I
am a little sad as I write this morning! Our cruise has ended, so we leave the
ship today. But the next part of our adventure starts, so I won’t be sad for
long! It was a very early start this morning! I was up at 5.50am to shower and
pack up the last of our stuff so we could put our cases out ready for
collection! Once our cases were out, we went and had our last meal on board the
ship – breakfast. After checking our cabins we collected our hand luggage and
moved to the lounge to wait for our transfer to the train station for our 3.5 hour
fast train journey to Paris. At 10.30am we left the ship with much sadness! It
was hard to say goodbye to some of the staff that we had most dealings with. We
will miss hearing Petra’s cheerful announcements – especially “ding dong, a
happy good morning” (or something similar)! From the ship we walked the couple
of hundred metres to the railway station where we boarded the Thalys Fast Train
to Paris. We left Amsterdam at 11.19am and arrived in Paris at 2.40pm. There
were several stops along the way. Our main luggage was brought to Paris by
coach that a small number of the APT passengers were on. We had taken some
rolls, cookies and apples from the ship at breakfast time, so had those along
the way for lunch. At Paris, we were met by coaches to bring us to the hotel –
L’Hotel du Collectionneur, which is not far from the Arc de Triomphe and Champs
Elysees. After settling into our room, we went for a walk to find somewhere to
get dinner. It was quite warm out. We walked to the Champs Elysees (after
initially getting a little lost) and found a small Italian restaurant where we
had dinner of a burger for Keith, bolognaise for me & carbonara for Alison.
After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel for an early night ready for an
early start tomorrow. Our room in the hotel is a good size with 2 double beds
and a bathroom big enough for a tub. When we arrived the room was very hot, so
we tried to adjust the air conditioning but it wasn’t working. We had that
fixed so we could cool the room down.
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| Our "home" for the last two weeks |
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| Keith, Alison & I with the captain of the ship |
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| Alison with Petar - our favourite drinks waiter |
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| Alison with Petra - our wonderful Cruise Director |
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| The Thalys train pulling into the station at Amsterdam |
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| Alison & I on the train ready for our trip to Paris |
We
were up early to have breakfast when the dining room opened at 7.00am in the
hotel restaurant. Our bust to take us to the pick up point for our tour to the
Palace of Versailles came at 7.45am, but we were late leaving the hotel as two
of the group slept in. We still arrived at the bus station with plenty of time
to spare. The bus to Versailles left at 8.45am and took about 50 minutes to get
to the Palace. The car park was absolutely chock-a-block full of coaches and
cars and there were hundreds of people in the queue to get into the palace.
Because we were part of a group booking we got in quicker. But as we were
waiting the 10 minutes or so till it was our turn to get inside, it started
pouring with rain! So by the time we got in we were all wet despite raincoats
and umbrellas.
The
magnificent Château de Versailles is a testimony of the Sun King's
extravaganza. The Palace and its magnificent formal garden became the
quintessential model for palaces in Europe. The town of Versailles sits about
20 kilometres outside of Paris. The first mention of the town and estate was in
1038, when the name appeared in a charter of the Abbey of Saint-Père de Chartres.
By the end of the 11th century, Versailles was a country village enveloping a
castle and the church of Saint-Julien, remaining prosperous until well into the
13th century. After the Hundred Years War, however, only a handful of people
lived there. In the 16th century, the Gondi family became the rulers of
Versailles and the town began to gain acclaim when future King Louis XIII
visited and became enamored with the site. He purchased land in the area and
proceeded to build a small brick and stone lodge there in 1622. Ten years
later, he became the lord of Versailles and began enlarging his lodge. Soon, he
purchased more land as well as Gondi's estate. Louis XIII dies in 1643. In
1662, the new king - Louis XIV - took an earnest interest in Versailles. Louis
XIV, also known as The Sun King, distrusted the Parisians and wanted to move
his Royal Residence away from the Louvre Palace, which was at the heart of
constant political turbulence. The Sun King was largely responsible for the
expansion that resulted in the building that still stands today. He hired
architect Louis Le Vau along with artist Charles Le Brun to carry out the work
on this Baroque masterpiece, which became the quintessential model for all
palaces in Europe. Famed gardener André le Nôtre was responsible for the
unequalled Versailles Garden. After Le Vau's death, Jules Hardouin- Mansart was
commissioned to triple the size of the palace. Under his watchful eye, the
northern and southern wings, the Orangerie, the Grand Trianon (a chateau) and
the Royal Chapel were constructed. Later additions included the Opera and the
Petit Trianon (a small chateau), which was built between the years 1761 - 1764
for Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. During the French Revolution, the
incredible collection of paintings, antiques, and other works of art that had
been amassed at Versailles were transferred to the Louvre and other important
items went to the National Library and Conservatory of Arts and Crafts. Most of
the furniture, historians say, was sold at auction. After the Revolution,
Napoleon spent his summers at Versailles until he abdicated. Later, it was
Louis-Phillipe who, in 1830, transformed the chateau into a grand museum,
dedicated to "the glory of France." The Chapel, the Opera, and the
Hall of Mirrors were preserved but many smaller apartments were destroyed to
make room for spacious exhibition halls. In the 1960s, however, curator Pierre
Verlet was responsible for getting some of the furnishings back and restoring a
number of the royal apartments. Notable rooms include:
·
The
Hall of Mirrors - Some call this Louis XIV's most notable contribution to
Versailles. The main feature of the hall is the seventeen mirrored arches that
reflect the seventeen arcaded windows which look out onto Versailles equally-
magnificent garden. Each arch contains twenty-one mirrors, for a total of 357
in all. This magnificent hall measures 73 meters long, 10.5 meters wide, and
12.3 meters high (240x34x40ft). Statues and busts line the walls. The Hall of
Mirrors has always played an important role in history including in 1919, as
the First World War officially ended when Germany signed the Treaty of
Versailles in this hall.
·
Chapel
of Versailles - The current chapel of Versailles is the fifth at the palace.
Construction began in 1689 and was completed around 1710. It features a
"tribune" on the same level as the royal apartments, overlooking the
nave, where the kings would sit when they attended mass. The architecture is a
combination of Gothic and Baroque. Many of its features resemble cathedrals of
medieval times, including the gargoyles and pointed roof, but other features
are more reminiscent of the era in which it was built, including coloured
marble tile floors, columns, and carved pillars.
·
The
Grand Apartment - Originally known as the Apartment of the Planets (the 7
salons of this apartment each featured a painting of a planet),
·
The
Queen's bedroom - this was King Louis XIV's apartment. While the entire
apartment and all its salons are amazing, most notable are the ceilings,
painted by Painter to the King, Charles Le Brun and his team of artists.
·
Royal
Opera - The auditorium of the Opera is fashioned entirely from wood, making it
one of the most acoustically "live" theatres in the world. Though it
was a court theatre and not meant for a huge public audience, it seats more
than 700. Gold, pink, and green dominate the decor for the Opera, which wasn't
constructed until 1770. It was first used for the wedding ball of future king
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and boasts a unique mechanical system that
raises the floor to the level of the stage. Today, it is still used for
concerts and operas.
At
100 hectare (about 250 acre), the garden of the Versailles Palace is Europe's
largest palace garden. It was created in the 17th century by landscape gardener
André Le Nôtre who designed what could be considered the quintessential formal
French garden. The garden is laid out in a geometric pattern of paths, bushes,
flowerbeds and trees. Le Nôtre also drained the swampy, sloping terrain and
created a series of basins and a large canal, known as the Grand Canal. Several
fountains adorn the basins. The most famous are the Latona Fountain - with a
statue of the goddess Latona - and the Apollo Fountain - named after the sun
god and depicting the Sun King riding a chariot. There are several other
fountains in the garden, such as the Neptune Fountain. The fountains were
installed to entertain the many guests invited to the lavish parties organized
by King Louis XIV. Another noteworthy decoration in the garden is the
Colonnade, a circular row of marble columns, designed by Jules
Hardouin-Mansart. There are also a couple of smaller palaces in the garden: the
Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon. Some 10,000 people worked in the
Versailles Palace, so privacy was minimal. Hence King Louis XIV ordered the
construction of the Grand Trianon, a palace almost as luxurious as the main
palace where the king could escape the formalities of the court and arrange
rendezvous with his mistress. His successor, King Louis XV later built the
smaller Petit Trianon for the same reason.
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| One of the courtyards of the Palace of Versailles |
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| all those people are queued to get into the Palace of Versailles |
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| Eating McDonalds on the Champs Elysees |
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| One of the ceilings in the palace of Versailles |
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| a view of the garden from one of the windows of the palace - it was raining heavily! |
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| The Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed |
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| another view of the very wet gardens |
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| one of the few original chandeliers in the palace - made of Bohemia Crystal |
The
palace was packed with people! It was busier than any other tourist attraction
I have been to except perhaps, the Eifel Tower. The rain continued the whole
time we were in the palace and after too, so even though we had about 45
minutes before our bus was leaving to go back to Paris, we didn’t go to the
gardens as it was too wet and we felt we would need much more time than 45
minutes. Instead we went and waited on the bus for half an hour out of the
rain. By the time we got back to Paris the rain had stopped. We waited at the
bus station for our mini bus to bring us back to the hotel, from where we
walked back to the Champs Elysees to McDonalds for some lunch. We then went for
a wander along the street and went to the Disney shop, but did not buy anything.
Then on the way back to the hotel we called into M&S and got some food for
dinner. We returned to the hotel for some quiet relaxing time. We were all very
tired! At around 6.00pm it started pouring with rain so we were pleased to have
stayed in the hotel. Some of the group went to dinner and a show at Moulin
Rouge but we opted not to go. We were all in bed by about 8.30pm.
Happy reading
Doreen
