ATG in Gay Paree (that would be Paris) - with a day trip to DLP!

[A-T-G]

Sorry gang! I got distracted by housework and chores! I'll get my Day 5 stuff up later today!

 

[A-T-G]

On our 5th Day, DH and I decided, at last, to venture forth to Versailles. I'd always wanted to go to Versailles! Of course, the day we get there, the weather decides to stop co-operating with us - it rained on and off all day. Blurgh. Luckily, I was prepared! I had packed umbrellas for DH and myself and a poncho for me (to tuck our bags and cameras under). We took the RER, hoping off at Versailles-Rive Gauche. We snagged our Versailles passport ticket from the tourist office (2bis avenue de Paris), which spared us the lines at the Chateau. This tickets gives you access to Chateau & grounds & includes an audio guide. We skipped the Marie Antoinette domains - mostly as my back was killing me BEFORE we started at Versailles and I knew there was NO WAY I'd make it to Petite Trianon (Gives me something to look forward to on the next trip, eh?)

Tickets in hand, we made our way thru the freshly gilded gates (I believe these are new gates...the originals having been destroyed in the revolution (correct me if I am wrong). We opted to hobble on the cobblestones as the well worn path was very crowded. There is a massive restoration going on at the Chateau - a chance to bring the ol' gal back up to snuff. It's very exciting!

I don't think it's fancy enough. Slap some more gold up there!

The security line was a breeze and my water bottle was not even blinked at (even tho it stated no food or beverages could be brought in). I thought we'd wait forever to pick up our audio guides but, we shuffled through very quickly. A curt: "language" was barked out by the attendant (I can only imagine the thousands of people that pass through that station! I'm only shocked she didn't just chuck them at us and leave us to figure it out on our own), quickly programed, and handed to us (It took less than a minute. She was awesome!). We began our tour in the Chapel Royal:

There were two floors we got to peer into. On the second floor is where you'd have seen the Royal family. Everyone else got to stand around down here.

Here are hundred year old doors.

Here they are after you throw many thousands of dollars at them!

Now, we come to the part that I messed up on. Normally I would have jotted down every room we entered, so I wouldn't forget them. Instead, I had one hand pressing the audio thingie to my ear and the other one holding stuff (my camera, my water bottle, my bag, etc) and just never got to jot. Suffice it to say, we go thru a series of swankier and swankier rooms - most of them waiting areas for courtiers waiting to see, or talk to the King. The rooms had neat names. All of them we gorgeous and meant to extol the glory and triumph of France, the King, and the Monarchy.

I snapped a close up of the material on the walls. It's now my screen saver! NERD!

The room after it had this beautiful fireplace - The kind you could stick an entire tree in. I felt like I could stand in it! All the pictures of this room came out really dark (dang it!) so, the only thing I have from it is the mantel piece.

This is apparently a really famous bust of Louis XIV as a young, hunky King. He's the R-Patz of his day. Sooooo dreamy! I'll bet his skin glitters like a diamond in the sun, too. Probably because he'd be wearing actual diamonds...

I'm uploading MORE pics from Versailles, so stay tuned!

Up next: MORE rooms coated in a fine layer of GOLD!

 

[disney_princess_85]

What an awesome photo!

This is apparently a really famous bust of Louis XIV as a young, hunky King. He's the R-Patz of his day. Sooooo dreamy! I'll bet his skin glitters like a diamond in the sun, too. Probably because he'd be wearing actual diamonds...

 

[Disneygrl36]

The stormy skies add drama to your photo.
Your quip about Louis/R Pats OMG.

 

[A-T-G]

And we're walking...we're walking...we're walking...

Rooms of ever increasing luxury flew right by. Occasionally, we'd peep out a window to catch the view. Clouds would roll in, dump some rain (causing everyone to rush inside), and depart again (leaving everyone cautiously heading back out). I told DH I hoped we'd time our wandering of the grounds to a sunny interlude.

A fancy window latch. I really wanted to open this.

Oh, NOW the sun comes out!

More pretty stuff (why didn't I keep writing?! Stoopid thirst for knowledge!)...I'll just make some stuff up!

The was where the counting house, where the king counts all his money.

Here's a corner from the room where the King eats his bread and honey.

This next photo, I remember, is from Louis XVI 's throne room. Of course, the throne is gone and the room was covered in scaffolding (renovations!) so, the only pic I know for sure comes from this room - is the ceiling painting!

Move that chandelier a little to the right, and we'd say that horse was well hung!

We were just about at the room I'd been longing to see since I was 14 (yes, even then I was History Nerd): The Hall of Mirrors!

No flash photography! I'm watching you!

This might be blurry from me jumping up and down with joy...

I don't know, I think I could have smiled more...

DH and I kept doing this tour backwards. We'd walk through a room to it's logical end and then discover that we were missing numbers on our audio tour. Inevitably, we'd trek back and notice the open doorway with signs pointing to the actual next stop in the tour. Le sigh. We did that again in the Hall of Mirrors, nearly skipping the King's apartments. I snapped this picture before backtracking:

You are doing this wrong. I sneer at your stupidity. Go back and do it again, correctly this time.

Up Next: Royal Bedrooms and pretty gardens.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I don't think they used enough gold IMO!

 

[burly]

I am truly enjoying this trip report. i am not quite as nerdy as you are, but my thirst for knowledge is large.


Kim

 

[A-T-G]

I am truly enjoying this trip report. i am not quite as nerdy as you are, but my thirst for knowledge is large.


Kim

Few people are as epically nerdy as I am. True story.

 

[A-T-G]

At last, we righted ourselves and made our way (correctly, I assure you) to the King's apartments. You can't help but notice the GIANT bed dominating the room with a gilt fence in front of it. Why the fence? To keep all the girls at bay! No, it kinda was! I toldja, Louie's popular with the ladies! Actually, it was so the Courtiers could watch the King get up, and get dressed. All part of the show! The fence was where the viewers stood with the King and his 'handlers' (tee-hee) inside.

Louie likes to watch!

There were fireplaces on either end and a beautiful view of the grounds. Unfortunately, they kept the drapes closed to preserve the lovely hangings, which made shooting the space a real challenge!

OMG! I'm standing in the KING'S room! And it's so dark and romantical. I wunder if he *hearts* me? Surely he doesn't invite ALL the girls here...wait...why are there so many GIRLS here?! That JERK! *sniffle*

With my freeze-ray I will stop...

I stood in that darkened room until DH begged to continue on. Le sigh.

We wandered toward the Queen's apartments and found this very small room that the King's guards would have been in. In that room and several others we would find benches lining the walls with signs on them basically saying "Don't sit on us" and taunting our tired legs. The French can be so cruel...

Look at all this comfy softness. It could be yours! Come closer...closer...closer...now go find an actual place to sit! Oh, I'm HISTORIC(al)!!! HAHAHAHA!

Arriving now in the Queen's chambers - we find them as Marie Antoinette (and a restoration project or two) left them. I was kinda overwhelmed by this room - you'll see why in a sec - and my eyes, looking for relief were swept up to the ceiling. Ah, the relaxing warmth of GOLD everywhere to give yourself time to process...

THIS is the relaxing part?!!

I can't really convey how too, too (much) this room was! I could only photograph it in smaller bits and then close my eyes! The pattern (everywhere!) was beautiful - I wouldn't mind a drape set or comforter in the pattern but, it was on EVERYTHING! The walls, the bed, the chairs! It crawled into my eyes and wouldn't leave!

The little open door is where the Queen escaped the mob that attacked Versailles during the revolution. The GIANT wardrobe next to it? Her jewelry box - proving, once again, that I am a RANK amateur when it comes to accessories.

Up next: The REST of Versailles. Seriously - I've drawn this out enough!( I gotta edit)

 

[Beka]

Just finished page 1! I went to Paris in '97 & still remember bits & pieces (college was after, so I'm glad I remember anything!)

There was a fabulous little store outside the Louvre that sold little prints & stationary. If I could ever find it again, I'd go broke.

All I could order there was a ham sandwich, and they ALWAYS had butter on them!

I Paris!

 

[A-T-G]

Just finished page 1! I went to Paris in '97 & still remember bits & pieces (college was after, so I'm glad I remember anything!)

There was a fabulous little store outside the Louvre that sold little prints & stationary. If I could ever find it again, I'd go broke.

All I could order there was a ham sandwich, and they ALWAYS had butter on them!

I Paris!

Dang! I was looking for a stationary store in Paris! I'm sure they HAVE them - just never where I was!!

Oh, the joys of a ham sammie in Paris

 

[A-T-G]

Where were we?

At last, a chair I'm allowed to sit on!

Ah yes! We'd just finished the King and Queen's apartments! We walked out the wrong door (again) and ended up at the end of the tour - in a room dedicated to Napoleon. Turning a corner, we found ourselves in the museum that was set up after the Restoration to celebrate 'Tout Les Glories De France' (which I'm sure I've just butchered!)

In the Grand hall you could find paintings depicting every pivotal battle in French history - all in the name of announcing to the world that France was a force to be reckoned with. In another room we found portraits hung salon style (one on top of the other) of many of France's heros. The king ordered the portraits of the leaders of the Revolution hung in that room as well, saying that they were heros to many. Pretty impressive. We kept wandering, hoping to find our way back to parts of the tour we must have missed (our audio thingies had jumped from the 100's to the 300's!).

Yikes! Louie really let himself go! Now he looks like the disgusting villain in the 2nd Austin Powers film!!

Finally, we found the Dauphin's apartments! We explored those for a bit. The decor is very different. It's supposed to me more 'informal'! These were the rooms for Louis the XIV's son - who never became king. He died before his father and his son inherited.

I was a little obsessed with this carpet - as it was original to the room.

This was a working globe of the known world - at that time.

We thought is was time to head out for some fresh air!

Initially, we planned on taking a nice long stroll through the beautiful grounds. Once we got outside, we realized this plan was foolish. We were both pretty exhausted from walking all over the palace (nice job, Scoobies, on getting lost every few feet) and the weather was still pretty dicey. We decided to wing it and see how long we could tough it out.

Oh, I didn't see you there. Whuz up ladies? I'm just loungin' here, with my towel and extravagant facial hair.

Hurray! The sun peeped out!

Right after this picture, the rains came back! They brought along their good friends Thunder & Lightning. We decided it was time to go! Back to the RER and our lovely Parisian hotel!

 

[A-T-G]

Last up on our Paris trip? Buying stuff for folks!

First stop? Laduree! They make lovely pastries and serve a tasty tea! You can also buy chocolate and macarons from them. They first opened a shop on the Rue Royale in 1862. I filled my face with a very creamy omelet and went for true decadence with not one but, TWO desserts (in all fairness, I was sharing with DH)!

Thankfully DH wasn't crazy about either dessert! More for me!! When I finished gorging, I snagged boxes of macarons for our kitty-minders back home, some of the floral tea I'd been drinking (for my Mom and me!), and a box of the excellent chocolates for my fellow choco-holic!

The ceiling makes me think of chocolate! I never want to leave!

Realizing I'd eaten more than my daily allotment of sugar and carbs, I insisted we continue walking! We stopped at the Place de la Concorde so I could see the Obelisk.

DH had been itching to take a stroll down the Champs-Elysees and I thought now would be an excellent chance to make him happy and walk off my dessert!

We just window shopped, for the most part. DH did take a wander into the Disney Store he found - since they're such rare birds here in the states. He found a really cool Toy Story 3 Alien crane game but, didn't purchase it. He kicked himself for it when he got back and couldn't find one! Thankfully, they've just started creeping into the stores (whew!).

Our destination was a restaurant we'd read about called ' Les Saveurs de Flora' It was recommended as a very romantic restaurant! So we thought we'd spend some moola and check it out. We walked right past Le Fouquet's!

This restaurant is like the Paris edition of The Ivy (in Los Angeles). All the famous celebs like to see and be seen here.

As we crossed the street we stopped to snap a few pics of the Arc de Triomphe.

DH noticed something that made him laugh as we neared the restaurant - Another Hermes store!!

This would be me, lamenting the store being closed "No! You can't be closed!! You can't be!!!"
The windows were AWESOME! They had these cool shadow puppets in them. DH snapped a few of them for me. He's a sweetie!

Dinner was a delight! The service, food, and wine were all better than I could have hoped for. We hopped on the Metro for our last ride and fell happily asleep. The next morning we caught a shuttle (arranged by the hotel) to the airport and home.

Thanks for following my very first TR! I hope to have and then share many more adventures!

 

[Beka]

A) Musee D'Orsay is the best museum. I loved every second I was there. I want to own a Degas. And you can't truly appreciate a Van Gogh without seeing it in person. He almost sculpted with the paint, and there's a TON more colors than can be captured on film. Love. Love. Love.

2) I always thought ppl were silly to travel overseas to go to Disneyland. Not anymore! OMG, that park is beautiful! I think it's beaten WDW in looks, hands down!

ETA:

C) Versailles! I remember (& loved) the feathers on MA's bed! The only other things I remember were that we couldn't go in the hall or mirrors, that checkered floor, and at one point we were being led through the palace (led? more like herded) and there was a German tour group behind us. The tour guide was being really snarky & pushy & I'd had enough. In my 17 year old wisdom, I turned around and said "We can only go as fast as the group in front of us goes! Get over it!" Then muttered some expletives under my breath. Classy.

 

[A-T-G]

A) Musee D'Orsay is the best museum. I loved every second I was there. I want to own a Degas. And you can't truly appreciate a Van Gogh without seeing it in person. He almost sculpted with the paint, and there's a TON more colors than can be captured on film. Love. Love. Love.

2) I always thought ppl were silly to travel overseas to go to Disneyland. Not anymore! OMG, that park is beautiful! I think it's beaten WDW in looks, hands down!

ETA:

C) Versailles! I remember (& loved) the feathers on MA's bed! The only other things I remember were that we couldn't go in the hall or mirrors, that checkered floor, and at one point we were being led through the palace (led? more like herded) and there was a German tour group behind us. The tour guide was being really snarky & pushy & I'd had enough. In my 17 year old wisdom, I turned around and said "We can only go as fast as the group in front of us goes! Get over it!" Then muttered some expletives under my breath. Classy.

My DH has decided that the Orsay is, hands down, his favorite museum! It was incredible to stand there and gawk at the beautiful Degas pictures - I'd seen them in books but, the don't do the work justice! So delicate and rich! You're right about the colors in the Van Gogh as well!

We ALMOST skipped DLRP but, had offered to snap pics for lurkyloo and just couldn't ditch! Sooooo glad we didn't! A really nice park with wonderful staff - at least everyone we met!

Thanks for telling me your Versailles story. It almost makes me feel better about the 'Tower of Italian Terror' story I posted earlier in the TR - I say almost as I jawed off to a complete stranger and I'm twice the age you were in your story!

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Really enjoyed your trippie! Great effects on those photos too-love the Paris vibe. Looking forward to the next adventure-

 

[burly]

Just finished up and would like to say thank you for sharing your trip report, wit, and charm.

 

[lurkyloo]

How did I miss the Grand Finale?! Fabulous pictures! My fave is the one of you peering longingly into the windows of Hermes. When you're in Vegas, you have to do an Hermes tour—there are three!

Thanks again for taking all those pix (and for the delicious Laduree chocolates—eating them made me feel SO sophisticated!)

 

[janiebubble]

Ask and ye shall receive!

OOOH, whadja get?!

Teeny box!

The heck is that?!

The packaging is seriously awesome! But, what the heck are they?!

That's right folks! I went ALL the way to Paris for STICKY NOTES!! Swanky!

Oh...you want to know that's in the in BIG bag?! OKAY!

I think it says something that the very first time I feel the need to comment on someone's trip report on the DIS is to exclaim that they are the best sticky notes I have ever seen - I have a stationery fetish and have been unable to comment on lurky's amazing japanese finds due to the overwhelming kawaiiness of them all but those sticky notes ARE TO DIE FOR

(Oh the bag is kinda nice too )

 

[A-T-G]

How did I miss the Grand Finale?! Fabulous pictures! My fave is the one of you peering longingly into the windows of Hermes. When you're in Vegas, you have to do an Hermes tour—there are three!

Thanks again for taking all those pix (and for the delicious Laduree chocolates—eating them made me feel SO sophisticated!)

HAHA! I think that sad pic is one of my favorites too! I can't believe DH spotted it. I rushed over and was like "NOOOOOO!" He just started clicking (and laughing). We found ONE more IN THE AIRPORT! He spotted that one, too. He's got "H" radar!

...there are THREE in Vegas?! OMG! And I go there EVERY year...how did I not know this?