 of it and I had to start all over again. Schoolwork and exams got in the way too.

I'm planning one more day(ish) in Paris before I leave. On my way to Ireland I have about 9 hours to kill between my train arriving and my plane leaving. I'm going to try my best to get to the catacombs (it's a Sunday, and I've verified that it's not a holiday, so fingers crossed), and do something else that I haven't yet done in Paris: RELAX. I'm planning on finding a newspaper and a café, and just sitting at my table for a while, reading and enjoying being in Paris. Relaxation is a luxury seldom afforded to tourists. 

Thanks again to everyone for all your support and encouragement. Every page-view, comment, and Facebook message help me feel just a little bit closer to home. As I write this, I only have 32 sleeps left here. I'm so torn about that. I love and miss everyone in Canada, but I'm not quite ready to go home yet. It took me a little while to get used to things here, but I'm totally at home here now. I have friends here that are going home 2 weeks before me, and who have even less time left than I do. I'm very glad that I'm staying here for a bit after school is done. I'm going to do a 6-day bus tour of Ireland, and I'll have a few days after that to get stuff in order and explore the city one last time. I'll be home before I know it!

In scholastic news, I wrote the first part of the DALF on Saturday morning. Probably the most stressful 4 hours of my life. I'm doing the oral part tonight. I pull a subject at random, have an hour to prepare, and then get to talk in front of jury of 2-3 people for a half hour. Boy, am I nervous! I'm going to the school right away to study and do homework, and hopefully take my mind off of things. Wish me luck!

À bientôt!