Paris Day 3

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Paris – Day 3

Left early for Versailles. Pick up was late due to traffic jam at the end of the street. Large truck just stops in the middle of the road of unload about 5 pellets of beverage. All converging streets come to a halt… tooting, yelling etc. Seemed to be of no concern the truck driver who just went about his business. Picked up two other couples, one couple from Phoenix, who were staying at an AirB (i.e no second B) on a boat on the Seine. I don’t think they were that pleased with their quality of accommodation but had the best view of anyone, straight onto the Eiffel Tower! Finally get onto motorway into a traffic jam due to accident. This was stressing the guide out as they have their slots booked according to a certain time. Everything seemed to be OK as we arrived and were inside very efficiently and with no fuss. Through the Kings Apartments, hall of mirrors, crowds, but not as bad as we expected. Sorry to find Queens apartments closed until 2018 for restoration. Down the stairs that were entered by the peasant women in 1789 when they arrived looking for food on the eve of the Revolution. Forty minutes’ left for gardens…. Vastly inadequate… but if you have a limited amount of time a very efficient way to see the Palace of Versailles. Got the driver to drop us back near the Louvre and we walked along the Seine and over Pont Neuf to visit the Concierge, the original palace of the French Kings the beautiful chapel Saint-Chappelle and the prison where Marie Antoinette was held before her execution. It had a reputation as the toughest of all prisons with several hundred prisons all kept together. It is now the halls of justice with working courtrooms and legal stuff going down. A heavy presence of the gendarme. Must be a pain for them having to conduct business with tourists in the way.

Went looking for a restaurant for dinner and decided on a slightly more upmarket looking place. It seemed to be a fish and pasta place. Very nice décor, lovely starched table clothes we settled down to discuss the menu with our very nervous first night waiter who informed us it was good that he was waiting us as he needed to practise his English. He did indeed need to practise his English. We did manage to learn that he had travelled to Israel for two years but not much else. Obviously a cultural trip we ventured not unreasonable for a young Jewish man. The place filled up and we congratulated ourselves on picking a popular restaurant. Then I started to notice every bloody man in the place had a skullcap (kippah) on. Penny finally dropped…. fish only restaurant in Paris???

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