Bonjour Mes Amis! Paris - Day 3 & 4

I'm going to cover our last two days in Paris in one blog because day 4 really only consisted of a single activity.  Having seen almost everything on our "must see" list (Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Musee D'Orsay, Opera House, etc.) in the 2 days we'd been there so far, we turned to the Paris Museum pass for some ideas of how to spend the next day. Still on our list were the Arc De Triumph and shopping up and down the Champs Elysee, but we didn't expect either of those activities to take the entire day. (Don't get me wrong, I can easily spend an entire day shopping, but I'm always leery of buying souvenirs too early in the trip. A personal rule I'm still adjusting. Part of me thinks that if you see something you want, you should buy it no matter how early in the trip it is because you might not find anything like it again. Another part of me doesn't want to blow my souvenir budget in the beginning. It's a personal preference thing. And also depends on your souvenir budget.) It also didn't help that the cloudy, overcast skies from Day 2 left us with a yucky rainy day for Day 3.

Well, we climbed Mt. Vesuvius in the rain, so we weren't going to let a little bit of Parisian rain stop us from seeing what else there was to explore in the city. We spent the morning shopping down the Champs Elysee all the way to the Arc De Triumph. At lunch, we turned to our guide book for a suggestion on how to spend the afternoon.

One place on the Paris Museum pass that looked both intriguing and confusing (because of the name) was the Hôtel des Invalides. We had absolutely on idea what this was supposed to be, but the booklet said that it contained the tomb of Napoleon, so we decided to check it out. The Hôtel des Invalides contains the Musée de l'Armée which at the time had a World War II exhibit. Being a huge WW2 buff, I was eager to see a history of the war from the French perspective. 

What an interesting time we had here. First, Napoleon's tomb is huge. It's bigger than huge. It's enormous! I tried to include a picture that I took from the second story to give you a better idea of just how large it is. I could make some inappropriate joke about size and compensation right now (because Napoleon was really short), but I'll forgo the indulgence.

Napoleon's Tomb - see how tiny the people are comparatively? 

What I found equally as flummoxing was the World War II exhibit. It basically goes like this: France enters the war against Germany - yay us! France fiercely fights Germany - yay us! Germany conquers France - not our fault! French people start resistance movement during German occupation - yay us! D-Day happens - ok fine; we'll mention it briefly, but don't go thinking it was THAT special. War ends; Charles De Gualle marches down the center of Paris during the victory parade - yay, we won the war all by ourselves! End Scene! We left that museum absolutely astonished. Was that museum an accurate representation of how the French people really perceive the United States? I am personally very proud of the role the United States played in World War II, so it saddened me to see an ally of ours remember the war with almost a sense of animosity toward our involvement.

Needless to say, at this point, we were just really ready to be done with Paris. The previous day's "incident" plus the cloudy/rainy weather all combined with the sour taste this museum left in our mouths really led to an overall melancholy feeling. I was glad to be leaving the city soon. We had some exciting activities coming up on our itinerary, and I was excited to explore France beyond Paris.

We still had one more day technically in the city, but we rose early the next morning to head out to the beautiful Palace of Versailles. In my notes from the trip, I have these instructions for getting out to Versailles using the Paris public transportation system. (Take the RER C direction Versailles Rive Gauche (train called VICK), get off at Versailles Rive Gauche station. Be careful not to get off at Viroflay Rive Gauche! The name looks somewhat the same, but this is not the same station! Another branch of the RER C, direction Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, stops at Versailles Chantiers).

Despite the 45 min trek out of the center of Paris to get to Versailles, it was still surprisingly urban. As we approached the palace, I had to do a double-take because there was no jaw dropping moment of awe as we got closer. It could have been the busy street we had to cross to get to the courtyard entrance, or the fact that parts of the side building were covered in scaffolding. But that first impression aside, the rest of the day was pretty spectacular.

Busy Versailles entrance.

We got there before the palace even opened so we stopped first at a little cafe and had a warm beverage. We entered Versailles as soon as it opened, so we were able to tour the palace rooms before they got too crowded. The inside of Versailles was beautiful, and I loved being able take pictures of everything. The Hall of Mirrors wasn't quite what I expected, but then where's the fun in traveling if everything is always what you expect? If you have the time, I strongly encourage planning to spend the entire day at Versailles. The palace itself takes maybe an hour or two, but there is so much more to discover while you're there.

The most fascinating aspect for me was learning more about Marie Antoinette. She found the main palace of Versailles overwhelming and loathed court customs, so she escaped from that life whenever possible.  There was a "smaller" house on the Versailles grounds where she spent most of her time.

The Marie Antoinette House. Still larger than anything I've lived in.

Further into the gardens was a quaint miniature hamlet that she built to also help her escape from "city life". Touring the hamlet was one of the coolest parts of the entire day. She literally built a small village with buildings on a smaller scale than that of a real village. All of the houses were just slightly smaller than you'd expect of a full-size house. Marie Antoinette built it specifically for parties and none of the buildings were ever lived in. Though given their smaller size, it would make living in them impractical. Your imagination really runs wild in a place like this, and I just loved it there.

The Marie Antoinette hamlet

In addition to Marie Antoinette's house and hamlet, the Versailles gardens are quite extensive. You can easily get lost wandering the paths. The numerous fountains that pop up throughout the gardens make it feel like you're finding little secrets.

Despite the entrance of Versailles leaving a lot to be desired, the back view of the palace is nothing short of spectacular. The statues and fountains add an extra layer of luxury to one of the grandest palaces in all of France with one of the bloodiest histories.

the back of the Palace of Versailles - still cloudy!

It was fascinating to imagine life on the eve of the French Revolution when the people became so angry they rose up against the king, beheading him and his wife. It's fortunate for us that they didn't burn the place to the ground. It also made me very grateful for the life I have. I may never have the riches to live in a palace like Versailles, though I am very blessed to have the ability to live without dire financial distress.

All told, we probably spent about 6 hours at Versailles. Since we got there right when it opened, we were back in the city by late afternoon. We took advantage of our last day in the city and took a leisurely stroll along the Seine River by our hotel, bought some street art, and drank in a lovely view of Notre Dame from across the river. The next day, we would head back to the Charles De Gaulle international airport, get a car, and head south for the Loire Valley. Versailles was just the first of many magnificent structures we were bound to see. Click here to continue reading all about my adventures in the magnificent French countryside.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler