Waterlogged in Versailles

We decided to go to Versailles Wednesday to avoid the crowds and hassles of Bastille Day. A little ironic. Here are some participants in the Bastille Day parade down the Champs Elysees. After some typical detours due to the festivities we got on the train and 40 minutes later we were in Versailles. It was forecasted rain, but we took our chances.


It was looking good for about 15 minutes. But, then it started pouring and didn't let up until the latter part of the afternoon, foiling our plans for a bike ride- the thing I was most looking forward to (FYI, there are bikes for rent inside the palace grounds and you can ride all over areas you cannot walk- it is supposed to be great). What a bummer! The crowd wasn't bad because many tourists were in Paris for the holiday, however, the rain caused everyone to crowd into the palace. Arghhh. Anyway, I hope to do the bike ride on Sunday when I reach Versailles for my class. Monica will have to do it on her next trip, which she hopes will be next summer! :)

The palace was fine and interesting in light of Bastille Day, knowing that 221 years ago the palace was stormed and Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were taken from the castle and subsequently beheaded on the Place de Concorde. All good things must come to an end...


Monica's favorite part was the gardens, which are very impressive. We didn't think we were going to see the fountains, but they turned them on. Unfortunately, we had to run inside when it started raining again. We toured Marie Antoinette's house and when we got out the rain had stopped and the sun was out. We only had to wait 7 hours. It gave us plenty of time to tour the gardens which would have been more interesting with running fountains. Oh well. Here is my attempt at appreciating the flowers in the gardens- imagine rows and rows of these.



We had a nice dinner in Versailles. Confit de Canard for me- YUM! Got home and watched the fireworks. I tried to download a display I video recorded but blogger didn't like it. Par for the course for this Bastille Day. Monica said it was punishment for not praying the hours this morning (spoken like a good Catholic- we were sure to do it the next day!

Vive le France!