-battled through huge crowds at the last stage of the tour de France
-battled through huge crowds at Notre Dame
-battled through HUGE crowds at Versailles (see picture) and the Louvre
-battled...you get the picture...le grand masses!!!
Most of it was worth it. Notre Dame is amazing and very spiritual, except for the chapels where they were storing boxes and coat racks. Enough said. The Louvre was completely overwhelming but also amazing. Along with half the population of Asia, we hit the biggies--the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Starbucks (not kidding!!!), and then browsed some ancient sculpture exhibits as well as Renaissance paintings.
Versailles. Sigh. As the Ohioan we had lunch with said, "that's why they had a revolution.". Over the top decadence and self glorification (for King Louis XIV, not the Ohioan, he was quite nice). Versailles is incredibly beautiful but we couldn't help but see it as a grim symbol of the state of French society at that time (and not because of the lack of toilettes in the palace at the time!). And of course, heads rolled eventually, and many French treasures were nearly destroyed in the process.
Speaking of French treasures, the lavaries (laundromats) are great--central controls with credit cards accepted...and one load costs about $7, twice as much as a fine bottle of wine from the grocery store.
Tomorrow we hop on a train and head to Val d'isere in the Alps, where we will start our walking tour of the vanoise national park and nearby towns. We have enjoyed Paris and there are many places we didn't get to visit but its time for some fun in the mountains. More coming...
2 comments:
And has Mark managed to avoid crankyness given the crowds...and Ohesians? (New Englanders instinctively stick their noses up at Rust Belters.)
As far as Versaille, just remember - it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. God was picking and choosing who got to be the pretty people, so who were the royals to argue??
Is good wine really just over $3?
I was pretty cranky at Versailles. But I guess it was worth seeing. And yes the wine is cheap. We bought a bottle at the store for about four euros, some were just over two euros.
Post a Comment