| This morning
our wake up call was at a far more reasonable time: 7:45. After the
usual breakfast of a croissant, baguette, and orange juice, we headed by
Metro to the Louvre. At the Louvre we were divided into two groups
- Crowsnest, and Nanton- Claresholm - Fort Macleod. We started the
tour by going through the security measures they have in place including
leaving extra jackets and back packs in a bin.
With that finished, our first destination was the "History of the Louvre" display and the medieval Louvre on the "Entresol Level". The medieval Louvre display shows a model of what the original castle on this site was thought to look like. We also saw the bottom 15 to 20 feet of the moat and outer walls of the old fortress which are the originals. The guide pointed out the small inscriptions on the rocks which were used to record the amount of work done by each rock cutter and determine his pay. On the ground floor we looked at several things, of which the most famous was the «Vénus de Milo». On the 1st floor we started by looking at "The Winged Victory of Samothrace" or "Nike". After viewing a few more sculptures we headed into the room which is designed for the blind so that they can feel what the different sculptures are like. I enjoyed seeing many of the religious paintings, but most others in the group just wanted to get to the "Mona Lisa" [or in French, «La Joconde», or in Italian, "Joconda", (spelling not guaranteed to be correct)]. I think that it is very over-rated. It is about two feet wide, three feet tall, and kept behind a glass case which creates many glares. It is a good painting, but there are many paintings in the Louvre that I would consider to be just as good, if not better. One of the paintings we saw was one of the French Revolution, the same one that inspired Victor Hugo to write «Les Misérables» and also the one the movie producers viewed before picking the actors in the movie based on it. Passing through a few more rooms was all that was left on the tour of the Louvre (which covered far less than a quarter of the entire museum), so then we got our bags back and ate lunch at the «Café du Louvre». |
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| After the time allotted for lunch was over we headed as a group over to «Place du Palais Royal» where a bus waited that took us to Versailles. At Versailles, we split into two groups again and went on the tour in a slightly different order. We saw most of the rooms that are available for public viewing including the guards' rooms, the bed chambers, and the famous "Hall of Mirrors" or «Galerie des Glaces». |
Statue of Louis ? at the Louvre |
The courtyard (at the back of Versailles) |
The Hall of Mirrors |
| An interesting bit of trivia which explains the reason for the railings in the bedrooms is that the rising and dressing of the King and Queen were considered public events that people would come and watch - the railing kept people back which insured they had some space. Also, on the back wall of the bed chambers is a semi-hidden door through which the king and queen could go if by some chance they wanted to actually see each other. In the Hall of Mirrors we were told some interesting trivia. All but one (I think) of the chandeliers there are glass, as the original crystal ones were looted in the revolution. The gold statues along the sides are not the originals (as they were stolen) but are plastic and were donated by someone in the U.S.A. |
Part of the main building at Versailles |
| One thing that certainly
struck me again while in Versailles is that the kings liked being associated
with or compared to Roman emperors, as there are many busts of them and
copies of the Roman shield were on the walls in several places. After
I finished inside, I went outside to take a quick look at the gardens,
but because I wasn't far enough away I didn't get a good overview of them;
however, because it was too early in the season, the fountains weren't
even on for the one hour per day that they are later in the year.
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A statue of Louis XIV with part of the main building and part of one of the servants' buildings. |
Part of the main building across the courtyard from the picture at right |
Part of the main building including the chapel and part of the other buildings at Versailles |
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The bus took us back to our hotel where I went to bed and had a nap for two hours before quickly changing for supper. We had supper in the Latin quarter, but had difficulty finding the restaurant. After supper I went out shopping and looking around with the usual group plus Karen and Lisa. We looked around several stores, and then started searching for a Metro stop so that we could get back to the hotel. We spent probably half an hour shopping, and three quarters of an hour looking for a Metro stop. We even asked one person we met, but she wasn't sure on exact directions. We tried following the ones she gave, but we weren't successful in finding a Metro right away. When we did, we headed back to the hotel. At the hotel we met in Tina's, Kristi's, and Nanci's room and talked for a while. Somewhat later, some of them went out, bought crêpes, and came back with them. For some reason Kristi didn't want hers, so she gave the whole thing to me. Before I'd finished it, both Mike and Victor decided they didn't want the last third of each of theirs, so both of theirs were given to me also. In all I ate about 1 2/3 crepes which measured about a foot long, inch and one half thick, and "V" shaped with the top of the "V" being about four inches across. We stayed there and talked until Miss. Thomas came and told us that guys weren't allowed in girls rooms, and that we (the students from Nanton) had made that rule, so we had to leave. After this I went to bed. |
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