We originally had a whole day set aside for a unique tour of Versailles with a tour guide from the Gentle Gourmet hotel in Paris, which is a vegan hotel, café, cooking classes, etc., with meals planned and garden tours, the whole thing. But that tour guide fell and hurt her foot and cancelled on us. So we toured Versailles with one French tour guide, 4 friendly Australians and an American couple that was running late because they wanted to get lattes. As the American couple approached the van, the driver said, “Oh no, they want to drink in the car.” And so, on cue, when the couple opened the door, it swung back on the woman and she spilled her latte all over herself and the car. I think they were also in a bit of a fight. No one really talked in the car after that, until we picked up the friendly Australians. Later, after we told the Australians about the latte debacle, they confessed that they assumed my mom and I were Canadian because we were so quiet and that the American couple was Italian.
We were glad to be with a tour group because otherwise we would have never figured out the whole system of “touring Versailles.” It was long lines and pushy people with tour groups, like ours, jumping in front of individuals. It was also nice to have someone explain the significance of everything in the rooms. We stepped into the gardens for only a few minutes; the rain and cold kept us out, but not before we snapped a few pictures.
The rooms inside were the sort with paintings on the ceilings and the walls, drenched in vibrant colors and accented with manicured marble. It was one of those places that no matter how many pictures you take or how excellent of a photographer you are, you will never capture it in a photo. Usually, when I reach this realization, I stop taking pictures and just look. I realized that Versailles was one of these places immediately after the first photo, but I still snapped pictures, holding my camera in desperate angles above my head and around the pushy Japanese families, just trying to get bits and pieces of something so old on film.
3 comments:
Erica said...- Aren't those ceilings amazing?!!! Yeah, we experienced pushy Japanese people (WHOLE school groups, WHOLE senior citizen tours) when we went, too. I'd like to go again with a tour guide. We had an audio guide, but it wasn't all that great. Walking around the gardens would have been exhausting. We did it, and it was one of those things where when it was time to head back, I wasn't sure if I would make it. You'll see better gardens on your tip, for sure!
- August 16, 2010 7:49 AM
Stokat said...- You must be writing these comments right now!
- August 16, 2010 7:55 AM
- Erica said...
- I am !!!
- August 16, 2010 7:58 AM
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