Today Jeff had someone give us a wake up call. We were all somewhat determined to leave the hotel by 8am. But Jeff proved he was the most determined I guess. A phone call in the wee hours of the morning is hardly ever a welcome treat on a vacation.
Our schedule today took us to the Palace of Versailles, former house/Palace of Louis XIV. Just getting there was eventful. We left the hotel in such a determined manner, it left no time for food. (Thats saying something with French-Jeff included.) We got off the metro and 'someone else' decided to go left. I quietly voiced an alternative opinion, but didn't want to bug anyone to early, cause they hadn't eaten and the nerves were already on edge. After a 'fun' 15 min walk I
noticed we just passed the previous metro stop, meaning = we were going the wrong way. I pointed this out but hunger had taken the lead, and 'someones' theory of there being a bakery on every block was just proven false. Not more than 5 minutes more and we found 'bakery supplies'. Then through my control I led our team on a 'better' way back; ending any question of IF we would attempt to walk any more, so we caught a bus. forget this walking crap, it was to early. the supposed 10 minute walk idea turned into a 24 minute bus ride. Boy I'm sure glad I vetoed the walking plan. But thats not all. So as some of you may know I have a little bit of
experience with buses, trains and traveling around Europe. There was an instant where I didn't know quite how to explain it, but let me try... While we were traveling towards the Palace on the bus, I saw a big butch lady waiting at the next bus stop in a uniform type jacket. In the next half second, I thought that it was a controller who was going to check tickets. (From my last trip there, I was 'un-welcomed by the french thoroughly', and realized that they were there only to
pester tourists for even more loot). We had just purchased bus tickets two stops ago and the driver gave us the tickets at the last stop. No one told us to 'validate' the tickets (by getting them stamped with the date) except for a girl that Plewe was checking out. So I think to myself "Plewe is in the middle of nursing a chocolate-croissant down, and hasn't validated his ticket yet!" I quickly negotiate with jeff to validate my own ticket, and I sternly told 'Nurse Plewe' to
"Punch His Ticket! Do it! Do it now!" Annoyed with my rude interruption he tries to console me in his best So.Cal Beach Bum tone of voice, that "Ya, ya, he'll get to it". Distressed, I yell to him again to Validate the ticket. AS annoyed as he was with me, he slowly made the effort, to punch his ticket, only to be blocked by the big angry Butch Frenchie who was mumbling something at us. (this whole thing went down in about 6 seconds). She was yelling at everyone, especially males. She hates guys. The six seconds was barley not enough time for us. Luckily French-Jeff was there to explain that he's just a dumb American tourist who just bought a ticket, but what saved us is the school Girl who Ryan was checking out who vouched for our story. Then Butch started scolding him in her squeaky fake English accent. During her whole tirade I was poised ready to grab his arm and yank him out of the bus, and we would have ran away. There was no way she was going to waddle after us. There was also no way I'm letting them push us around again! How many wars have we had to bail them out of?! Exactly! Towards the end of the bus ride Jeff all of a sudden jumps off the bus two or three stops early and starts walking away. I was confused cause I was waiting for the end stop (our stop). Luckily Some nice older French
lady was trying to tell me to stay on the bus longer, and that my comrades had just wandered off the bus mistakenly, both in different directions. She obviously knew where I was going, but I had to chase 'Lost-Jeff' down to get him back on the bus. Thanks lady, but Jeff apparently likes to walk.
So anyways... Versailles was spectacular. A lot like a bunch of the other 16th century palaces we've seen, but when you realize that the scale of this project as absolutely ridiculous, and it practically bankrupted France, And its construction basically caused the French Revolution, it leaves you in awe. Good ol Louie the 14th, good ol' frenchies. This one Palace was bigger than most small towns. The ceilings were like 20 feet high, gold leaf covered just about everything and I think there was only 1 ceiling that didn't have a baroque style mural on it. Absolutely everything was meticulously detailed to the finest degree. The doors the doorknobs, and even the hinges we crafted to show off the artists talent. The best room to visit was the Hall of Mirrors. A gigantic ballroom maybe 300 feet long by 40 feet wide, covered in decorations, chandeliers, paintings, gold leaf, glass windows on one side, and mirrors on the other.
After a while of that we moved on to the Gardens. If you thought Central Park was big you haven't seen anything yet! We're talking most of Manhattan here. I tried talking the others into renting a golf cart, (they didn't have the carriage rides like last time). But they didn't want to spring for it with me (but we should have!) Apparently there was something in the 'upper 40' that jeff needed to see. it was the small play village where Marie Antoinette would play 'peasant'. yes, thats right we saw her house, life sized doll houses, her jail cell, and tomorrow we'll see her place of execution. I feel like I know everything about her now. We've seen a lot of her name pushed around lately, a lot. I think the current Frenchies regret getting rid of their king and queens. So now they have to latch onto the English Monarchy, like Princess Di. It actually turned out to be worth seeing, but it was a ways away from everything else.
Right before our train ride back we found a bakery. The worker girls there fell in love with me. I was playing the saucy American card after all. And although I was indeed portraying my best Plewe imitation, I out did him at his own game:) Only minutes after sitting down on the train, I rested my head in my hands-elbows on knees. It was the typical Sacrament meeting Napping Position'. I really don't know how long I was out. Maybe 20 min, maybe 30. But as soon as I woke up I noticed a puddle of drool on the floor right below my mouth. After I realized what was going on, I switched seats. I didn't want anyone thinking it was me after all.
So as soon as I woke up I pulled out my trusty pocket map and asked where we were going. Jeff told me the plan, I re-investigated and then realized we needed the next stop, so we jumped off and continued across town on the metro. Our next destination was going to be the happy little Chateau 'just outside paris'. It turns out that ' just outside Paris' would cost us 50 bucks, so we reconsidered. Napoleon's old palace would have to wait till 'next time'. Our next option was a
castle, again, on the opposite side of town. We ventured over there to the very old, beat up run down shell of a castle. Having been to Germany, I've seen better, but it was a nice try France. One thing going on there that was interesting was a group of people Dancing around the front facade of the main Large tower. They were attached to the top of the tower with climbing gear, then twirling in sync, or in pairs, in place or side to side.
Upon leaving that venue, we were in need of our next bakery. It was only a few short moments before we happened upon one. and we started snacking on our spoils back at the castle lawn. And a lovely and typical European afternoon wouldn't be complete without rain, so it started to sprinkle. Jeff and I made a dash for the nearby Metro stop, but Ryan was determined not to let a few water sprinkles ruin his snack time. For a moment we weren't sure if he had gotten lost between the lawn and the stairs to the metro. (seeing that he would typically travel 10 feet behind us, sliding his clogs flatly along the ground with about 18 inch steps. Neither Jeff or
I was interested in going back up to see where 'Little Bo Peep' had gone, in fear of getting wet, or not being able to savor every last bite of our croissants. Then a few short minutes later he comes strolling down, pointing out that it had indeed started to rain harder.
Now it was about time to visit another museum, so we went to the 'Muse d'Orsay'. And again, it was across town. This museum was an old train station at one time converted into an art gallery. As much cool stuff that they had there, we went straight to the impressionist collection. They had a room dedicated to Claude Monet, and a room for Van Gogh. It was all pretty cool. What wasn't cool were all those blasted little annoying school kids and the loud obnoxious American Tourists taking away from my thunder. After going to the gift shop and seeing the other
paintings, we discovered another gallery to visit. We went there, but upon getting there, they wanted to charge us more of this 'funny-money' (I'm referring to Euro's) to get in! and i would have none of that so I stormed out of there. As we left we noticed a really long line to get in. We didn't have to wait at all to get in. But to be funny I started saying real loud to the others that the museum was closed, and that they turned us away.
The next stop was all for Jeff. It was the Cinema Museum of Paris. Its here film preservation started. I think for Jeff it was a must see. For me, I would rather have had someone punch me right in the mouth. But for Jeff, it was like releasing a kid into a toy store, most literally. it was very small. maybe 3000 square feet total, on two different floors. Then there was the bookstore. oh no. I should have just taken a nap or something. HE spent just as much time in there as in the full museum. At one point he wanted me to take a picture of him in the bookstore. Now thats dedication. On the way home we found food, and ate it in the Metro, This
has become a habit cause it costs more to eat food at the place apparently. Home was again on the other side of town.
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