Lifestyles of the Rich & Beheaded

It's pretty hard to feel sorry for Louis and Marie-Antoinette when you get a look at the way they lived their lives before they (literally) lost their heads.  Although Versailles was built and reached it's glory under Louis XIV, it was Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette who last lived in the palace.

Our final full day in Paris was actually spent in Versailles.  We took the train (an hour's trip) and walked from the station to the Palace. It was a stunning day: warm and sunny with minimal crowds.  We'd purchased our full access tickets (again, kids were free!) from the tourist office en route from the station so we were able to just walk right in.  Although it looks like there were tons of tourists, the crowds were nowhere near what I'd experienced on a sweltering July day 27 years ago.

Versailles: the approach across the Place D'Armes

The Royal Gate, entrance to the Royal Courtyard, home of Louis XIV, the "Sun King"

The nice thing about touring sites with teenagers is that we could all don our own  personal audio-guides (and here I recommend plugging in your personal earbuds/headphones so you don't have to hold the audiophone to your ear) and walk at our own pace. That means three people way ahead, and mom taking pictures of everything always 10 minutes behind.

Royal Chapel ceiling 

Gold, gold and more gold. Ornate mantle decoration in the Hercules Drawing Room

Ceiling, the Hall of Mirrors

Hall of Mirrors: mirrors on the right, corresponding windows overlooking the gardens on the left.

Honestly, they should offer an after-hours tour on wheeled chaise lounges. I'd love to be pulled through the palace while reclined on a comfy bed, just gazing at the incredible paintings on the ceilings. It's really difficult to enjoy the walls and opulent ceilings simultaneously while you have to move at the pace of the crowd. I should have dropped a note in the suggestion box.

window latch in the King's chambers

Marie Antoinette's bedchamber. Yeah, that's her jewelry box on the left.

Suffice it to say that everywhere you look it's over-the-top opulence. I wish more of the palace was open to the public - apparently up to 5000 nobles could hang out and and party there!  Touring the interior doesn't take very long, but you could really spend an entire day or more just cruising the gardens and grounds.  We made our way out back for a picnic on the stairs overlooking the Royal Drive (along with Italian, Dutch and Spanish high school students on tour).

Statue detail, water parterre

overlooking the Orangerie to the main palace

L'Orangerie - where Louis displayed his more than 1000 orange trees in summer. B wondered if there were still citrus trees and sure enough, behind those enormous garage doors are hundreds of potted oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes awaiting warmer weather before they are moved into position in the outside garden.



Poor little cherubs, sitting around for 300 years waiting for flowers to bloom

Fully recovered from her stomach flu, D's feeling energetic in the Versailles sun. 

And then, following Rick's advice, we decided to do something super touristy and fun: we rented a golf cart.   I really wanted to see Marie-Antoinette's little getaway, the Petit Trianon (which was actually built for Louis XV's mistresses, but last decorated and used by M-A) as well as the Grand Trianon, built by Louis XIV as a summer getaway from the hustle and bustle of the main palace.  We decided to expedite the visit by motoring the through the gardens instead of walking in the hot sun (round trip, including touring the buildings, was estimated at 5 hours on foot).  When horse-drawn carriage is not an option, a golf cart seems like a good back up plan to me. The kids even grew to enjoy the baroque music pouring from the golf cart speakers!

Off we went, at a blistering pace (D was able to run faster than the cart's top speed. Yes, she proved it) along the prescribed route.  A 15 minute drive and we'd reached Trianon. First, a few shots taken at the Grand Trianon, a pink marble mini-version of Verailles with two main living/meeting wings joined by an open  colonnade. 

Colonnade, Grand Trianon (main entrance courtyard to the right, gardens to the left)

Louis XIV's bedchamber (apparently build for his chief mistress)

Is this chartreuse? I never know...

En route to the Petit Trianon, you pass by the sweet little French Pavillion:

Petit Trianon with a view of the dome atop the Temple of Love 

Petit Trianon

The building was lovely inside, on a much more manageable scale than the gigantic main palace; although that also meant that T barely fit.

wall frieze on staircase, Petit Trianon

I guess bedchamber security is important when marital trysts are 'de rigueur' 

Love the 17th century details like these gorgeous sunflower doorknobs - everything looks better with a layer of gold on it, don't you think?

There you have it - a little taste of Chateau Versailles and the Trianon! This was a special day - we all enjoyed it very much. 

Especially the golf cart.

Photo Fun: Tilt Shift

Before our trip, B brought home an iPad, thinking it would be super helpful and much more portable than the laptop for web searches, photo management, keeping in touch with email...etc. He was so right! I downloaded the new Photoshop app PSTouch hoping to work through a few tutorials while on the trip. That didn't happen. However, a certain someone else monopolized the iPad and got rather good at manipulating photos - how is it that the 15 year old brain can just soak this stuff up?

With T's permission, here are some of his creations. First, a 'mash-up' of some of his fav Paris things, made by isolating images, then pasting them into a collage:

Here's my favourite special effect: Tilt Shift. With the right photo taken from a high angle, you can create the super-cool illusion of a miniature model. Including tiny Lilliputian people, cars and trees.

This mediocre picture, a view from the Arc de Triomphe on a cloudy day...

....became this:

And this shot of the main hall at Musee D'Orsay (I know that photography wasn't allowed, but everyone else was taking pictures from the observation balcony, so I did too).

....became this:

I haven't tried it yet myself, but there's a simple tute here, and if you don't have Photoshop, a "tilt-shift your photo" website here. I'm hoping there is a little corner of my 44.5 year old brain available to learn how it's done, because I think it's so much fun. I've actually signed up for a 3 part Photoshop class (6 hours of instruction) at the same tech school that offered a complimentary DSLR lesson with my camera purchase (see how marketing works? Attend a 2 hour free class and sign up for a $$ Photoshop course before you leave! haha). I just know if I don't go to the class, I'll never take the time to sit down and learn what the software can do for me and my pictures.  I didn't think I'd be into digital photo manipulation, but I love what T did to those images and I want to try some cool stuff, too!

Paris Stroll

So we went to Paris. We walked miles. We saw tons. I thought I'd share some of my favourite photos from that incredible city with you.  I mentioned in this post that our guide book of choice was Rick Steve's Paris 2012. I can't recommend this book more highly. I loved Rick's guided neighbourhood walking tours, his hand-drawn maps and building plans and personal anecdotes sprinkled throughout the text.  Here are most of the activities/sites that we managed to hit in 6 days:

Eiffel Tower (twice, once in daytime, once in nighttime)

Centre Georges Pompidou (saw Matisse Pairs exhibit & Evolution of Dance)

Arc de Triomphe

Sewer Tour (stinky but cheap and informative!)

Musee D'Orsay (speed walk through Impressionist galleries only)

Seine boat tour

Notre Dame

Sainte Chappelle

Cluny Medieval Museum (just me)

Museum of Science & Technology - Arts et Metiers (just the boys)

Musee Carnavalet

Montmartre/Sacre Coeur

Robert Doisneau - Les Halles photo exhibit at Hotel de Ville (just me)

Rue Cler walk

Le Marais walk

Left Bank walk

One of the great (and unexpected) things about visiting Paris with kids under 18 is that they are free at every art gallery and museum! Adults can save a few Euros by buying multiple day museum passes which also allow you to skip lineups at many locations. March is pretty low season so out longest lines were at Musee D'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower at night: both about 40 minutes. I understand that's considered a short line for Paris.

Okay, time for a little slideshow. These are in no particular order. They're just some eye candy and a little taste of Paris.

art deco metro station railing

B & D planning our next move, Place des Vosges

Saturday morning music, Place des Vosges

Sunday market morning, Rue Cler

Tower twins

B & I on Pont de L'Archeveche, Notre Dame's flying buttresses in the background

Lover's locks. D says "this makes me want to fall in love in Paris even more". 

Notre Dame gargoyle. I think he just spotted a pickpocket!

Notre Dame chandeliers. I was initially impressed with the number of pious visitors, all sitting in the main cathedral, heads bowed in prayer. Then I realized 99% of them were on their cell phones.

Carousel horses, Montmartre

Courtyard at Musee Carnavalet (City of Paris museum)

A left bank bookseller

Jardin des Tuileries, carousel

Turn your old machine into modern art!

a curio shop, Passage de Grande Cerf. Thanks to Rick we discovered the very old and special covered passageways close to our Marais neighbourhood. 

Passage de Grande Cerf where I accidently discovered a yarn and fabric shop called Lil Weasel (I made a small purchase of some FQ's and buttons)

Cappucino. B and I figure between the two of us, we spent about $25/day on delicious coffee. Good thing the wine was cheap! One cafe creme = one decent bottle of wine!

Nighttime Eiffel Tower

I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of our week in Paris. There are lots more photos to come, but organizing and uploading is taking much longer than expected!