We flew into Paris after a final water taxi experience to the Venice airport, arriving midday. Apparently the early wake up had tired John out as he slept during the plane ride.
We couldn’t get into our apartment until later, but we could drop our bags. So we did, then went downstairs for lunch at Bistro Valois. By the time we finished our VERY late lunch, we could move into our wonderful apartment.
A side note: the apartment is in the Place de Valois, which is where the office is located for Emily in the show “Emily in Paris”. You might recognize the plaza if you are a fan of the show.
We did various kinds of shopping late that afternoon and opted for cheese, sausage, bread, crackers and wine for a light dinner that evening.
In the morning we had to take the RER to Versailles for a tour which was to begin at 9:15 a.m. For the first time in our entire trip, it was sprinkling as we left walking to the RER, but pouring by about halfway there. We also were unable to find the meeting spot. By the way, I had called the tour company the day before to say two things: 1) I had never received the vouchers and 2) could we change the date because of the weather. The latter was, of course, no. But she did not respond to the voucher question…..so we were going to the meet without any vouchers. Long and short, we had to buy new tickets! And deal with the fallout once back in the US. Then wait from 10:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. for the next entry….so we had an early lunch in their cafe.
It turned out that it was the next to the last day of school….so the place was mobbed with school kids on their field trips!!! No quiet from the rain.
Louis XIII built a simple hunting lodge on the site of the Palace of Versailles in 1623 and replaced it with a small château in 1631–34. Louis XIV expanded the château into a palace in several phases from 1661 to 1715. (Wikipedia). There were lots of paintings of the latter all through the palace, as well as some of his wife and children.
Believe it or not, these are just a few of the many more pictures that we took. The beauty of Versailles is so overwhelming! The piece de resistance of it all is the Hall of Mirrors. Of course we had to pose there as a group.
We had made arrangements to go to Campbell & Autari’s home in Paris that evening for drinks then out to dinner nearby. Their home is wonderful — John had seen it just before they bought it (when he traveled there at the end of February, 2020 — yikes! He caught one of the last planes out of Paris on March 2, 2020.) We loved being with them and with Calder. Dinner was fun, especially for Pops and Calder. Autari and Campbell kindly treated all of us to dinner.
The next morning we had tickets into the Louvre. John had read that if you spent 1 minute in front of each item of art it would take you 64 days to see everything. John suggested a dozen or so “must-see” items and Alex mapped the most efficient route to see them all. We started with the Mona Lisa and beat most of the crowd. The Louvre is truly massive-a sight in itself.
We went into the room with the jewels…..
Time for a break and we headed toward what turned out to be one of my favorite restaurants that we selected — Les Antiquaires. Across the Seine we went; it is on the Left Bank.
The day was far from over — but that’s the next blog!
Beth
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