Millefeulle Versailles

On the morning of July 15th, Sunday, my hubby and I were on the train bound for Versailles(ヴェルサイユ宮殿） Chantiers.　The 30-minute-ride from Paris was also lively...because there was a group of musicians! They were two accordion players, two singers, and one boy who was collecting money from passengers. My hubby and I were tired because of our busy schedule, and intended to take a nap in the train...but merry French people( They looked like Middle-Easterners, though...) didn't let us do so!

When we arrived at the Versailles Palace, the sun had already risen high. So, it was...REALLY hot!! 　However, we felt HOTTER because a number of people made a looooooong line to enter the Versailles Palace! You know, then I realized the fifth gap between the DREAM Europe and the REAL Europe...

DREAM= In my dream city, Paris, I want to go many places where I wished to go!! We are staying here 4nights, so we have time to go anywhere!

REAL=Hey, where are parisiens and parisiennes?? Most of them have gone to somewhere on their vacation? I felt like all people in Paris are tourists!! There are so many tourists that we have to wait in lines everywhere!! It takes too much time, so a four-night-stay is not long enough in Paris!!

Actually, there were two lines in front of the gate. The looooong one and the short one. I was drawn toward the short one, but my hubby pulled me saying, "Hey! That is for groups! We are individuals, so we should be in the loooong line!!"
Gee! That's why many vendors around the Versailles Chantiers station sold "tickets for a group line!!" I don't remember how much it cost, but it might be wise to have a group ticket to save our time & energy in a HOT tourism season!! However, it was too late.. We obediently followed the long individual line.

While we were waiting in a line, I saw many Japanese people. I could recognize them because they had French guide books written in Japanese!! The interesting thing was that in Paris, the Japanese I saw were mostly girls' groups. However, in Versailles, the Japanese were boys' groups or families. I don't know if it was just a coincidence. But at least, my hubby looked bored in Paris maybe because most of the famous sites in Paris were to girl's tastes, like shops, cafes, or pâtisseries... Probably Versailles was a rare site that they were interested in!

Almost one hour-and-a-half later, we finally got tickets. We bought "Carte Musées Monuments."
If you go to Paris, here is advice for you; Buy a "Carte Musées Monuments!"
If you have this tickets, you can go to every museum and some tour sites in and around Paris. A two-day-ticket is 30euro, and a four-day-ticket is 45euro. If you go to two big places like Versailles and the Louvre, you have already been paying!!
Also, another advantage of it is...you don't have to wait in a line for a ticket! Gosh! We should bought Cartes Musées Monuments before we came to Versailles!!
Looking at each other's faces with regret, we were in another line...for "entering" the Palace.

Versailles Palace was gorgeous. It was like a "Millefeulle" of luxurious furniture, chandeliers, and paintings...
But as you know, there were SO MANY tourists that it was hard to take good pictures!! Also, there was construction everywhere.
First, we entered Chapelle Royal, where Louis ＸＶＩ　and Marie Antoinette got married. The right picture is the ceiling paintings. They were magnificent!!

My hubby and I had watched the movie, "Marie Antoinette," and we knew the most scenes in the movie were filmed HERE.
We were excited to see Marie Antoinette's bedroom! When we watched the movie, the bed was rimmed with pink frills! So cute!
Then, here it is! Oh....is it?? In fact, it was cute & gorgeous, but really small like a child's bed.
I remembered hearing that in that era, people's height was shorter than now. I think I heard Louis ＸＶＩ was 5'1"(155cm.) He might be smaller than me!! But the main actress of the movie, Kirsten Dunst, is a tall young lady! The filming might not have been easy in this small bed...but we didn't notice it. Bravo!

The real Marie Antoinette, gave birth to one boy and two daughters. The picture is a famous drawing painted by Charles Le Brun.
As you know, Marie was executed in 1793. All of her children died when they were teenagers because of disease.
How sad! But when this painting was written, nobody knew that...(However, maybe paintings in Versailles are copies because everybody took pictures with a strong flashlight!!)

The tour highlight of Versailles Palace was the Hall of Mirrors!! Look at the picture! Don't you think it's so gorgeous!? I want to say, "I took" this picture, but actually I didn't. Of course I took many pictures here! But because of many tourists& construction, my pictures couldn't tell the gorgeousness. I took this picture from a Japanese fashion magazine, Oggi. The article said " the Hall of Mirrors has just finished it's big construction which lasted for three years. Now, it's time to go there!" Well...we visited there BEFORE the construction was over.
But just imagine! My hubby and I were here! with lots of tourists & construction...
By the way, the Hall of Mirrors has still been used as a governmental social event hall. It is great to have such a historical, traditional, & gorgeous place in a nation!!

Having been pushed by the tourist crowd, we entered the garden. Les Jardins(The Versailles Garden) was so huge & beautiful with a big fountain, many trees, & flowers!
However...I don't want to be picky, but...the entrance fee to the garden was basically free. But at the peak of season, they tried to make money!
We should pay 10 euros for each because they said, they had "a musical event" in the evening.
" We won't stay here until evening!" we said so, but everybody who entered the garden should pay on that day. When you go to a very popular country...you should bring extra money!!

The width of the Versailles Garden is 815 hectares. In other words, it is 8,150,000 square meters or 8,900,000 square yards!!
That was HUGE... Also, besides the main palace, there are three imperial villas in the garden!!
We went toward three villas. It took 30 minutes to get there from the palace!! Finally we left the crowd. But walking outside on a very HOT day was really tough
I love traveling even though I could be exhausted because I could always find something interesting. For example...
Look at her! I don't know whether she was a Parisienne or not, but she spoke French.
It was so hot that she bundled her hair with a BALLPOINT PEN!! Uh-oh, it was interesting to watch not only buildings, but also people here!

While we were watching "people," we arrived at the villas.
The first villa was the Grand Trianon, which was built by Louis XIV in 1687. He built this one to enjoy spending time with his mistress, Madme de Maintenon! Wow! Some guys who had authorities could do anything in that era... The left picture is inside the Grand Trianon. You can imagine their romantic lives through the vivid pink furniture? Well, who cares!

The second one was the Petit Trianon. It was built by Louis XV in 1762, to enjoy the company of his mistress, Madame de Pompadour... Well, well, well, French guys were (are?) so passionate! This one is smaller than the Grand Trianon, but we felt a cozier atmosphere. The right picture is the Petit Trianon. Don't you agree with me?

Anyway, in the era of Louis XVI who didn't have an official mistress, his wife, Marie Antoinette used them when she wanted to escape the rigors of court life.
When it comes to villlas, the third one was Le Hameau (Marie Antoinette's village.) It was built by her in 1783-85. The villa was consisted with twelve farmhouses, a farm, a vineyard, a water wheel, etc!! Why did she make those kinds of "farmer" things?
Because at that time, farming was "in fashion" among French aristocrats. After Marie Antoinette became a mother, she loved being in nature with her children. She enjoyed milking & fishing here. But of course it was not her "regular" life! After she enjoyed living here for awhile she went back to the gorgeous palace.
Actually, my hubby and I enjoyed visiting here very much! Probably, more than the palace. We exclaimed at cute & rustic farmhouses, and enjoyed watching relaxed cows, horses, rabbits, and goats! Some places of Le Hameau were like a small zoo!

We walked enjoying watching everything in Versailles, but of course we were really tired!! When we walked toward the Versailles station, we found a sandwich house. I saw the banner saying, " crepes are also available!" I begged my hubby, "Please let me eat a crepe! We ate lunch, but because of too much walking, I am STARVING!!!"
We entered the sandwich house, but here was a sixth gap between the DREAM Europe and the REAL Europe...

DREAM= Basically, I don't like American sweets because they are too sweet... But here, in Europe! We must have traditional & authentic European sweets! We can find many pâtisseries!!

REAL=Yes, we can find many pâtisseries!! But, because of the tourist crowd, we should harry to visit every sightseeing place in Paris! We don't have enough time to be relaxed eating sweets!!

Whenever I saw many nice pâtisseries, we should have hurried. But when we could eat sweets, we couldn't find the right one! The sandwich house I found was like a fast food shop. It was really casual! An Indian lady ran the store, and she made me a very plain crepe.
My hubby said, "You are really funny! This is France! There must be many French pâtissiers! but you bought a crepe from an Indian lady! I think you can find this kind of shop in America, don't you think so?"
Don't say that! I was starving!!

While I was eating an Indian crepe in Versailles, we noticed what time it was.
"Look! It's almost 5 o'clock! Isn't the Musée d'Orsay(Orsay Museum) closed at 6 o'clock!? Hurry up!!"
We rushed out of the store, and jumped in a train to go to downtown Paris.

The Musée d'Orsay is the second most popular museum in Paris. (Of course, the most popular one is the Louvre!) In 1986, the former Orsay railroad station reopened as the Musée d'Orsay. Don't you think the dome remind you of a station?
By the way, we arrived at the museum 25 minutes before it was closed! Then, the Cartes Musées Monuments worked well! Because we had those tickets, we could quickly enter the museum! You must buy tickets 30 minutes or 1 hour before you enter a museum, generally.
Because we have a little time...I was wondering where we should start to see the exhibits.
My hubby said, "Let's go to the area where many tourists are gathering! There must be a famous picture there! "
We don't like crowds, but sometimes it is convenient to figure out which is popular or not.
Here are two main popular paintings that gathered many people: Les Glaneuses (The Pickers) is the right picture. Naissance de Vénus (The Birth of the Venus) is the left picture!

Having been satisfied with looking at popular paintings, we still tried to keep sightseeing. We got to the Eiffel Tower! Hello, again! We couldn't climb up you yesterday, so we came to see you again!
However, as we expected, we should make a looooong line to buy elevator tickets to the viewing gallery. It took almost one-and-a-half hours finally to buy tickets. But we might say, "it was not so boring" because we saw... an exciting battle between a French guy & Americans!

Let me explain what happened.
There was a family a few groups before us. They were a mother and two little daughters. While they were waiting, the mother once left the line to go to a restroom. After she came back...her daughters had already passed through the security area!
The mother smiled at a French guy who was in charge of the security,
" I am sorry, I think my daughers had already passed through here when I went to a restroom... May I catch up with my daughters?"
The French guy didn't smile at all, "You left the line? You should wait at the end of the line again."
The American mother changed her face, "What!? My daughters are too young to be there alone! Let me go there! "
The French guy didn't compromise, " I said, "No." Once you left the line, you should go to the end of the line. That's the rule."
The American mother became crazy and screamed, " Amanda! Sophie! Where are you!!??"
Then, her second daughter, Sophie(the estimated age was eight?), came back (but beyond the security,) "Mom! I'm here!"
The mother cried out," Where is Amanda!?"
Sophie whispered, "I don't know..."
"What!? Where is she!??"
"I don't know, Mom. She went somewhere..."
Just after Sophie said that, the mother yelled out getting crazier, "Amanda! Amanda!"
Finally, her first daugher, Amanda (the estimated age was ten?) came. But she had already left the line.
Then, a group of American tourists just before us helped Amanda to get over the fence. She came back to the mother.
The French guy finally changed his cool face and said to the 10-year-old girl, "Hey! You got over the fence! You shouldn't do that! Go to the end of the line!!"
The mother got angrier, "Hey! She is a child! You shouldn't say that!"
Then, the French guy started pretending not to understand English!
"I don't know what you mean, I don't speak English, This is France!"
"I don't speak French!!!" The mother erupted like a volcano.

Then, American tourist groups around her started to support the mother.
"It's rediculous! You can pass the security!"
The American tourists let the family enter beyond the security. The French guy finally gave up, but he did some mean things to the American tourists, like checked their lagguage too much.
However, you know, Americans are basically assertive. They fought with the guy saying,
"You want to see my bag!? Here it is! Take it! What's your name! I will tell your name to the manager!" etc.

We, an Asian couple between the French and the Americans, just kept quiet being nervous... I heard some French people didn't like Americans because they spoke English in France as if English were the common language.
Maybe we saw an obvious example of that? I don't know...

At any rate, we climbed up the third (highest) level of the Eiffel Tower by the elevator. The Look at the photos!
At the third floor, the view was not clear because it was too high. It was 905 feet (276 meters) above the ground. I took these pictures from...maybe, it was the first (in a British way)level. It was 187 feet(57 meters) high.
The right top picture is Champ de Mars ( Mars Park) and École Militaire(Military School.)
The left one is the Seine River.
In the right down picture, the golden building is Hôtel des Invalides!

Not only "under" the Eiffel Tower( before we bought the elevetor tickets), but also "in" the Eiffel Tower( in the elevators, view galleries...) were really crowded. When we left the Tower, it was already past 9:00pm!
We walked & sought a nice restraurant. Twenty minutes later, we found a fine French restaurant that I found in my guidebook!
Actually, it was the first & the last time we ate French cuisine in France... I like French restaurants, but my hubby prefered Japanese restaurants! As you know, I planned everything on this trip as I like. Therefore, I comprimised on "what to eat."
But at that day... my hubby compromised with me! Yeah!! The restaraunt's name was "Thoumieux," which means "Everything is delicious!"
I agree with that! I secretly took photos of some dishes, a salad and dessert(a plum pie.)

What time do you think we went back to our hotel? We didn't go or to a night club, but it was midnight!
Now I understand why my hubby has still been saying, "Our European trip was really hard! I won't go there again!!"

Irregular Revolutionary Day

Hi, friend! How have you been? Oh, it has already been October!! I have been working for the TOEIC, the Humorous Speech Contest, and other presentaions at the Toastmasters etc… I have TONS of stories to tell you! But before those, let me finish my SUMMER trip journal!!

On the morning of July 14th, you could hear this conversation betweem my hubby and I in a (small) hotel room in PARIS.
Keiko:"Common, honey! Wake up!! Today is our first day in Paris!!"
Tom:"Are you serious? We just came here from London yesterday…we need sleep more..."
K:"No way! Paris is a BIG city!! We have many many places to go to!!"
It was almost the same conversation at the first day of London!!

July 14th is a special day for France. On the same day in 1789, enraged citizens attacked the Bastile jail. The Bastile fell, and it meant, the French Revolution became successful! In France, the day is called Fête de la Fédération or just Quatorze Juillet (Jult 14th.)
But in Japan...it is famous as a French Revolutionary Day!!

Keiko:"Wake up! Today is the French Revolutionary Day, so we can see a splendid parade along Ave. des Champs Elysées(シャンゼリゼ大通）!!"
Tom:" We should? I don't like the crowd...OK! I'm going!!"

Thus, with a pleasant agreement(?,) we took the Metro to get to Arc de Triomphe(凱旋門）. The Metro was already crowded. Just following the bunches of people, we went throught the exit of the Metro. Shortly after, THE ONE jumped into our eyes...
THE ONE!! The Arc de Triomphe!! Hey, this is a significant architecture in Paris!!
However...Mmmmm...that was not the REGULAR Arc deTriomphe! The one with tanks & armies!!
"Of course this is why today is the French Revolutionary Day! It makes sense!" We muttered & started to walk again.

The parade was supposed to start at 10:00am. We arrived at the Ave. des Champs Elysées at 9:30am. Oh, crap! We were late to get good positons? Some children were held up by their fathers and kept in higher positions like "on the" telephone boxes!!
When we looked up, there were many spectators in the windows of the higher buildings along the street. From offices, apartments...not only along the street, but also "up the street," many people were looking forward to the parade!!
Then, we noticed...not all of them were "spectators." We saw several cops who leveled their guns to look for people like terrorists!! Can you see them(two cops between the trees) from the picture??
" Hey, it 's really serious!!" My hubby and I became tense. They had to do so... The new French president, Nicolas Sarkôzy, would participate in the parade, and he invited some international VIPs.
SO, that meant we could see Mr. Sarkôzy! That's exciting! We waited, waited, and waited....

At 10:30am, the parade didn't start. We mistook the time schedule? But the American couple next to us saw the time table, and it said " The parade starts at 10:00am!" Then, the roar of planes exploded, and people got excited. Wow!! The airshow started!!!
Several planes flew along the Ave. des Champs Elysées, and left the smoke like tricolor(red, blue, and white)!
"It's beautiful! It is the beautiful prologue of the French revolutionary parade!!"
However, the parade still didn't seem to start. My hubby finally gave up and left the crowd to find a seat, but Europeans were so patient!! They didn't complain (or I just didn't understand what they were talking about), and kept smiling & waiting!

Around 11:15am, the parade finally started!!

(By the way, in the right picture, can you see Zinedine Zidane, who is a French succor hero? He is SO popular in France that he appears in many advertisements!)
"Yeah! Come on, Mr. Sarkôzy! Where are you!??" I said to myself, but...several minutes later, the parade stopped.
The soldiers on the parade talked with each other, just looked relaxed. Actually, the parade was intermittent!! They started, stopped, and started again...
I, a Japanese girl, felt my limit of patience. Maybe French people might be so flexible...in a good meaning and a bad meaning...
"It's enough! I don't care about Sarkôzy! Let's get out of here!"
I took my hubby's arm, and left the crowded place.

"So, where should we go today?"
Because that day was the French Revolutionary Day, many things were so irregular!! Most shops and museums were closed on that day. We went to the Place de la Bastile because it was the most meaningful place for the Revolution, and there were shopping streets which opened at the day!
Here is the Place de la Bastile(the picture.) Around the place, there is Opéra Bastile which is the new opera theater.
It was almost the end of the opera season, so there were many French poeple who made a line to get tickets for the last show!
Then, a cavalcade started...
"Oh, it's good! This is also the French Revolutionary parade, but here,the Bastile is not so crowded!"

Then, my hubby whined his voice and said, "I'm hungry, Mom... I want to go to MAC's! MacDonald's!!"
"Seriously? There are many fashionable cafes and fine Japanese restaurants. We have plenty of MacDonald hamburger shops in America... OK! I'm going!!"
We saw the big sign of the Macdonald, and it was written "200M devant Prochain juin"
I knew the French word, "devant" was "ahead." "We are lucky! There is a MacDonald shop 200 meters ahead!!"
We walked, walked, and walked... But we couldn't find it! Finally, we went back and saw the sign again. I looked up the meaning of the next line, then we knew... "Prochain juin" meant "Next June!!" I should have studied French more...

However, my hubby has a special sense of smell. He said, " I can smell MacDonald's! Follow me!"
Five minutes later, we found a small MacDonald Restaurant inside an office building!! His sense of smell was amazing!
Can't he use it for more helpful things??

Since we woke up early to watch the French army parade, finally we could have seats and be relaxed in MacDnald's, a very American fast food restaurant. The American restaurant? But actually, that was different from the one in America...
Off course we could eat hamburgers, but most of the French ordered small hamburgers and big salads. In American MacDonald shops, most people have pops, like Coke or Sprite, and they are refillable. However, almost all Parisienne(women in Paris) ordered a small bottle of Evian! Water! Those small daily efforts affected their beautiful figures? My hubby and I looked at each other's big bottles of Cokes...

Anyway, we think we burned the calories of the hamburgers and Cokes because we kept walking even after lunch.
We looked through a flea market, some unique shop streets, and advanced toward Île de la Citê(シテ島.) While we were walking, I found many nice crêpe shops or pâtisseries... But we felt like "We need to do our mission! Do sightseeing as much as we can!!"
Therefore, we didn't have a break.

The closer we came to the Cathédral Notre Dame de Paris, the bigger the cowd became. Recently, I heard Île de la Citê was popular among young French people because there were many fashionable shops! When Napoléon Bonaparte had the coronation ceremony at the Cathédral Notre Dame de Paris in 1804, he must never have imagined this area would become such a youthful place!
However, in front of the Cathédral, so many tourists packed in to take pictures of the beautiful religious building. We also took pictures, trying to avoid the crowd.

At last, we took the Metro to get to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower! The symbol of Paris!! When I saw the shape, I almost forgot my long-walking-fatigue.
"Look at this! Here it is ! We ARE in Paris!!"
In contrast to me, my hubby wasn't excited at all.
" What is the difference between the Eiffel Tower and the Tokyo Tower or Sapporo TV Tower?? All of them look the same to me!" "Shut up!! The difference is IT IS IN PARIS!! Girls just love Paris!!"

We intended to climb up the Eiffel Tower to see the Paris secenery. However, because that day was an IRREGULAR day... the Eiffel Tower closed much ealier than usual! They would have a big consert in front of the Eiffel Tower. Oh, that's the Champ de Mars （シャン・ド・マルス公園）was so crowded with people who tried to get nice seats!

We decided to come here again, and went to see the Hôtel des Invalides(アンヴァリッド）, a former hospital where Napoléon Bonaparte slept in a grave!! But the atmosphere around the Hôtel des Invalides looked IRREGULAR... We didin't know "the regular Invalides,"but it was obvious! Because there were many soldiers who stood by to do something around the place!!
Being a little bit afraid, we walked toward the Hôtel des Invalides. Then, we saw... the French Army Show!!
We saw some banners saying, "Armée de terre( Land of the Army.)" It sounds scarly, doesn't it?
There were many tanks,helicopters, etc, etc... The friendly soldiers let the children ride in them!
Look at the picture! Yeah, children? Yes, children and an unfamiliar? Asian...

Before the parade at the Ave. des Champs Elysées, soldiers did the same thing. They had taken pictures with children, and given rides in the tanks. Maybe it was to teach them the patriotic spirit. But I was scared! If many French children dreamed of being a soldier, and wanted to fight with other countries... Maybe I took it too seriously??
Beside serious me, my hubby said it loudly in Japanese.
"So, the French Revolutionary Day is "Look-at-us! We-are-so-strong" Day? I didn't know that!!"

The night of the French Revolutionary Day was also IRREGULAR.

Many eople enjoyed the concert in front of the Eiffel Tower, or danced all night long in the Place de la Bastile!! I want to say, "Oh, that was really exciting! I felt like I was une Parisienne!!" But in reality, we didn't have the night activities. We watched the TV program of the concert in our confined hotel room. I took the left picture from TV!!

We stayed two days more in Paris! What will happen next!??