And on the third day

 

We were back at it again! This was a morning to remember. I awoke early and gently suggested to Emily that we go for a run early in the morning as it would be our only opportunity to run in Paris. She was… less than enthused but begrudgingly agreed that it would be a cool environment to run in. Rolling out of the comfort of our bed and stretching out the reluctant soreness from our legs we donned our running gear. We set out along the Siene, accompanied by a multitude of other ambitious and enthusiastic morning exercisers. The weather was perfect for a light jog and we cruised though the city at a swift pace stopping occasionally to soak up the views and the fact that we were running in Paris! We finished in front of the Louvre with smiles and high fives. 

Today was an ambitious day as we hoped to tour the great palace at Versailles AND scale the Eiffel Tower. We quickly dressed and set out for the golden palace. Opulence and decadence don’t even begin to describe this royal place of refuge.  The town surrounding the palace was quaint and very French appearing with manicured lawns, French architecture, and cafes sprinkled throughout the town. As we approached the magnificent palace, we were met by the golden gates gleaming in the sunlight guarding the vast columned edifices. It was larger than the Louvre which is saying something. We were fortunate and arrived in the morning with our tickets in hand. We started off in the ‘ladies of the court’ wing and viewed elegantly decorated salons with fire places and murals on the walls. Due to the nature of our schedule we had to condense an 8 hour tour into a 1.5 hour time span. Needless to say we nearly sprinted from room to room absorbing the ambiance and speed-reading through most of the descriptions of the rooms. The shear volume of ornate rooms was impressive. We spent the first quarter of our time just in the guest wing before entering the main palace. Holy Cow! Gold and detailed murals covered EVERYTHING! There were rooms where every square inch was either hand painted or bedazzled.  The king’s bedroom was no exception and had a myriad of supporting rooms for dressing, bathing, and concubines.  The dining halls seemed endless and the hall of battles was intense with >80 foot tall murals depicting important battles. With the clock running we dashed towards the finish of the palace and on to the gardens. Only a mere 800 hectares of gardens, fountains, hedge mazes, and amphitheaters.  The palace was on a hill and the gardens extended as far as the eye could see in nearly all directions and intermittently obscured itself with tall maze-like shrubs and hedges.  Elegantly laid out in beautifully symmetrical patterns, the gardens were well maintained as we roamed around slack jawed. An immense fountain system with captivating stories portrayed in bronze statues littered the grounds. Sadly our time crunch forced us to say, “au revoir” to the gaudy royal palace and rush to the Eiffel Tower where we met up with a tour group of other tourists from the UK and the US. 

Our tour guide Clara was awesome and Emily crushed the tourist trivia (we had heard most of the info earlier) which made her look wicked smart. Up the first elevator to the middle level, there was a lot of lines and waiting. I’d be lying if I said our legs weren’t killing us from the run and the 16 mile walk the day before. Clara dropped some more knowledge on us as we met our fellow tourists.  We gained access to the tower and stood in awe under its massive iron legs.  The first elevators were unique in that they had a hyperbolic trajectory. This posed a problem when the tower was initially built but Mr. Ottis rectified this issue and we gained access to the first level in huge Ottis elevators. As we rose the city expanded beneath us. We could already see the entire skyline just from the first tier of the tower.  Hanging ominously above us remained the second elevator to, “the summit.”  We packed 70 people into a 10 x10’ elevator and were rocketed skyward to the pinnacle of French achievement. We were all nervous at first but then they informed us that there was a champagne bar at the top. Needless to say, I was first off the elevator and first in line for booze. With champagne in our hands Emily and I circumnavigated the tip top of the Eiffel Tower remarking to our tour group the great finds we encountered on our previous day’s travels.  It was all surreal. Sadly, our day did not end well. I had picked a restaurant from home to be our crown jewel and it was a total expensive flop. Emily even got a little food poisoning to boot. We made our way back to our hotel to crash. But, I urged Emily out of our room briefly to witness the Eiffel Tower glittering at night (only occurs every hour for the first 5 minutes) which was a sight to behold.  Not the best ending to an exciting day but we still have a lot to look forward to.