VHLFA: Versailles and traffic

Date: Friday 26 September 2003, 1:53 pm
Subject: Versailles and traffic

Date: Friday 26 September 2003, 1:53 pm

Subject: Versailles and traffic

Hello to all,

First, I would like to thank all who have sent me messages of encouragement and their storiies. I cannot reply to them, but be assured that I read all of them with great interest. Above all, please don't stop!

Yesterday was devoted to Versailles. It was my last day in Paris, and this enormous site is marvelous. The gardens, the small and large Hameaux, the castle itself, and the Grand Canal are spectacular. Next I spent the evening strolling along the Seine River to see Paris by night for the last time, and then returned to my hotel.

Then today has been simply horrible. It all began with a Parisian taxi driver who started the meter as soon as I placed the call, and arrived with 11€ [11 Euros, roughly $11] already on the meter. I argued vigorously with him, but all to no avail. All that to find as soon as I arrived at Renault that I had left my backpack with the papers I needed to rent my car! I had to go back on the metro to get them. I succeeded in getting out of Paris without too many other problems, but it's in the cities that things go wrong. My visit to Rouen went well, but there is a fair going on presently at Caen when I went in circles for more than an hour. The result: I got to the tourist bureau just after closing. I am going soon now to find a hotel. I saw this internet café and had to tell you first about my recent adventures.

I parked in the center of the city of Caen at the foot of the castle, and I am going to find a hotel. Tomorrow I will see the beaches where the Allied Troops landed in Normandy (if I can find them) and the Memorial for the Second World War. Then I am off in the direction of Mont St-Michel and St-Malo.

Til next time,

Paul

1. Hameau. Marie Antoinette had a hobby of creating pastoral scenes with her friends, where she played a shepherdess surrounded with picturesque sheep. She had two "play houses" constructed for this purpose which were called the Hameaux -- a small one "le petit hameau" and a large one "le grand hameau". These are in fact palaces, hints into the ridiculous lavishness of the living of the French kings prior to the Revolution. The Castle of Versailles is enormous, built by Louis XIV to be many times larger than the many private castles along the Loire Valley in which various dukes and princes lived at the time. Coming up from one of these smaller castles to Versailles was intended to deliver the message that Louis was greater and more powerful than they could ever hope to be.