Ver...sigh

Louis XIV up there is gesturing back towards the railway station saying, "Go back!"

We have a late flight tonight so the plan was to book tickets to the Palace of Versailles to fill up our day. We made phone calls and packed and had breakfast. Then we walked to the supermarket and bought lunches for later. We crossed the Seine and took the train to Versailles.  

We found two queues - both hundreds of metres long. We joined the 1.00 pm line and were relieved to be inside by 1:15. Tragically,  Lyn then joined the line for the ladies toilets. My theory is that God allows women to live longer than men because they have to spend so long in line.

Eventually we found our way into the palace. Long corridors of marble Frenchmen and endless salons of painted Frenchmen and Frenchwomen greeted us. I wonder what is the French equivalent for "way over the top"?

Prior to the next photograph, Lyn announced, "This is SO BORING!" I agreed.

The best entertainment was the posing by carefully overdressed young women who not only planted themselves for photos as inconveniently as possible, but then wouldn't move on until they had checked that the photo met their standards.

Of course the climax was the Hall of Mirrors. It probably hasn't seen this many glum Germans since 1919.

The underwhelming thing about the Hall of Mirrors is that they are not very good mirrors. This is us if you look very carefully. 

Once outside, things both looked and smelled better.

We enjoyed ice cream and green spaces. Period music was piped everywhere.  It sounded good but I was a little bit surprised that it was Handel's coronation music for King George II (of the U.K.)! Surely the various Louiss would have rolled in the grave as "God Save the King" echoed amongst the promenades.

It was disappointing that very few of the fountains were working.  A non-working fountain at Versailles is just a bad gilded sculpture in an unhealthy-looking pond.

Still, there is plenty of fun to be had mocking the French, so we had a good day. Versailles does make the various French revolutions seem a reasonable response to extravagance and bad taste.

When we arrived back in Paris we were waiting for a bus when I saw this sign.

An omen. Home beckons.

Paris is Closed Today

We thought we would just bumble around today checking out where we had stayed back in 2013 and maybe visiting Notre Dame Cathedral and Saint-Chapelle. 

We found the door to the apartment we had stayed in easily enough. I wanted to go to Shakespeare and Co where I had browsed back in the day. However, it is now too famous and there was a long queue just to get inside. I had to be content with a photo.

We got to Notre Dame. This was the queue. We passed.

What about the Carnavalet Museum? We walked there but, this is Monday, it was closed!

The best idea we had was that Lyn found us a busy and cheap Chinese restaurant lunch.

We caught a bus back to Trocadero because its museums were open. I jacked up at the fifteen euros entry fee for a place I wasn't that keen to see.

So, in the end, we wandered about achieving nothing much and then had a quiet afternoon. Maybe that is what we needed.

Back to Paris

We have returned to the city of unsmiling shop assistants after three weeks of friendly folk. We caught the train to Strasbourg where we changed to a fast train for Paris. In Paris, we took a taxi to our old hotel, where our Spanish firebrand was a friendly face. 

After a rest, we were ready for adventure. Bus #63 took us to the Bois de Boulogne - the vast wooded park in Paris. A short walk took us past a very popular family amusement park, the Jardin d'Acclimatation, which was clearly in full Halloween/Day of the Dead mode.

Just down the road was our destination, the Frank Gehry designed Fondation Luis Vuitton. It is spectacular. 

It was certainly a change from Provencal perched villages and Alsatian half-timbered houses. The views were awesome too.

We walked back through the Jardin d'Acclimatation. A great time was being had by all, though the Mexican lead singer was loudly off key.

We caught the bus back to Trocadero and walked past the queueing desperates at Cafe Kleber waiting for their insta-moment with strawberries and cream. 

We decided we would eat early at our favourite Chinese restaurant. We had a delicious meal which featured neither bread, cream nor Emmenthal cheese. Hooray!

Riquewihr and Ribeauville

For the record - I think I spelled both of these villages correctly. I have no idea how to pronounce them.

After yesterday's successful expedition we decided to go again. The #16 bus goes first to Riquewihr and then on to Ribeauville. The ticket for Colmar to Riquewihr remained valid for Riquewihr to Ribeauville and, so Lyn established with the driver, even for the return journey from Ribeauville to Colmar. Bargain!  

Riquewihr was like - well, all these places start to seem like a theme park. They are so self-consciously pretty. 

Lyn finally bought the ice cream she had been talking about for three days. She scored the ice cream highly but the village, she said, lacked a beautiful stream or river. 

We jumped on the next bus to Ribeauville.  We had a sit-

down lunch because we wanted to try the tarte flambeau. This is a local specialty. Imagine a VERY thin pizza topped with stewed onions, cream, bacon, emmenthal cheese and maybe a little of something else. It is good but more rich than savoury. In France you start to crave some food with fewer dairy products and more zap!

While we were sitting in the restaurant a strange procession drove past. First a police car, then, a large bronze naked armoured woman carried by a forklift. What?

After lunch we rediscovered this object in the main town square.

I wondered if apron-man was going to be arrested for bad taste, this being France, but the policewoman seemed to be collaborating with him.

Nonplussed, we walked on. 

Way behind me, on the hill, you can see a castle. There are actually three castles nearby, all connected by a seven kilometre walk. I decided to pass on the opportunity and checked the church instead. Lyn went exploring the graveyard of the local convent. She said it was beautiful.  Then she joined me in the church.

This was hosting an exhibition of religious art which was pretty good. This piece though has been in situ for over 300 years. Jesus is praying and the disciples are having a nap.

On our way back through town to catch the bus, the weird statue mystery was finally solved.

We are coming up to Breast Cancer Awareness Week. On the bus trip home we passed the roundabout which has a large reproduction of the Statue of Liberty. Liberty was now sporting a bright pink cloak.

This is our last night in beautiful Alsace. 

Kayserberg

All around Colmar is the Alsace Route des Vins - a wine trail. There are numerous villages to visit, so our first challenge was to decide which one. The nice young woman in the Tourist Information Centre suggested three in particular that were both attractive and on a bus route. I researched these. Only one had a castle. Decision made!

We caught the bus from the railway station just after 11.00 and arrived in Kayserberg in time to find another pleasant young woman at the local information centre. She sent us off to walk up to the castle via the vineyards and then to follow a historical walk around the village.

This was our walk up to the castle.

This is the castle.

We ate our picnic lunch. Then Lyn enjoyed the view from the courtyard while I climbed to the top of the keep. I saw this.

You quickly realise that fortifications were built here to control a narrowing pass through the mountains. The castle is merely the Northern end of a series of walls and towers which once crossed the whole valley.

We walked back into town to firstly look at the church. The inhabitants of Kayserberg are proud of three things: their wine, their 16th century altarpiece and being the home town of Albert Schweizer.

Suitably impressed, we walked on to the stone bridge over the river.

Ridiculous right?

We continued our circuit. Storks are a big deal in Alsace.

I really wasn't tempted to swim anyway.

We found a cafe where we shared a pretzel and I drank new wine. I had this once before - I think in Portugal. It is not matured at all - cloudy, greenish and a tiny bit spritz. It works as a refreshing afternoon drink.

The bus ride home was scenic and quick. It was a beautiful day. We might do another village tomorrow.