Paris and Versailles 1999 Index

Join us for our very first trip to mainland Europe as we take a weekend coach trip to the capital of France and visit the magnificent Palace and Gardens of Versailles, home to French kings from Louis IV all the way through to er... Louis VI, who fell foul of the Revolution. It's our first trip to a non-English speaking country. I took O-Level French at school from age 11-14. 51 years ago... Will it be enough? I did get a grade C...

Note that some of the photographs from this 1999 holiday were taken on a very early digital camera and therefore the quality may be a little less than I usually strive for.

Each place of interest is shown on its own separate article, reached by clicking/tapping the photos below. A link on each page will bring you back here.

Return to Holidays Outside the UK Index Page

Later in Montmarte

Sunday 30 May 1999. Montmarte will remain for me one of the highlights of our weekend, though there were really so many things to enjoy.

As the coach took us towards the restaurant for our evening meal I snapped this out of the window, to remind me of the many apartments of Paris, where people live in the heart of the city. One of the things that also intrigued us a little was the habit of having external window blinds instead of them being inside.

There was a short walk to the restaurant where we had another superb meal, commencing with that great French favourite, onion soup! It came with huge croutons - in fact as I remarked at the time, it seemed ready dunked with chunks of bread and was delicious. Beef Bourgignon followed and then an apple tart, glazed and then with some spirit over it which was set on fire here. It flamed with a dull blue flame and the camera has not been able to pick it up - but take my word for it folks!

My friend with the clarinet and saxophone was playing again and had a friend playing that seemingly most French of instruments, the accordian. Not the piano variant but a true "buttons both sides" job. And very good he was as well!

Now you may remember me mentioning Edna a couple of pages ago when we were climbing to Sacré-Coeur. Edna was an absolute wonder during the holiday, always cheerful, always mischievous and just bursting with joy and fun. It was her 86th birthday and in came a cake with a firework on top and the musicians played Happy Birthday to her whilst we all sang and raised our glasses and cheered. "Well, I don't know!" she said, "I'm only eighty six!"

The coach made one stop before heading back towards Bougival, and that was back in Montmartre at the famous windmill of le Moulin Rouge. The dancers are mainly British and American these days. It was here that Toulouse-Lautrec fell in love, only to have his heart broken - yes... there's no time, Toulouse... The first fully nude striptease was performed here in 1896. The dancer was arrested leading to riots in which two students died. And no, I don't have a photograph of her...

Return to Paris and Versailles 1999 Index

Montmarte

Sunday May 30 1999. Turning left at Sacré-Coeur brings you to Montmarte's Artists' Quarter. The name is derived from "Mons Martyrium" - "Martyrs' Mound". The legend is that in 287 CE the Romans lopped the head off St Denis, the first Bishop of Paris, and two priests on the hill where Sacré-Coeur now stands. St Denis simply picked up his head and walked away.

Place du Tertre is the place to look for the artists. They are the ones whose paintings and sketches are aimed firmly at the tourist rather than the serious collector.

The square used to be the site of the Village Hall. Now two artists to every metre vie with each other to sketch, caricature or cut your silhouette. One such profile cutter followed me for 5 minutes convinced I would give in because I was laughing as I shook my head! The chap, above, was doing blue and white tiles in relief, which were very good.

There was a feverish atmosphere of casual creativity - for it would not do here to be too serious about your art. That was left to the men and women around the corner - standing for the most part with their artists materials under their arms, looking in vain for a corner of a building that had not already been sketched or made famous in a painting before.

It was catching - I would have loved to have got out my sketch pad and tried my hand! In the garrets and lofts, bars and dance halls, Cubism and Impressionism were first thought of and committed to canvas.

Silhouette paper cutter at work! They fold a black card in two before cutting and therefore you get both left and right profiles.

I have never had my profile cut from a piece of paper, but I do have one that was done of my Great Uncle Percy by Lewis W. Leach, (according to the back of the card: The Celebrated Portrait Artist). It is recogniseably my Great Uncle and he paid a princely two shillings and sixpence (half a crown - or as we might say these days: 22.5 pence).

It was time to move on and return to the coach. We bought some postcards and coasters and some other bits and pieces to take home.

Miss Franny bought herself a compact with a nighttime picture of the Eiffel Tower and we bought a set of six drinks coasters with paintings of various points of interest in Paris.

We walked down the path next to the funicular railway. It is seen here, drawn by a cable from the top station.

Back on the Boulevard de Rochechouart we stood on the wide island between the left and right carriageways near to a Metro station and mini dodgem cars. The full size dodgems were probably still circling the Arc de Triomphe... There were quite a few beggers in this area - sitting against the sides of the Metro, displaying the stumps of their amputated limbs, whilst a young black boy was running from one passer-by to another begging for money to ride the dodgem cars.

Return to Paris and Versailles 1999 Index

Sacré-Coeur

Sunday 30 May 1999. Once we had left the coach on the Boulevard de Rochechouart, we passed a line of sex shops and live shows that all the men would have liked to see and all the women were determined we wouldn't. We made our way excitedly towards the highest point in Paris.

After climbing through narrow streets to Rue Tardieu we saw the gardens and the 237 steps up to the church of Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart). "Stop worriting about those sex shops, Mildred," muttered one of our party, looking in dismay at the long series of steps, "I've changed my mind..."

One look at all the steps leading upwards made some of the party look left towards the funicular railway, but then first to start springing up the steps was Edna, whose 86th birthday it was that day. Everyone else followed... Buskers were at work on the steps, including one hopeful who was trying to get people either side of him to sing along in competition with the other side! Reportedly Sacré-Coeur is not the favourite Parisian monument with the locals... The stone secretes calcite whenever it rains and thus bleaches the outside, leaving it the eye-catching pure white that is seen above. At least one guide book condemns it simply: "The interior is cavernous and little else. You'd do better to stay outside on the terrace..."

We did venture inside (not having taken the guide book with us!) and there certainly was not much to stick in the mind except what I can only describe as bouncers on the door...

There was a rather spectacular view over the city from the top of the terraces. We are about to enter the area of Montmarte and the artists' quarter. The ladies are once again asking if anyone knows the French for "cup of tea laced with bromide".

Return to Paris and Versailles 1999 Index
Return to European Churches and Cathedrals Index Page

On The River Seine

Sunday 30 May 1999. After Versailles, the coach took us back to the hotel where we thankfully changed out of our wet clothes and got ready quickly to be taken back into Paris where we were to go on a boat trip on the Seine before going back to the same restaurant as the previous night for our meal.

The boat seemed enormous, and was certainly much bigger than those that I have ridden in up English rivers. It was fairly full when we boarded and we sat in the centre aisle at the front, near the young girl who was giving the commentary in four different languages.

When she stopped after French, English, German and Spanish I raised my eyebrows and said "Japanese?" which caused her to burst into giggles and say "Non!"

Holding the camera out, I took this of myself - expecting to see a bit more of the boat actually, but just look at that muscle!!! What? It's my forearm??? Oh... I thought it was a bit hairy... Alright girls, alright, yes you can be in the picture... Wow, a moustache and clip-on sunglasses - those were the days!

We got back to find the coach waiting for us, but it was warm again and we were all waiting until the last possible minute to get on board! The Eiffel Tower in the background shows the location of the landing stage for the boat trips. The trip had lasted quite a while and it was very pleasant sitting there watching the sights go by! The coach set off again, taking us on almost the last leg of our Paris trip.

We were now heading for Montmarte and the Sacre Coeur, the artists' haunt and one of the most romantic parts of Paris. My sketch pad hadn't been touched during the holiday as there was no time to stop long enough anywhere, but after Versailles, I had looked at the sodden mess of it and threw it away...

Return to Paris and Versailles 1999 Index

The Palace of Versailles

The end of our visit to Versailles was drawing near - as indeed is the by now legendary photo of the scorch mark...

Passing through this archway we found ourselves once again in the courtyard, where we had shivered and gasped under the icy torrent of the thunderstorm of two or three articles ago. If you have no idea what I am talking about then shame on you and go back to recap it all!

Leafing through the guide book, it seems incredible what a very small fraction was seen of all that Versailles has to show. The clock in the Marble Courtyard had the hands symbolically stopped to show the time of the death of Louis XIV. (I use this excuse at home now whenever Miss Franny complains the battery has run out on the clock...)

The Sun King's symbol can be seen in the centre of the clock. As a child, whenever games of fancy dress were played, he would always choose the costume of the sun.

Looking up at the two wings of the house where we had been deluged both by storm and by drainage from the roofs. Actually the "wing" on the right is more like a chapel. It was hard to believe how totally we had been soaked. But a mere pat of the trouser legs brought it sharply back to mind! I apologised and reminded myself to pat my own trousers in future...

We said goodbye to Louis XIV, the Sun King, who had last been seen against a sky so dark that the floodlighting of the palace had switched on. Did the lightning really come as close as it had seemed?

It certainly did! This was not the only scorch mark in the area. And once we got back to the coach other passengers told us that all the fish were dead in one of the ponds, which made me think that lightning must have struck there also. We sat on a bench, eating baguettes whilst our coats were laid down in the sun to dry. As the coach pulled away a scream of laughter directed our attention to a German coach whose company name was an Anglo-Saxon word that I'm not going to repeat here!

Return to Paris and Versailles 1999 Index

The Gardens of Versailles

Sunday 30 May 1999. We have been inside the Palace of Versailles following a soaking from Paris's greatest ever storm up to that date. We missed half of the upper floor and all of the ground floor rooms as time was moving on and we wanted at least a glimpse of the gardens. Probably you would need at least two days to see Versailles properly.

By now the sun was out and we came out of the house and started wringing out what bits we could. It was when we came to find our tickets for the gardens that we realised just how wet the inside of Fran's bag had got.

We presented the limp rag that was two card tickets irretrievably stick together to the very smart attendant, who was wearing a formal suit. Strangely he declined to take hold of it and waved us through to walk into the grounds. This is a couple of hours after the storm had finished and the gravel of the pathways would have dismayed anyone whose feet were not already making squelchy noises... My trainers did not dry out for a couple of days.

Quite apart from the water features the garden furniture and the formal layout of the gardens is wonderful. They were designed by Le Nôtre for Louis XIV not only for their own beauty but to enhance the architecture of the palace itself. The Parterres to north and south and particularly the Water Parterre, two wide ponds designed to reflect the palace as seen from the garden.

Le Nôtre's Grand Perspective. It commences with the Water Parterre then down the steps to the Fountain of Latona. Then down the slope to the Royal Avenue to the Fountain of Apollo before merging with the Grand Canal which is 1650 metres long. The Fountain of Latona tells a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Latona, Apollo's mother, having been ridiculed by the Lycian peasants, turns to Jupiter seeking vengeance. Jupiter turns the peasants into frogs. "Dammit!" he said to Mars afterwards, "I wanted them to choke - not croak!"

The fountains only flow for limited time, accompanied by classical music. As we skirted the Fountain of Latona, the water died. The gardens were extensive and our time was rapidly running out. It was also lunchtime and we had been told this was our only chance to buy anything to eat, so reluctantly we decided to leave the rest of the gardens for another visit (well, we can hope!) and we will move on to have a quick look at the exterior of the palace - and the scorch mark - just as soon as you click the relevant links...

Looking back up the slopes and steps towards the palace.

"Oy! Keep moving! No you can't have a lick of my ice cream..."

Return to Paris and Versailles 1999 Index