Day 7 - Palace of Versailles

When last I wrote, I was about to participate in an evening game.  The game was to guess from a list of ten songs which would be the most danced by those present including the crew and officers who counted for additional dancers.  Laura and I ranked three songs that we thought would be the most danced and we managed to tie for first place with two other cabins!  In the tiebreaker,  I had to come up to the dance floor and try to guess the artist and song that was played.  I knew none of the answers, but the other participants guessed incorrectly so I won!This morning, we woke early to board buses to the Palace of Versailles.  It was a brief ride, but when we arrived we found that there was already a long line of people waiting to enter at 9:00am!  Luckily, as Sam the Program Director told us, "Don't worry, I know people!"  Turned out that groups enter from another area and do not have to wait in such a long line.  We were the first group to enter the palace but it quickly filled.

The Palace of Versailles was started in 1661 and in 1698 it became the capital of France.  It was the home of the Kings of France Louis XIV through Louis XVI when the king and his queen, Marie Antoinette were beheaded during the French Revolution.  It was originally built on the location of the hunting lodge of the king when he decided that Paris was too dangerous.The palace contains over 700 rooms that included private quarters of the royal family - a wing for the king and another for the queen, public rooms for ceremonies, and rooming for the more than 300 nobles that lived in the palace in the hopes of influencing the king and gaining his favor.Behind the palace, there are extensive gardens that included sculptures, fountains, paths, and structured vegetation.  When it was first built, the style of gardens did not contain many flowers so it was mostly green with the fountains.



Later, during the time that Marie Antoinette was queen, the style changed and the garden contained more flowers and smaller walking paths that mixed with the sculptures and fountains.  Today more than 30 gardeners work to maintain the structured gardens.

 

After walking through the palace and the gardens on the hottest day of the year in France, we were happy to get back to the ship for a quiet lunch and begin our final leg of the trip along the Seine to arrive back in Paris.  I was able to watch a demonstration of French cooking as the chef made lemon tarts in the lounge.  They were a nice treat on a hot day!Our final meal was truly French cuisine as it included Duck L'Orange and frog legs!!



When we arrived back in Paris, we were able to walk to the Eiffel Tower in the evening.  We crossed under two of the 36 bridges that stretch along the Seine in Paris.  The ship was docked around 2 miles so it took about 30 minutes to reach the tower and we arrived just in time to see the light show!  I was able to take some video and I will upload it from home where the internet is a bit faster.It is time to get some sleep because I have a long flight home tomorrow!