Day 3 - Paris (2/4) - Château de Versailles
supplemented with some of Jiekai's pictures in lieu of mine, which have been lost for eternity due to his cockitude
The top 2 floors of the youth hostel in Paris were fitted with a power saving device that turned off the lights when no one was around. In theory there was no problem with this, and it would save power. However, in practice (as at most of the other youth hostels with such devices) the lights would turn off at weird times. And so I hit my head twice on the low ceiling on the staircase (actually the floor of the top level of the building).
Versailles Facade
Royal Chapel
Upper floor of Royal Chapel
*Ceiling of Royal Chapel*
This picture has been lost for eternity due to Jiekai's cockitude
Versailles Room
Versailles Ceiling. Probably of the Drawing Room - Hercules ascending to heaven.
Bust of Louis XIV (?)
Louis XV
Louis XIV in the classic pose, showing off his toned legs.
Louis XVI
Venus Drawing Room - Louis XIV dressed as a Roman on horseback, without Roman hair.
Versailles was magnificent. I don't think there's another palace that can match up to it in the world. Hampton Court and the Vienese palaces can't compare (but then again those countries didn't go bankrupt).
A walk down the Hall of Mirrors
Hall of Mirrors wall
*The Hall of Mirrors*
This picture has been lost for eternity due to Jiekai's cockitude
Unfortunately, half of the Hall of Mirrors was still closed for restoration.
Hall of Mirrors ceiling
Painting
Mercury Drawing Room - Louis Philippe's Bed
*Louis XIV in Royal Array*
This picture has been lost for eternity due to Jiekai's cockitude
*Apollo Salon*
This picture has been lost for eternity due to Jiekai's cockitude
*Migand/Miganl (?) Salon*
This picture has been lost for eternity due to Jiekai's cockitude
Ceiling
Painting
Crowning of the Empress Josephine, in the Coronation room, by Jacques-Louis David (I forgot if this was a copy)
Acclamation of Napoleon as Emperor
Painting
*Queen's Chamber*
19 Royal children were born here
This picture has been lost for eternity due to Jiekai's cockitude
*The Childhood of Jupiter on Mount Ih (?) Coypel, in the guard room*
This picture has been lost for eternity due to Jiekai's cockitude
For conveying emotions, photographs are really inferior to paintings. With paintings you get to capture romanticised, stylised scenes and events. You play with light sources, get to ripple flesh and muscles the exact way you want, change the emphases at will. With photography you're limited to capturing what actually can be seen (photoshop notwithstanding, but that's different already). It really can't compare to working from scratch on a piece of canvas.
Napoleon used to keep a mullet. Now I know why Jiekai is keeping one.
The bloody toilet in Versailles cost €0.50 (to add insult to injury I got change in the form of 4 €0.10 and 2 €0.05 coins). Consider that you already pay for the attraction (a day pass for the whole complex is €20) and it's really ridiculous. They'll recoup the cost of restoration in no time.
Napoleon statue
Bougainville
Josephine
Unfortunately, admission to the King's Apartments and the Dauphin and Dauphine's chambers was not included in the Paris Museum pass we'd gotten (I'd gotten a 2 day pass for €30 and Jiekai a 4 day one for €45 - I think I barely earned the money back because student prices are below adult ones, and Jiekai definitely got his money's worth), so we had to shell out another €5,50 (IIRC). The audioguide was free this time, but I declined to get one: among other things, my feet hurt. Most importantly, I was ready to give Jiekai a chance to talk (ie Summarise the audioguide) when someone was actually interested, instead of, like my brother-in-law, droning on when it was obvious that nobody was. He then threw a fit and I left him since he didn't want to visit the gardens and I did.
This is a symbol of the marriage of Maria Theresa of Spain to Louis XIV
The King's Apartments were less decorated than the State Apartments (perhaps they ran out of money, or the private chambers weren't needed to impress foreign dignitaries and so were kept simple), but the comparatively understated design was a relief after the sheer grandeur of the State Apartments. I also liked the green colour schemes of the Dauphin/Dauphine's apartments. I missed having paintings on the ceilings, though.
*Louis XV in costume. Belle, 1723*
This picture has been lost for eternity due to Jiekai's cockitude
Partial image:
Drapings
Gardens from Palace
Random bust
Painting
Bust
Painting
Room
Painting
Painting. Louis XV in costume by Belle, 1723?!
Cock
The only reason this is here is because otherwise I won't have a shot of the facade of the Chateau
The receipt for the Metro in Paris and the Versailles ticket counter both had the equivalent prices in Francs. Wah.
PRCs are everywhere in Europe.
Cock files:
- I had to tell him to get off when we reached the right stop more than once (and again in Vienna)
- After I told him to get off the train, he stupidly stood by the door of the train car. After 1 1/2 days in Paris, it didn't occur to him that you needed to jerk the handle on the train door to open it.
- In a feat of unparalleled stupidity (at least until he lost my memory card for eternity due to his cockitude) he caused us to inadvertently cheat on the Paris metro train fare by getting us off at the wrong station in Zone 4, not Zone 3 where our 3-day passes qualified us to travel to. After I found an open gate by which we could sneak out, he went to the counter and while buying a ticket for the way back he told the person that we'd travelled further than we were entitled to. Luckily, we didn't get fined.
- He walked past the audioguide desk at Versailles despite my pointing it out to him
- Despite visiting Versailles, he didn't walk through the excellent gardens despite my remark that they were Unparalleled Gardens for an Unparalleled Idiot ('jardins inégalés, pour un idiot inégalé'), primarily because he didn't want to pay another €5,50, even though he thought it was only €3. He claimed he'd seen most of them from the windows of the Palace.
- He turned on Digital Zoom on his camera