I am Joe: Europe on a shoestring - Day 15 (Paris) [October 8, 2005]

Next day morning we booked a ticket to see the palace of Versailles - and after a nice journey through the Parisian suburbs (high rises, townhouses etc) arrived at Versailles. Hmmm... nice or not I do not really know... since I was fast asleep, and duly snapped up by Samir.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... thats me

The train gouged out a gaggle of tourists (us among them) all headed for the palaces. The palace symbolized the opulance of the French kings and there are rows and rows of bedrooms all decorated from top to bottom in French art. Oddly enough apart from a few paintings, I did not think that the paintings had that great a sense of finesse as those in Italy. Among the sculptures that stood out were Louis XV potrayal as a Roman Emperor - I guess similar to Cosimo I in Florence all the rulers wanted to model themselves as Caesar. Sadly the hall of mirrors was under restoration so we did not get a chance to see it in its full grandeur. But by then the splendid gardens were beckoning and thats exactly what we did - and enjoyed every bit of it. i think we may have spent equal time in the park as the museums. We had fun talking autumn pictures of falling leaves and the swans squabbling for scraps in the lakes.

The gardens surrounding the palace were far more enjoyable than the palace itself... and lots of sun made different creatures come alive :-)

We returned back to the city hoping to get another excellent 'plat de jour' at another recommended diner - however it was way past 15:00 and we were not that lucky this time. We indulged in a simple baguette at a fast food place - practical and simple. The sun was by now shining brightly - the first after two days of relative gloom which made our way to the Eiffel Tower all that better.

Napolean's tomb

On the way we stopped to admire the Jesuit church and the tomb of Napolean - though both were given the 'exterior' look as we were drawn by the ever imposing Eiffel Tower.

ouch.... that is definitely pointed!!!

First views - well the names of many of the great French scientists Dirac, Focault etc were etched on the first level of the tower... guess the engineer in me got those words first. Stand beneath it and you realise the montrosity of the whole thing - which at first was meant to be a temporary exhibit and was ridiculed when built. However if there is anything that puts you off it is the lines - like a serpent whose tail never seems to end. You have one line to buy tickets - then another to go up, either by elevator or steps. The line itself seemed that it would take a good two hours to even go up so after some debate we gave up and just 'chilled' on the lawns reminiscing about the day until sunset. Heading back by metro we picked up a good bottle of vin and some cheese and arrived at hostel. Since drinking was forbidden at the hostel (given that they encouraged student groups to stay) we strolled until we reached the Seine and sat on a bench there - sipping wine and toasting to a fine trip, waving to the tour boats passing by us. This would be the classic end to our trip.