Day 3: Versailles, Montmartre, et Sacré Coeur
After a solid three hours of sleep to recuperate from almost 20km of walking the previous day, we were up at 7 to catch the metro and bus to the Chateau de Versailles. I remember learning about Versailles during the Louis XIV and Renaissance unit in grade 5 and even then, I was enraptured by the splendour and history behind the castle. It has been on my to-visit bucket list for a decade.
I can't imagine that anyone would not be floored upon their first sight of Versailles. The palace, complete with golden gates, is a pretty fair representation of what I'd imagine heaven to look like.
Unfortunately, marring its magnificence was the very steady rain. At first, the colourful umbrellas actually made for a nice scene.
But then, we realized we had to wait in the snaking lines for two hours to get in. I was in wet sneakers and three day old clothes (the warmest I'd brought) and Julie had a stomach ache. In all honesty, it was rather miserable. Everything was wet and cold and I was beginning to think that Paris would be imprinted in my mind as purely gray and green. It is still a beautiful city, but the rain was unrelenting and the crowd was astronomical. It was 11:30 when we finally got in to the inner courtyard, one of the most gorgeous places I'd ever seen.
The crowds in the castle were far thicker than those in the Louvre so it was a little slow and claustrophobic to start. As if to rub it in, the rain ceased at long last the moment we stepped indoors. As soon as we started to hit the main rooms though, everything was worth it.
Every big room in Versailles was covered in decor from floor to ceiling. Like the Galerie D'Apollon in the Louvre, every inch was art.
We passed by dozens of rooms, all overwhelmingly ornate and stunning.
Among these were the King's and Queen's chambers, the meeting rooms, salons -- all rooms where everyone of French historical significance between Louis XIV and Louis XVI's reign walked and talked and made decisions that would shape the world as we know it. We saw the rooms in which the monarchs slept, and the door through which Marie Antoinette (unsuccessfully) fled when the revolution reached Versailles.
The most famous and most beautiful room that we passed through was the Hall of Mirrors, a long corridor lined on one side with mirrors and with windows on the other.
We didn't get a chance to walk around the gardens, nor to see Marie Antoinette's private domain a little further off, but we did get a good view of some parts of the gardens from the castle windows.
By this time, the rain had let up a bit and we took the metro up to la Concorde for lunch, and ended up walking around the very nice (and expensive area) for about an hour, accidentally running into the beautiful Paris Opera House. We then took the metro down to the Musée d'Orsay, but were cut off from the line because it was running too close to closing hours. It was around this time that I caught sight of the blue Paris sky for the first time, which was an incredibly exciting moment! All the rain clouds cleared away and we could hardly believe it had been the same day.
Encouraged by the warm weather, we took the metro to Montmartre and walked up the hill to Sacré Coeur.
The view of Paris was stunning, and we sat on the steps for a little bit to enjoy it and watch a talented busker perform tricks with a soccer ball.
The stunning cathedral itself was unlike any I'd ever seen (it was my first time in a European church and did not disappoint).
We even saw some lovely wedding photos along the way up. So many people were crowded around the couple, staring, as the scene was so breathtaking.
We walked around for hours after this since the surrounding streets were full of cute cafés, bakeries, art galleries, and restaurants. It was so picturesque and the sun coming out made everything so much better.
Finishing with a strawberry crepe, a French onion soup, and bruschetta in one of the restaurants on top of the mount, we headed back at around 9 and were faced with a view of Paris in sunset.
The entire mount was a section of the city that I greatly enjoyed walking around. We descended as it got dark and saw the Moulin Rouge at the base before heading home.
