Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Visit to Versailles in 1991

Visit to France (1991) Versailles              by Paul Howlett



I landed at Charles de Gaulle airport in May 1991 and drove my little red rented Citroen through the streets of Paris in terror.  I had not slept on the plane and was so jetlagged for my first drive on the left hand side of the road.  It took me over four hours to get to my hotel at Versailles. (It should have been a 40 minute trip, but of course, I as lost in Paris and France for some hours before I found my way to Versailles.)

Hotel De La Chasse (1991)

Sadly when I looked for this hotel on Google Earth some weeks ago, I found that the hotel had changed.  Now totally renovated in 2014, the hotel just says PUB on the outside of the building.  I think that the ambience of the old hotel looked a lot better, in keeping with being close to the Palace of Versailles.

In my hotel room.
I really had a scare after pressing the button of my toilet, in my room of this hotel, as the toilet growled at me in a ferocious sound.  I looked at my toilet in amazement as it growled and shook and shredded everything. Then the “shredder” pumped the sewage along a tiny pipe, situated against the skirting board at the base of the wall. Comprehension dawned in my jetlagged brain; I understood that this hotel was so old that the plumbing was layered on top of the existing floors and walls!

This is the Versailles Town Hall.  I had never seen such an elaborate building for a local government building.  I was to learning later on as I visited more towns in France that most “Town Halls” we all big and beautiful in their own way. (Second photo I took, when I first arrived in France).


Photo of Versailles Town Hall and the Police.  

The police were busy towing away a car that had been parked there illegally.

A day later I saw the police drive up the road, lights blazing siren on only to find that they drove to the late night pizza kiosk. (I assume that they really must have been hungry for a late night snack).

 
Apollo Fountain in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles.


Another fountain in the Gardens in the Back of the Palace of Versailles.



Tourists walking about in the Gardens of Versailles


I looked all over the Palace of Versailles, with a jetlag headache.  I was not allowed to take pictures inside the Palace, so here are a few pictures I took outside in the grounds. I, of course bought a book on the interior of the Palace of Versailles, and I have that book somewhere, I hope. 
I do remember on the second time I went to see the inside of the Palace of Versailles that it was so crowded that I was jammed up, (wall to wall of hot human bodies), inside the Palace as I shuffled from one room to another.  That was a very unpleasant experience, as I just kept hearing the announcements in several languages, to beware of pickpocket who could steal all your money and papers!  I realise that I was on a Sunday, with all the local tourists, as well as the international tourists all wanting to see the Palace of Versailles at the same time.  I vowed that if I ever get to see the Palace of Versailles again, that I will visit the Palace in the middle of the week, and as early in Spring as possible.  Then hopefully the sheer number of people will be less next time I get to pay the Palace of Versailles a visit.
    
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