My lasting memory of Paris may be the heat.  We live in Phoenix so we are used to hot weather but we aren’t used to very little air conditioning.  Fortunately our hotel had AC but we weren’t in Paris to stay in a hotel.

Unfortunately, Paris was experiencing temperatures ten degrees warmer than normal. In addition there was so much going on in the city that every place was busy and crowded.  

Paris, home of 2.2 million inhabitants, was hosting the Rugby World Cup while we were there.  There was also a lot of construction happening, catching up after COVID, and in an attempt to make Paris more bicycle friendly. 

On top of everything else, they were preparing for hosting the Olympics in 2024. Our timing wasn’t great!

Our first tour was Panoramic Paris – fancy talk for a bus tour of the sights, getting off here and there. 

Most of my pictures didn’t turn out well through the bus windows but this one was fine.  Ernest Hemingway lived on this street during his years in Paris.

This tree is from the 1600s and is the oldest in Paris.  There are wooden supports because the tree was damaged during shelling from one of the wars. I’m not sure which war but there are a lot of possibilities.

We were able to get out and walk around portions of Notre Dame, an 860 year old Paris landmark. 

It is, of course, under repair after the fire on April 15, 2019.  Story boards around the facility detail the fire and repair efforts.

They are on schedule with a five year massive effort to rebuild.  They plan to reopen December 8. 2024 – impressive given the delays that COVID caused in everything else.

We were told by our guide that Notre Dame wasn’t that important to the French until publication of Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Our afternoon tour was to Versailles – the extravagant home of French royalty.  Unfortunately, in addition to the heat outside, the air conditioning on the bus did not work.  The bus temperature display read 40 degrees Celsius which is 104 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The palace and garden, are a UNESCO world heritage site. 

We were not far enough away to begin to get a picture of the entire palace. 

This one is from their website. 

The story of Versailles began in the 1600s when Louis 13th was King. The court was mostly in the old palace (now the Louvre) but moved around and was itinerant.  Louis decided he wanted a hunting lodge out of town and, in the 1620s, built one at Versailles. The hunting lodge had 20 rooms.  

Louis’ wife was Queen Anna of Hapsburg.  The marriage was a political alliance and finally resulted in a royal birth 23 years later. 

The baby Louis became Louis XIV. He became king at age 5 and ruled with an Italian Prime Minister. He began to rule by himself at age 23. 

He spent the next 50 years expanding the lodge, eventually to 2600 rooms. The court moved to Versailles permanently in 1682 when the palace began to be used for residence and administration. Part of his intent was to keep his enemies close. 

King Louis XIV ruled for 72 years, the longest in French history.

Eventually his son, Louis XV became king.  He lost much of the lands in France’ empire including Canada to England in the Treaty of Versailles of 1763.

I believe that these pictures are King Louis XV on the left and King Louis XVI on the right.

King Louis XVI was the Louis who married Marie Antoinette.  He was also the one that Benjamin Franklin came to ask for help with the American Revolution under the guise of “Our enemy’s enemy is our friend.” 

History considers King Louis XVI to be a good guy trying to manage the three classes of people – the clergy, the nobility and the commoners. In 1789 he held meetings to talk about taxes.  He thought that rich people should pay more tax but they didn’t want to and he couldn’t insist and maintain his power.

The resulting French Revolution determined the fate of both King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

There were so many people visiting the Palace of Versailles that day that it was difficult to stay with our guide or stay within range of the earphone system.

 We were in the crowd walking through the Hall of Mirrors.

In the end it was easier to just walk around, get a bit of a breeze from an open window when we could, and enjoy the sights.

The interiors were very ornate!

This fresco is one of the largest in the world.

There were many tapestries.

This was the king’s bedroom.

It had a secret door in the corner! I wonder where it went and whether it was for security or play.

This was once Marie Antoinette’s bedroom.

The opulence extended to the outside.

The grounds cover 1000 acres – about one tenth of the original size which included hunting grounds. We enjoyed walking around a small portion of the expansive grounds.

The citrus trees in the planters are taken “in” during the colder months.

There are 400 sculptures on the grounds.

What do you get a king who has everything for his birthday?  The Swiss Guard, who provided palace security, made the lake as a gift.

Earlier I mentioned a Treaty of Versailles signed in 1763.  Another important Treaty of Versailles was signed by the Allies and Germany on June 28, 1919 signifying the end of World War I. 

We had been in and around the palace for hours. They should have had time to fix the AC or exchange our bus, right?  No!  The bus ride both ways was without AC. 

A Viking representative from corporate was on our bus for the 40 minutes ride to the hotel. He was even less happy than we were!  Heads were going to roll – which is an interesting phrase to use in a country known for using guillotines.

That evening, after a long hot day, we dressed up and went to the Paris Cabaret. The cabaret began in the late 19th century during a period of opulence. The building burned down.and was rebuilt by Gustave Eiffel in 1887-89, about the same time as Eiffel was building his tower.

Most enjoyed the dinner and show very much. The singers and dancers were very talented and had great strength and acrobatic skills. However, I was seated in a place and way that I could barely see the stage. I stood in the back but felt I was in the way as acts came in and out very quickly. Eventually I went out in the lobby and listened to the Mariners game on my phone. A good time was had by all!

We were at the Palace of Versailles on September 9, 2023.

Next up:  The Eiffel Tower and Louvre