Versailles
People crowding all around me, along the small rooms towards the Hall of Mirrors--lots of tour groups, tons of people, still they come. And very few chairs, n'est-ce pas?
I'm sitting on a red velvet bench at the right end of the Hall of Mirrors.
It is very uncomfortable on my lap because my feet don't touch the floor. I have to sit on tippy toes to balance the computer.
The mirrors are only on the building side; the windows are the "mirrors" on the outside of the building.
The edges of the room are marble, white, and burgundy, and green marble. Floors are wooden parquet, much gold. This window is almost double high. One of the panes of glass is loose and keeps moving back and forth with the wind. It's beginning to rain against the window pane.
A large French student group (young) just walked in. They all look at me because of the computer and smile, but they don't say anything.
Some mirrors in here are full length and the square dividers are gold. The outside windows are wood.
In the Hall of Mirrors, there are chandeliers every so many feet on each side, hanging quite low. All have "beaucoup de" cut glass hanging down, held with gold, then a ring of candles (electric now). Also a row of chandeliers in the center.
Tour after tour after tour. It's pouring down rain now.
Where I sit, looking out the window, is a geometrical garden of hedges. There aren't any flowers this time of year. There is a round pool in the center, and on the two sides are two big triangles with a dip in the middle to accommodate the round pool. Then on the other side, well, there's also a pattern, altho I wouldn't know the name for it, and the outer edging is scalloped. There are green hedges in the fleur de lis design, in all directions. The ground where you walk is stone/gravel/dirt (which is now quite muddy).
Precisely in the middle, the main fountains are aligned.
When we walked into the palace, the ground was cobblestone, except not close together, each stone about 6x6, very uneven.
Yet another wave of people, this time students.
It's now only sprinkling, and the sun is peeking.
Oh, to be living in the 1600s . . . or whenever this place was built. It's huge, we're only in the center part of the palace. Three students just lay down on the floor to look at the ceiling. I guess that's only the way to do it.
The ceilings are painted with scenes. In this room, it's a circle dome in the center, then half circles on the side. Cherubs, and Roman soldiers, and sky blue, bright reds, pale yellows, and greens.
The tour only goes through a small part of the palace. In the beginning, you look down this long hall of marble with a black/white parquet marble tile floor, with arched windows and bust statues at every window, red carpet for a little while down the center (a loose rug), much light.
The light is beautiful in this palace, beaucoup.
I bought a scarf with a design depicting cherry harvesting.
The entryway where we are now sitting is all marble, and the marble stairs are wide and lead up to the second floor. The entire ceiling is carved with reliefs. We were trying to figure out if the statue of Napoleon on the stair mezzanine is life size or not. While we were sitting on the stairs an Australian (we think) said "how's it going," and Martin wanted to talk further with him but he moved on down the stairs (we think he saw Martin's hat and thought Australia, which, Martin says, is better than a cowboy hat, but still not the right identification). I could hear the hunger of a connection in Martin's voice. If anything, the Americans are the snobs over here, they just don't talk to other Americans.
Martin thinks the white tiles wear more than the black, the whites have more chips, and the white isn't pure, it's got black running through it.
I'm outside now, curled up in a corner of the front courtyard, protected from the very, very, very stiff, strong wind, sitting right across from three golden entrance gates (closed).
We walked over here from the jardins, where it was chilly along the pools--no fountains running. Some of the cobblestones are wood, and you can see the age rings in them, but no wood in the courtyard. The courtyard is majestic and full of the echoes of children, and other voices, past and present.
They let the tour buses drive on the stones--could contribute to the stones uneven-ness. Calling it quits--the wind is driving itsy bitsy sand particles everywhere.
Gardens in Paris
Photograph thumbnails
Sainte-Chapelle and Palais de Justice
A new language
