It's Bastille Day, July 14. When I went to the Versailles website, there was a warning about big crowds. Our trusty guide scribe Rick Steeves even said if there is a big crowd go early. And Rick is rarely wrong.
So we got the kiddos up at the crack of dawn and took the hour long double decker train southwest from the center of Paris. The crowds at the gate to get in were hard to describe, it was like a Disney ride line during school vacation, but the line was wide as well as long. A forecast of a cloudy day turned to hot sun. We sent the kids off to the shade and Molly and I cooked in line for about an hour and a half to eventually get to this gate. Surely things were looking up from here.
So we entered the palace, with massive crowds of Chinese tourists. I push my way to the front to get my only shot not encumbered by selfie sticks, or pushy Chinese. It was brutal. We were unable to enjoy anything inside.
The Chinese tourists were literally taking pictures of everything, floors, ceilings, walls, modern interior stairs connecting utility spaces, at kooky angles and unlit spaces. It was like a photo feeding frenzy of mental patients. The only thing worse than their pfotos was their public space behavior. They would get right up behind you and just push on you whether there was room to move or not. Ben eventually would just stand there and let them push, being about 3 times their size he wasn't going anywhere. Poor Finn never saw a thing and just got pushed around. And us adults just couldn't enjoy one of the most famous buildings on the planet. Am I being too hard on Chinese tourists? I hope so, they were terrible.
It looks like Maggie was enjoying herself...
At the end of the palace tour you walk thru the Hall of mirrors, the first place in hours where we didn't have small Asian tourists pushing all over us.
We squeezed our way into the café for some snacks. This started to bring our sprits back. The thought of being out in the crowds again was daunting though and Molly and I needed to audible or there may be a mutiny, the kids outnumbered us. They crazy party is that there was no line when we left! No line for the freaking palace! We could've slept late, gotten out here at noon and seen everything. Rarely do we get a travel decision so wrong...
Molly and I had had found some bike rental and Segway rental places. Molly mapped out a way for us to walk by a Segway shop, I was planning on sneaking in and finding out if they would let Finn ride, he's only 10 and 65 lbs.
As we approach the kids see the Segway shop and make an immediate B line for it, I hustle up next to Finn and whisper calmly, "you're 12" just before the Segway guy greets us. We open with some small talk and then I ask how old the kids need to be. He looks over at Finn and asks in his French accent, "How old are you?" Finn confidently looks him in right in the eye, smooth as silk, and says, "I'm twelve." "That's the minimum", the Segway guy replies and the were in business.
And viola, you've been hit by a smooth criminal.
The big kids got geared up and after a very brief lesson on an actual street for cars, off we went.
So. Much. Fun. This is one of the palaces out on the grounds behind the big palace.
Versailles is so big, the Segways were a great way to see the grounds, it is like a giant Central Park. Formal and organic gardens, farmland and mile long pools.
We stopped one of the many houses built for Marie Antoinette. This house was built for Marie so she house have a home that felt like a peasants house (but the interior was still marble and extravagant). She was said to paint the livestock, put perfume on them and have animal 'games'. Typical looney royalty behavior. Another crazy fact: the crown taxed homes by the number of windows they had...
Us on the open road buzzing around Versailles. Just after Ben asked how much these cost (8,000 euros) Maggie crashed hers. It was a loud violent crash, but she manage to jump off so smoothly the guide actually commented on how good here reflexes were...thankfully both she and the machine were OK, no video of the wreck though.
No hands!
For our last night in Paris Mike and I made reservations at a place we had seen the night before. Maggie wanted to go out to a place nice enough to wear her new Paris made dress in, and Le Coupe Chou fit the bill. The menu was a bit sophisticated for the kids, but they were gamers.
The building was about twice as old as the United States, it was built with exposed dark beams that were hundreds of years old.
We ordered our dinner and wine and to spice things up, an order of escargot. To my surprise, all three kids wanted to try the snail. I thought for sure they would bail. Unfortunately I wouldn't let Finn eat it as he has never had shellfish and I wasn't ready for an allergic challenge on our last night. But Maggie and Ben both used their escargot specific silverware to hold, dig out and eat the snail.
And Molly downing hers.
I couldn't be one up'd by those kids so I slurped one down too, as did Mike and Kim. The escargot was pretty good, they were a bit chewy and flavored heavily with pesto.
And the leftover tools of the snail trade.
We finished our vacation atop a hill in the Latin Quarter watching fireworks over the Eiffel Tower to celebrate Bastille day.
Thanks again to the Grubers for spending another summer with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment