Day 22 - Notre Dame 2 and The Sun King's Revenge

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. I got another late start and it slipped my mind when I got back to the hostel for reasons I'll explain further on.

First, let's get a peek yesterday's itenerary.

• Notre Dame. It's the most visited religious site in France (12 million visitors a year). I went on a Sunday. Surprisingly it was well nigh desterted (Not!). It was very cool despite the crowds. I thought the transept windows were better than the ones at Chartres. But the sculpture at Chartres was definitely more detailed. For reference, here's a picture I drew up for cathedral reference. I'm sure it will be useful again. :) You can also check out this article on cathedral terms for reference.
  
  
• Notre Dame Gardens. They are very simple and nice, and I've never seen gardens more packed with people. I sat there and ate my half liter of yogurt there. It's hard to buy single serving yogurt here for some reason, so I have to eat a lot when I eat it.
• Islands in the Stream. Notre Dame is on one of two islands in the middle of the Seine. They're nice to walk around on with nice buildings, gardens, and even some sunbathers on the lower levels right next to the water. Most of the island is built about 40 feet up, presumably to avoid flooding.
• French Holocaust Memorial. A passionate french architect from the Astor Museum hostel found this place very powerful. I found parts very effective, but I think being able to read the french inscriptions would have helped a lot, too. Still, it was definitely worth a quick stop. You actually can't t stay too long (without being rude) as the monument is too small to accommodate more than a handful of visitors at a time.

So that was Sunday, pretty much. I also visited a scale model of Paris and tried to go to my favorite internet cafe (which is generally open on Sundays, but not the first Sunday of the month, it turns out). I also found out that I suck. I wanted to find a pen, and said "If I can't find a pen in the Square of the Republic, I suck." I mean, the square is a bustling hub of cafes and various shops. Being Sunday, all the newsstands and tabaccanists shops (what every other country seems to have instead of convenience stores) were closed. So, Primus and I both suck. ;)

After that I went back to the hostel. I met a retired architect from Portland, now teaching in Paris, and a Brazillian architecture student I'd been passing in the mornings and evenings all week. We talked about all sorts of topics, but one of the ones I found the most interesting was how overblown the french dislike of americans is. Albert (the retired architect) talked about how much money french industry had invested in Iraq. I began following the money, realizing that the media outlets here are probably owned by the same companies that lost a lot of money in Iraq. Just like in the US, you hear the news big business wants you to hear. Albert said he never once heard an opposing viewpoint in the media here. It was all negative. Money talks.

Anyway, by the time I got done chatting with my roommates, it was 23:00. Well past my bedtime because I wanted an early start for the one bullet item for today.

• Versailles. Unfortunately, the buildings at Versailles were closed. I couldn't tell how much of that was because of the renovations going on, and how much was because most museums (and Versaille might fall into that category) here are closed on Mondays. I didn't really care much because I'd heard that the gardens were the real attraction.
  
• Fancy Gardens. The gardens close to the palace require admission. It's kind of a toss up in my mind as a lot of the public domain stuff is just as nice, but I wanted to see everything. So the highlights of the Fancy Gardens include:
  
  
  
  • Statues of all the roman gods you care to name.
  
  
  • A small forrest that was transplanted into the garden from whatever silly location god had mistakenly put it in the first place.
  
  
  • Green corridors for days.
  
  
  • A couple spiffy sculpture gardens with specific scenes in them. (Apollo and his entourage; the defeat of a giant)
  
  
  • A really crazy amphitheatre with a waterfall background
  
  
  
  I don't know if the fountains are turned on other days, but the fancy gardens would really be spectacular to see with running water.
• Great Canal. There's a giant canal in the shape of a cross which is a kilometer long. Supposedly warships and gondolas were brought to Versailles and sailed in these giant pools.
• Gardens Under Construction. Versailles had fallen into disrepair and was struck with a huge storm in 1999. Work is still underway to repair a lot of it. Even in such "disrepair" the gardens are amazing. I had fifty shots left on my camera and was a little worried for a while that I might run out.
• Marie-Antoinette's Faux Hamlet. Wanting a break from palace life, Marie had this fantasy of what peasant life is like (when you don't actually have to do any work) created for her. It's a little chilling to think how far gone the aristocracy was at this point. But I suppose the price they eventually paid was high enough. :P
  

Okay, okay. If you're still hanging in there at this point, you're probably waiting for me to get to my travel itinerary so you can know what's going on. They're shutting down the computers here, so I guess everyone's anxious. :)

1. Tuesday - Chill out. Do laundry. Say goodbye to Paris. Take a night train.
2. Wednesday - Wake up in Zurich. Pay my respects to the gnomes. Abuse my Eurail pass by seeing the swiss alps from the train. Wind up in Florence.
3. Thursday - Spend a week in Florence, with my hostel in Rome booked so my main memory card can have time to catch up with me at a proper address instead of Poste Restante, which is probably more of a pain and less reliable.

Okay. Time to finish all my snacks I was too buy tromping around Versailles to eat. And apply some of the ointment to easy the sunburn I more than earned. :) Night all.