Versailles: mooching around the palace

This post outlines some of our adventures during our Spring Trip in April/May 2012. 

Versailles was one of my dream destinations - there was no way I was leaving France without seeing it.

It's one of those places that you can't do justice to with photos, you have to go and experience the vibe yourself.

But for the love of cake, make sure you go early.

Or even better, book yourself onto a tour (as Nicky recommended to me) and you will skip the long line altogether, entering through a different gate.

Tour waiting room, complete with awesome mod chandelier.

The opulence is eye-opening, it must have been amazing living there in the day.

The chapel, second floor

Our tour guide was a funny fellow.

King's apartment

He told us all we couldn't take photos. I quizzed him - can we take 'no flash' photos? Madame, no *dramatic pause* photos. Rightio then.

Queen's apartment

In the process of our tour, where we ran across a half dozen other groups, it became apparent that we were the only ones in the palace who'd been told not to take photos. Myself and a few others started hanging back until our guide left the room when we'd fire off a few shots. Rebels.

View from Queen's apartment

Then there was a fun exchange with a lady from Chicago.

Guide: Today all of France is voting in the French Presidential election. Were you aware of this?
Lady: Oh no, I didn't realise that.
Guide: The US also goes to the polls this year.
Lady: Yes, in November.
Guide: Oh, so you know about that one?

It was a highly entertaining, somewhat passive-aggressive tour.

One of the young 'uns' rooms

Good to see the young Dauphin learning about Australia

After lunch the mister was an absolute doll and took the kids back to our apartment, leaving me to explore for the afternoon.

I made the decision early that I wasn't going to try and see everything on the estate - I didn't want to be rushed, plus it was raining on and off with gusting winds. I stuck to the main palace and the gardens.

Omar Sharif? 

I went back to tour the public apartments, including the spectacular Hall of Mirrors.

Oh baby.

Guilt cherub bottom dimples. Squeeee:

Me in the mirror.

Marie Antoinette and her three children by Madame Vigée-Le Brun (The empty crib signifies her fourth child, Sophie, who died at 11 months):

I had to watch Marie Antoinette when we returned home. The movie is visually gorgeous although the historical inaccuracies grated on me after a while (I'm a square like that). I'd have loved to work on the film and have that access to the palace. Imagine lying in Marie Antoinette's actual bed!

Marie Antoinette trailer

I do feel sorry for poor Marie Antoinette - she and her children met with such a sad end. Her last days must have been hell. Although would I still feel the same if I'd been an 18th century française living on the poverty line?

Moving on, I loved the enormous paintings in the Salle du Sacre (which was set up under King Louis-Philippe's reign) including this one of Napoleon crowning Josephine:

Napoleon wore his special socks to his coronation. 

And look how human the faces on these horses are:

Bataille D'Aboukir (Battle of Aboukir)

Speaking of King Louis-Philippe, this is his portrait. I know the King had 10 children, but what the heck is going on with the front of his pants there?  I would've asked for my money back on this one.

I loved Versailles, crowds and all, and look forward to the day when I can go back. I'll have some more pictures of the amazing gardens next up, and if you want more palacey goodness check out these posts by Nicky and Krista.

A bientôt!

A brief stop in Beaune

I'm finally starting to get through our Spring Trip photos.

Our trip started immediately after the kids finished school that Friday as we drove into the night toward Paris (eight hours from us).

The town of Beaune was conveniently at the halfway mark so that was where we stayed.

Our little apartment - the wisteria smelled so good.

We had barely more than an hour in the morning to get out and have a look around the town.

Beaune is situated in the region of Burgundy and is one of France's wine centres.

This is actually an advert, but isn't it pretty?

It's also a walled city, with various ramparts and moat remnants around the town.

The market happened to be on when we were there and it was a nice big one.

When we reached the church it started to rain (said rain followed us around for a week thereafter) so I took that as a sign we should go in.

Collégiale Notre-Dame de Beaune

I do so love churches.

The kids groan whenever they see one now.

Poor deprived children, dragged around France by their mother to look at old ecclesiastical establishments.

The windows in this one were really lovely.

The grey and gold in particular caught my eye:

By this stage we were running late to check out of the hotel so we didn't get to explore the beautiful town square around the corner.

There is a lot more to Beaune than the small part I've shown you here - it's definitely worthy of a whole day (more if you want to do some wine tasting, which of course you do).

Friday again, yay! Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you next week!

The Backroads of Provence

Do you like to take the backroads?

Or are you a zoom-up-the-highway kinda person?

There's something to be said about getting there sooner (especially when you leave the house late which always seems to be the case with us) but for the most part we take the scenic route.

We'd be crazy not to with all this goodness around us here in Provence.

Our 6 yr old sometimes gets carsick, the poor poppet. After the Great Corsican Vomiting Incident of 2010 we take the highway if she's having a bad time of it.

Those roads sure are windy in Corsica (and devastatingly beautiful). She'd told us she was feeling ill but we were only 10 kms away from the village where we were stopping for lunch, so we decided to push on.

We were about 800m from the village when she ralphed all over her lap, her carseat and the floor (who knew such a small girl could produce so much vomit?) The heady perfume almost set her brother off too.

Just thought I'd share that.

But usually, we take the backroads. Have to enjoy the journey, right?

Linking up with Design Mom's Love the Place You Live, where you can find more travel stories (hopefully with less vomit).

The last of Lyon

Our last day in Lyon - I started the day early again:

Cathedral St Jean

Hôtel de Ville

Pastry with rose pink praline - yummy.

Puppet maker. Love his moustache.

We had lunch on rue Mercière, which overflows with restaurants:

And the odd pink letterbox:

I loved the drunken monkey on the corner where the religious statue should have been. Naughty.

On our walk to the TGV station we saw this interesting sculpture, which represents the rivers Rhône and Saône (which meet at the base of Lyon's old city).

You can just make out the feminine Saône (named after the river goddess Souconna) lying on her side under the big, burly Rhône.

I'm not sure what's been going on between these two but I think it's safe to say that Rhône:

Isn't quite into it as much as poor old Saône. I see only heartbreak ahead.

Our trip home on the TGV was relaxing even though it arrived 40 mins late. Nothing is a hassle when the kids are at home!

I hope you get the chance to explore Lyon one day - don't forget to climb the hills and have a bouchon experience while you're there (and check out the Musée des Tissus if you're a sewist). You won't regret it!

It's Fête des Mères in France tomorrow - Happy Mother's Day to all French (and expat) mummies!