Switzerland to Paris - October 9

October 9

Well, it was too good to last.  We had missed all the bad weather for the most part.  But today our luck ran out.  It was raining and was supposed to rain all day and maybe tomorrow as well.  But we have rain jackets and rain pants.  Combine that with waterproof hiking shoes and we were ready for the elements.

We began our day with a short forty-five minute train ride to see the Palace of Versailles.  This was the palace for Louis XIV, the King of France.  It was a dump.  I don’t see how anyone could live there.  Actually it was truly magnificent, especially if you liked gold and grandeur.  But it was a little over the top.

(a painting depicting the battle of Yorktown)

Perhaps my favorite was the ceremonial bedroom.  This is where all the advisors, personal attendants, and king’s guards met to watch the king awaken and rise.  Of course he was already awake.  His nanny, the woman that had pretty much raised him from an infant (not his mother), would draw back the curtains on his bed and he would exit the bed and begin his day.  His first task was to have a bowel movement so the poo inspector could take his poo, analyze it, and make a journal entry as to the the king’s health.  Sounds like a really crappy job.

After touring the palace we walked through some of the gardens.  They too were magnificent.  Although they would have been better had it not been raining.

When we were finished at the palace we made our way back to the train station for another forty minute ride back to the city.  We were to meet Wilma and Leonard  for our tour of the Eiffel Tower.  A quick lunch and a short wait and we were ready for our tour.  Unfortunately it was still raining.  We made our way inside the touring area and made our way up the seven million steps to the first level.  Us old people weren’t used to that abuse.  But we persevered and eventually made it to the first level.  Our tour was to have taken us to the second level as well.  Unfortunately the second level was closed due to the rain.  I think we were okay with that just in case they were to tell us we had to climb the steps to the second level.

The view was good.  Although it would have been much improved had it not been raining.  I had never realized how big the Eiffel Tower was until I saw it in person.  The other amazing thing about it was the mind boggling number of pieces of iron it took to build the structure.

We took the Metro subway back to the hotel.  The difficult part of that was buying tickets.  The process seemed to confuse everyone in line.  We were going to buy four tickets since we were all there.  But the machine would not sell more than three at a time (whose idea was that?).  We made it back in decent time.  We peeled off our wet clothing (I think I may want a new rain jacket) and dried them with the hotel’s hair drier.  We had dinner and called it a day.  We saw a lot of interesting things today.

Tomorrow will be another adventure.

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