Paris & Versailles

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This morning we started bright and early on a 4 hour bus tour of Paris – this included stops to view the Eiffel Tower, Champs Eylsee, Arc De Triumph, Opera House, Notre Dame, the American Embassy and of course a drive along the wonderful Seine. We definitely come to the conclusion that it takes 3-4 weeks to actually see and enjoy Paris correctly.

We had a brief break for lunch, so we had wine, cheese, baguette & salami in our room – before heading out to another tour in the afternoon to the Palace of Versailles. Though only 12 miles out of Paris – it took about an hour to get there because of the wonderful Parisian traffic. Our tour guide was typically French – in a wonderful way, she had a sense of humor and was very informative educating us on the history of Louis 14, 15 & 16^th and the Emperor Napoleon. To describe Versailles is difficult – you have to think big …. Really big … the gardens and fountains behind the Chateau are over 1 mile in length. The palace had only the best of things – a lot of marble & granite. It was originally built by King Louis 13 as a small hunting lodge – his son King Louis 14^th then took this hunting lodge and developed a village – the town of Versailles. To give you an idea of the size – I believe you could fit 15 Biltmore estates into ½ of the space.

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After the tour … back to the hotel for a brief dinner break then out again to enjoy Paris. We had made arrangements to visit a very small private chapel – “Sainte Chapelle” – this chapel was featured on Samantha Brown’s show – “Passport to Europe” on the Travel Channel. We had tickets for a concert – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. All I can say is that once the performance began – both Sally & I had a tear drop from our eye because the music was so beautifully being performed in this 1200 year old chapel. The concert lasted around 1 ¼ hours.

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When you’re in Paris after dark there’s only one thing to do …. Walk along the Seine River and view the Eiffel Tower.

I know we walked 10 miles today – with a little wine, beautiful music and a wonderful partner – time stands still.