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Published: September 22nd 2006
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The Gardens - Flowers
Beautiful just moments before the rain. Whew what full day!
Woke up at 5 am to get ready and meet the taxi at 6 am with Valerie, Tuyen (both from Ball State), and Sarah (another UA student).
It hardly feels like the same day, looking back. Once at the trainstation I picked up some paprika pringles (amazing invention withheld from American consumers) and a discount card, Val bought the tickets and we were on our way just before 7.
The train ride was about 2.5 hours long as we took the slow train that stops everywhere so we could go straight to Versailles which is just outside of Paris. Some nice sceneray, some towns I'm sure aren't on any tourist agenda. Got a good glimpse of the cathedral at Chartres which I hope to go to see this semester. We also sat in a sort of round table seat (Val Sarah and I anyway, Tuyen slept) by the snack machines. Had a lot of fun visiting and joking on the way.
Versailles is just outside of Paris, about 10 minutes on the train with no stops. The palace served as the place of government for Louis XIV (the Sun King- France's longest
The Gardens - looking down
Rain just beginning. This doesn't give you an idea of the massive size of the gardens. reigning King who greatly consolidated political power and made France a regional military power) and Louis XV though the Louvre remained official palace.
The city really grew around the palace as the King made land easy to acquire as long as certain building rules were followed so as not to detract from the palace. The palace is a sort of U shape with the grounds extending behind it, elevated on a slight hill so it overlooks the area.
We finally got there and the palace is just a short walk from the train station. We bought our tickets and decided to start with the gardens to try to beat the rain. The rain, however, came too quickly and we spent a good while getting wet in the gardens before deciding to join the other tourists most of whom immediately ran for cover.
I liked the way some of the statues looked in the rain though.
We went through the palace which was beautiful. Lots of art and ornate rooms and furniture. The famous hall of mirros is under construction, so it wasn't in all its splendor. However the theater and chapel were especially stunning. We had
Statue
Striking a pose for us. fun listening to the audio guides in French, taking pictures and looking at all the art.
We finally took a break for lunch which was a nice chance to warm up and sit down. I had a corque messiuer (spelled that wrong, will fix later) which is like a ham and cheese grilled. Mmmm. And a hot chocolate.
The rain finally cleared up for us to go out in the gardens again and we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering enjoying the flowers and beautiful statues and taking lots of pictures.
We finally got tired and hungry and went in search of food, but most places near the train station didn't serve dinner or not until late and we had an 8pm train. Tuyen went to a La Orient but the rest of us didn't feel like Asian so we went to the grocery store and bought salads, ham to go in them, candy and drinks and ate on a bench by a small garden in front of the train station.
We met back up with Tuyen and went inside the station (after figuring out how to get a ticket to get inside the station
Statue taking shelter
Even statues can get cold from a sidways rain. part, which was bizarre. We had to show our train ticket to get a little purple ticket to get into the station). Waited a while and got the train to Paris-Montparnasse where we changed to a train to Le Mans.
We got a nice night view of the Eiffel Tower during the ride. On the way home from Paris we had to split up our seats so Sarah and Tuyen went to one half of the cabin and Val and I another. Val and I lucked out and got the side with seats facing the center leaving lots of foot space.
I had bought some chips and salsa since they carried Dorritos brand at the grocery store and (read the following in a really really excited tone): it was spicy! Not terribly, I'd call it a medium maybe in America, but it was far spicier than anything else I've found. It would actually make pretty good tacos.
So hopefully we can find that somewhere around Le Mans. After Val and I had some I gave it to Sarah and told her to keep it as an extended birthday present since we were headed to Versailles in honor
Statue and palace in the rain
I liked the way the rain made them look. of her birthday.
The trainride back wasn't as long and went fast as I had a good time visiting Val.
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Lindsey
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Wow, that lady statue is really pretty, especially because it is so slick with rain.