RTW to no-where in particular

[RooFlyer]

Got to Versailles by train - train & metro are so easy in Paris. Most stations have a ticket booth, else there are multi-lingual machines that dispense tickets. I didn't bother with a multi-trip card.

There weren't many people at Versailles - I guess its winter and the virus thing.



The Sun King himself

 

[LadyC]

That's good that you managed to reorganise your trip so that you could get home without too much financial loss. We had a similar issue with the heat wave in Europe last summer. Unfortunately we lost the 50% deposit for our apartment in Paris, but with a booking on a top floor, limited air conditioning and 40 degree heat, we were willing to take the hit.

 

[Anna]

Read through this TR in one go, now I'm exhausted Great report, looks like it was a great trip. Shame about having to defer Geneva to another time.

 

[RooFlyer]

Versailles is one of those visual over-load places. I took a million pics of things in every detail. just a few:









And of course the wonderful Hall of Mirrors - this was the only place in the whole palace where there were more than a couple of people.

 

[Daver6]

I thought this looked familiar. I've not been to Versailles but recently visited Schloss Herrenchiemsee which King Ludvig II built and was based on Versailles. Fascinating now seeing your pictures.

 

[OZDUCK]

I thought this looked familiar. I've not been to Versailles but recently visited Schloss Herrenchiemsee which King Ludvig II built and was based on Versailles. Fascinating now seeing your pictures.

We visited both in the same trip in 1976 and yes Ludwig did do a good copying job. Though I did like the ferry trip to Herrenchiemsee better than the suburban drive to Versailles.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm now home and in isolation for 2 weeks. More about that at the end of the report.

Exiting the palace for the gardens, I saw something of equal interest to the contents - a display of marble Some really gorgeous stuff.





In the grounds:













Exiting the palace complex reminds us of the Sun King again. I'm currently watching 'Versailles' on Netflix - put is into context somewhat.

 

[RooFlyer]

By now the corona virus was hitting France quite hard. I had already chopped off the Asian end of my trip - cutting out Japan and Taiwan. madrooster arranged the re-ticketing and got AA (whose ticket I'm travelling on) to waive the change fee (US$125). One of the advantages of using a travel agent!! As I mentioned above, I was due to go to eastern France next - Strasbourg and south to south of Geneva, where I have a relative - but that had been a 'hotspot' by now (proximity to Italy), so, discussing with my rellie, I decided to chop that part of the trip off as well, and go home from Paris. At this stage Italy had closed borders, but not the rest of the EU. Trying to resurrect some pathetic SCs, I got a routing CDG-MAD-LHR-DOH-ADL and again, madrooster got the change fees waived. This routing seemed like a good idea at the time!

Tip: AA's ticketing rules are pretty flexible and carrier charges are low, so always consider getting your ticket on AA stock, if possible, but the TA will know best.

Next day, it was still a bit cold and grey and threatening rain, so I decided to visit the Louvre. I visited it before so was ambivalent about visiting again, but I was a much more seasoned traveller now, and would probably appreciate the contents a bit more than 35 years ago. They had closed the museum for 2 days in the week prior while they figured their response to corona virus. Now, they had stopped admitting anyone without an on-line ticket, and were limiting those in absolute terms, so I jumped on-line and got a ticket for the 9am entry, the first of the day. (They closed it 'permanently' for the time being a few days later.)

Avoiding the metro, I walked down to the museum, taking about 40 mins. Some views along the way:



The Bourse:



Jardin du Palais Royal







Louvre 'outstation'







And arrival at the pyramid.

 

[RooFlyer]

I arrived at about 8:40 and was about 20th in line at the ropelines.

9 am came and went, with the guards/staff opening and then closing the doors. Much going to-and-fro. the queue grew.





Might as well take in the view:



At 9:30 a sign went up saying that the opening today would be 'delayed' but couldn't say how much. I was wondering that its either a strike, a stop-work meeting (because of virus conditions) or they were thinking of closing it again.

At 10:10 they opened. I hope waiting in the ropeline in close proximity to others - in the open air - wasn't deleterious to my health.



Now, again, I wasn't intending to see 'that' painting - I wanted to be the cool guy who didn't bother. But ... since I was one of the first in, I thought why not . You are right, I could never be cool.

Here it is. Attendants 6, visitors 6 (or 7, including me).



Another angle:



Exiting that gallery, the hoards were going the other way:



So then I enjoyed sauntering around the museum, getting lost, of course, but seeing most of it - even the far ends of the 'piers'.



Hmmm . the Louvre needs some painting:

 

[RooFlyer]

Just bits 'n pieces:



Mercury abducting Psyche



Mercury, bronze 18th century



Cupid reviving Psyche in the way he knows how:



Throne of Bacchus







The Galerie d'Apollon is under restoration, so just got to peek through the doors:





Random room, one of hundreds. Its all a bit much.

 

[RooFlyer]

Your scribe?



So, the Louvre has a sense of humour:







Egyptian section:

 

[RooFlyer]

Into the sculptures - Roman, Greek, French ...





Who?





Lunch. I weakened - I was getting tired ... and couldn't be bothered thinking about how the french described their coffee ...











And Napoleon, of course, in full Emperor mode:

 

[RooFlyer]

I was excited when i walked into the Mesopotamia gallery - they looked fantastic exhibits, better in fact that what I saw at Persepolis:







Bah. Most of them are plaster copies. Move on.

Part of the set for the Da Vinci Code, seen when you leave the Louvre.



A nice casual walk through the Tuileries gardens to some familiar landmarks:







Metro back to Gare du Nord, which is worth looking at in itself.

 

[RooFlyer]

Day 3 and 'm flying out tomorrow. Virus is hitting Paris hard, which probably means it hit hard a week ago.

Today is a nicer day and i'm going to do what i planned to do more of - just walk around and enjoy the sights. But I'm sticking to the well know sights because, you know, I'm still a tourist

Walk from the hotel down Rue la Fayette took me past L'église St Vincent de Paul, 1820s. Vincent de Paul (b. 1581) worked around here.



Paris opera house (more correctly, Palais Garnier), 1860s and setting for Leroux's Phantom of the Opera









L'église de la Madeleine, originally designed and built as a temple to the glory of Napoleon's army; later converted into a church.





Place de la Concord, looking towards the Palais Bourbon, where the lower house of the French parliament sits.




I turned right and headed up the Champs-Elysees, (natch) past the Grand Palais

 

[RooFlyer]

One thing you'll notice in the last couple of posts especially is that many of the pics are lower resolution than ideal. I haven't mentioned before, that on this trip and TR, I'm using my Apple iPhone almost exclusively. On previous trips, I used my Sony HX90C, which is a great pocket camera with 100x zoom (I think 1-60x optical and 60-100x digital) AND as a back-up I took many of the same shots on my iPhone.

Comparing them, there wasn't much difference, so this time I decided to rely only on the iPhone - although i still brought the Sony along. Obviously the iPhone has struggled with the intermediate distance shots I've been taking - the features on buildings, where its at max zoom. Looks like the Sony will be re-commissioned.

 

[Drakecula]

Enjoying seeing the photos from Paris, and reliving my visit in December It was such a nice city to wander around.

 

[RooFlyer]

De Gaulle



Up to the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile of course.



The Arch was commissioned by Napoleon after the Battle of Austerlitz, in 1806 and was finished 30 years later, well after he died.

This sculpture is known as Le Départ de 1792 (or La Marseillaise), celebrating the battle of 10 August 1792 which was a major point in the French Revolution that toppled Louis XVI





Celebrating La Résistance de 1814



La Paix de 1815 (end of the Napoleonic war)



Tomb of the unknown Soldier



Beneath the Arch





In 1919, someone flew under the Arch:

I looked up the Avenue de la Grande-Armee and saw my former stamping ground in Paris. That was my next stop.

 

[RooFlyer]

I worked for 4 years for the French investment bank Societe Generale in Sydney. Head office was (and is) located at La Defence, a purpose built business district. We were obliged to attend head office at least a couple of times a year

Emerging from the metro station



La Grande Arche de la Défense is the third arch on the historic axis that starts at the Louvre, through the Arc de Triomphe and ends here, with the three arches in alignment. Looking towards the Arc de Triomphe







Just behind the Arch is the Soc Gen Building, and the hotel (front right) where the Sydney Soc Gen team (and So-Genners from around the world) lodged. They were fun times.

 

[RooFlyer]

Travel Agent (Madrooster) suggested I go out to CDG for tonight, to minimise any problems with a strike etc. So I forfeited by fourth night at the Ibis in favour of a night at the Pullman at T3. Quite swish and very close to the 'T1' metro stop.

Somehow I've managed to hang onto 'Gold' with Accor, even though I have fallen well below the qualification levels - I don't chase hotel status at all, and least with Accor since they 'enhanced' their status qualification levels a year or so ago. But I do like staying with them, as they are sort of like McDonalds - anywhere in the world, you have a good idea of the standard and amenities of each level of hotel. Pullmans I find quite good value.







I always get a chit for a complimentary drink when at Accor, but I rarely use them, as its the house plonk and not usually worth it. But in Paris ... how could I refuce. A nice Chablis to start the evening



I intended to eat in the bar/lounge, to offset the cost of additional night's accommodation, but the menu was excrable, and they succeeded in what mut have been an intention to get people into their restaurant, which was pretty classy.



Soup - and the wine is a hermitage from Domaine des Entrefaux, not far from where i was supposed to visit close to Lyon. I'm not a fan of French wines (meaning - I don't understand them), but in any event, this was a great choice.



... to go with my medium-rare steak



or, as it turned out, my pretty rare steak. Also really nice. A great 'last meal' in France.

 

[Antoallison]

No more overseas trips for you..... for just $3.5 million + there is a lovely home in Battery Point that is featured in this mornings Weekend Australian magazine, that you might want to put an offer in for.

Built 1879 ...Mary Grant Roberts... Beaumaris Zoo.