Friday, April 10, 2009

10Apr2009: Day 319: Versailles, France

Yes, we’ve been gone on a trip through Europe – YIPPEE! So be prepared to catch up on long blogs of our days as we kept a “diary” of our days, sometimes pretty detailed, while we were gone so that we’ll never forget this opportunity to see sights, scenery, history, and culture.

We got up way too early to head off on our trip and then ended up missing the train we scheduled at 5:20am by minutes. Chris still tried to get on, but they just put us in a lane and we had to sit and wait for the next train at 6:20 (not the 6:50am one they said we had to take). So it was a good thing he tried to get us on the missed train. The disconcerting thing was that no one even checked our passports and just let us through. I guess they were assuming we might make the 5:20am train too if they just let us pass through.

We got to our hotel in pretty good time and I have to say I’m grateful that Chris was able to stay awake as I think both of us got less than 2 hours of sleep the night before. I honestly don’t know how he made it through the whole day. I’m also grateful that Chris DID forgot to put my name on the car rental, meaning can’t drive – drats! (said very sarcastically). That meant I could catch up on some sleep, plus I didn’t have to drive on these absolutely crazy streets. We got honked at a few times and it just seems at certain spots it’s a free-for-all – you got to have the guts to just go and hope someone else has the smarts to stop. Plus, picture your GPS telling you to turn right and there are three streets to turn right on to. Which one do you pick? If you’re us, 90% of the time, it’s the wrong one.

Versailles was unbelievably huge! Unfortunately, the first hour and a half was spent outside while Chris was in line trying to buy tickets. I guess we should’ve bought them on-line ahead of time. The pictures are of various things in regards to Versailles. Click on them to see bigger images. Our camera is not capable of making a complete image of Versailles as it's just a small digital but this picture from the distance gives you a very small glimpse of just the front.

Versailles took fifty years of building to become what it is today. It started when Louis XIV went to his father’s manor in 1661. It wasn’t until 1668 that he finally started adding extensions to the manor. In 1677 Louis XIV decided to move the Court & Government to Versailles permanently. Then the real building started to take place. The inside was constantly renovated and the gardens were constantly redesigned.

With the revolution, the chateau was emptied of its furnishings but the buildings itself was spared. Then after years of neglect, it was restored first by Napoleon I, and then by Kings Louis XVIII & Charles X. Neither of them dared to make it the seat of power again. It was saved from destruction by King Louis-Philippe who transformed it into a museum and was opened in 1837.

There was also one spot at Versailles, outside, where Makenna lost her footing and fell, I was trying to hold on to her from falling too hard but then she took me down with her. I ended up falling a bit on top of her (not fully). I was banged up and she really got banged up – on her head – as usual. Some older ladies helped me get up and Chris thought they were yelling at him for not helping quick enough (he thought I might have hurt my ankle…again).

The other unfortunate thing was that Makenna was absolutely miserable and a total major pain, especially in our backs. She insisted on being carried everywhere. She wasn’t up for listening to us and was up for screaming and going her own way. She was very tired as we soon concluded. She finally fell asleep but the problem was that you weren’t allowed to take pushcarts into the palace, so our arms (and backs) got quite a workout as we desperately tried to hold on to her as she slept and still went room to room. We kept trading her off like a hot potato. Plus, what is it with kids who sit down in the only free spots available in the rooms, see a mother struggling to hold onto her child and continue to sit? I felt like going up to them and smacking them upside the head and saying, “do you not see me about to drop my child?”

She was getting so hot (as we had left her coat on her,) that we finally took it off but it woke her up – then the misery begun again. It wasn’t until after we got back to the hotel and let her have about an hour and a half nap that she was much better.

I wish we had more time to see all of this. It had so many more buildings farther out in the gardens where Marie Antoinette would spend her time. Plus the gardens looked amazing. If it wasn’t such a long day already and Makenna was tired and grouchy to say the least. I would definitely jump at the chance to come back to see Versailles again.

Then it was off to find food. We’ve deduced that most people don’t eat dinner here until after 7pm. We finally found a pizza take-away and ordered pizza. That was fun. We didn’t understand some of the toppings and had a language barrier as no one spoke English. We kept asking them what “largon” was and then we asked, “can you show us?, or show us a picture?” The guy didn’t understand. One guy finally pointed to his eyes and I said, “Yes!” He showed us ham. “Oh, ham” we said. They said “ham” as if they have now learned a new word in English.

One last thing to add that came to mind when we got into the hotel room. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that the French are known not to wash their hands after using the toilet facilities. The reason this popped into my mind is because our toilet in the hotel room, is completely separated from where the sinks are. So if you’re incredibly lazy, I can see how one might get into the habit of by-passing this hygienic ritual we all hope others do.

As we’re on the subject of bodily functions, I have to add that Makenna needed to go number 2 tonight and it took over an hour. She was just having a hard time of it. She was moaning in pain and we felt bad that we couldn’t do anything to help her. Why I added this little bit was because when she finally relieved herself her mood instantly changed and she immediately said, “yeah!” It was so funny. Chris and I were both laughing at her comment. It’s great to see the joy little things like pooping can have on one’s demeanour.

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