Chateau Versailles: Weather is still cold & dreary [Ed: the writer is being overly melodramatic and the weather is not bad, just a little cooler than the author would like]. We picked up our leased Peugeot which we will use until mid July. It was quite a ride with our cab driver to the location of the car pickup. As ‘Murphy’ would have it, the car pickup location is on a service street that isn’t really in anyone’s current GPS software. When our cab driver tried to call the number we provided, no one picked up. Eventually, we were able to use our unlocked GSM cell phone to contact the car people so that they could talk the cab driver into their location. It is worth noting, having an unlocked GSM cell phone that you can add a local SIM chip to has saved us numerous times in numerous countries.
Got the car and headed to the 18th century’s Disneyland, Versailles- about 13 miles west of Paris. There was a ridiculously long line to buy tickets and another long line to enter…and it was windy and freezing-so sorry that our 2 day museum passes had expired. After waiting in line a bit, we discovered that the ticket kiosks were inside the building and no one seemed to be using them, but they worked fine. Tip: find the kiosks and save time. Another big time saver, is to see if tickets are available online for purchase and download to your smartphone. This was the case with Monet’s Gardens, several caves with prehistoric paintings/drawings, etc.
Versailles started as a small hunting lodge that quickly grew into over the top extravagance once Louis XIV came to power and became tired of living at the Royal Palace (now the Louvre). It was the seat of France’s government for 100 years. In the 17th century, mirrors were among the most expensive items to have because they were only made in Venice. The architects for Versailles decided to hire a bunch of the Venetian workers to create the Hall of Mirrors. Rumor has it the Venetians then sent someone over to France to poison their workers. Lots of drama, narcissism, philandering, from Louis XIV who became King when he was only 4 years old. The Louisiana Territory was named after him. It is now easier to understand why many people say the Sun King’s opulence started the French Revolution.
Spent the night at our first Airbnb just outside of Versailles. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/11155338 Jean Michel was an attentive host and he even cooked us breakfast in the morning. This beautifully renovated apartment was in the courtyard in front of a village church. His wife directed us to a lovely gourmet cafe & grocery where we had lunch and picked up an organic chicken for dinner. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1055979-d7046235-Reviews-Le_Cafe_de_Gally-Saint_Cyr_l_Ecole_Yvelines_Ile_de_France.html
