Our Introduction to France

We arrived in France yesterday. Lets just say that it wasn't the best introduction. It took 30 minutes to get our luggage, the rental car took another hour with a bunch of hidden fees that we had not anticipated,but finally we were on the way to our B & B outside of Paris. Well, you think LA rush hour is bad??? Our lodging was 15 miles from the airport and it took us almost 2 hours to get there. That being said, we have to retract the earlier statement about the English drivers being the most rude that we had encountered. Scott was finally back in his comfort zone driving on the right (and correct) side of the road only to find that the French drivers are not satisfied with the speed and following distance of the retired Police Captain. Flashing lights and fingers were commonplace during the 2 hour journey. Kamikaze motorcycles split traffic at mach speed and you are supposed to know they are coming up behind you. On top of that, if police vehicles have to get somewhere they also split traffic followed by a whole bunch of motorcycles taking advantage of the situation. Really crazy if you ask us. We finally made it to our B & B unscathed only to find out that we did not get to park on site but had to hunt for a spot in one of the most impressive thunder storms that we had experienced. Off loaded, tired and wet we wound up at a great Italian restaurant headed back and made our plans for the next day.

After our very French breakfast of croissants, jam and yogurt we make our way to the Palace of Versailles...except it was closed due to the Strike here in France. We had been concerned that something like this would happen since we had been hearing about the rolling strikes going on here. Designed to be the most disruptive since no one knew when they would close something down. We were fortune to come across a couple from Lancaster, PA with a cousin who lived locally so we tagged along with them.

Although the sign said it was closed for the day there were murmurs (in French) that they might open at 10:30. Thousands of people apparently also thought this was a possibility. So 45 minutes later it did indeed open up.

We were fortunate that it was a free for all so pushy Americans that we are we made entry in record time. The Palace and grounds are amazingly beautiful. There is a lot of history there but is far too much to go into here. I think I will just let the pictures do the talking.

After the Palace we walked some of the gardens. They cover more than 200 acres. We then headed over to the Grand Stables which housed the Carriage Museum and the Grand Riding School. It was really amazing the opulence of their transportation. Even the Sudan chairs that merely took them across the courtyard. Crazy how they lived while half of the population starved. The Stables were incredible and we got to see many of the horses that are descendants of those brought here by Louis XIV. He favored the Lusitanian, a Portuguese bred horse. He particularly favored those with Cremello
characteristics. These are blond, almost golden horses with Blue eyes. The variation only occurs in 5% of the Lusitatanian population. There were a number of them in the stables. It was a great day despite the early hiccup.

Today we went to Paris. It was a busy adventuresome day a bit warm for my taste but sitting on top of the "Big Bus" and on the Boat Cruise of the Seine River kept us reasonably comfortable. The specific sights that we got to see were amazing but we weren't thrilled with the horrific traffic. Fortunately we did not have to drive. We walked a mile to the train station from our B & B and got off close to Notre Dame Cathedral where we caught the sightseeing bus. We got to see all of the iconic structures like the Arc de Triomphe, The Eiffel Tower, The Lourve and of course the Notre Dame Cathedral. We hadn't realized that the Arc is really a war memorial with a Tomb of the Unknown and a perpetual flame below it and engravings all around it commemorating battles won and heroes along the way.

We also found a few hidden gems like a Spanish Catholic Church that was beautiful inside and the Opera House where the Phantom of the Opera legend came from. There was also a statue, of whom it is insignificant, that the locals use to judge the flooding on the river.
At his feet, don't walk by the river; to his knees it is impassible by boat and at the worst flood in recent history it was to his chest. There were a few hitches due to the strike causing us to detour on the bus and miss a couple of stops. Unfortunately that meant that we missed a 1 hour loop on an alternate route. Oh well, a sidewalk cafe and 2 beers later it mattered very little. We wandered off of the tourist path and found a nice Brasserie for an early (by French standards) dinner and headed back to the train station. Another fulfilling day and hopefully a good nights rest. We are off to Belgium tomorrow.