Overnight cruise

Pompei was great but the tour now had a treat for us.  We were to have a cabin on a large Ferry.  This was a overnight ferry to Palmero, Sicily.  It was a big ferry and it had rooms with bathrooms for all the people on the tour.  There was about 44 in the tour.  Other passengers also on the ferry had rooms, and others just slept on the couchs in the club and recreation area of the ship.  We got on the boat about 730.  It was dark and we really did not see much.  It took a long time for the ferry to load and we watched as friendly dogs wandered around the ship yard.  It was as if they were there to supervise the loading of the ferry and greet the passengers.  I counted 9 dogs.  It seems that dogs are allowed to run free in Italy.  This was the first time we saw dogs running free and they seemed very friendly.

Ashes to Ashes

Probably next to my desire to see Venice is my interest in seeing Pompei  This interest and facination goes back to my high school days when I was studying Latin and I learned about the fateful day that 2000 people were trapped by the vocanic ash of Mt Vesuvius.  The amazing event that preserved the town of Pompei by covering it with Ash happened 7 centuries before Christ.  This was a wealthy town with 20,000 people.  Mt Vesuvius erupted and all but 2000 were able to escape.  Those 2000 people it turns out were slaves who were left to protect the town and the family's homes.  They did not die because of being buried but died because of the gases that were caused by the eruption.  The town was buried in Ash and it was not until the 1800's did recovery of the village occured and it was discovered that the ash that covered the village had preserved the buildings and artifacts, along with the slaves and animals who were left to ride out the eruption.  What is amazing about the town is that except for the roofs that were caved in because of the wt of the ash, the house and businesses building structures, murals, decorations, roots of plants, plumbing and names of the residences are all in good condition.  These artifacts fortells the very advanced way of living these people existed.  I had seen some of the artifacts a long time ago at a exhibit in Chicago Art Institute but that exhibit did not prepare me for the large scale site of Pompei.  It took about 3 hours to go though the village.  We had a guide that explained and showed us many samples of work, leisure, plants and decorations that were part of daily life i Pompei. 

Along the Adriatic Sea

We left Venice this morning of October 22. I had a beautiful stay there  and saw and experienced a lot despite the short time I was there. Hopefully some day I will come back to Venice and spend more time to explore the streets and canals.  This day we had two stops.  Both were unexpected surprizes for me.  They were Basilica's that were built in  the 6 century. One had beautiful Mosaic's that I can remember seeing in Art History books.  The other was in Assisi which was a massive 13 century Basilica of St. Francis.  We learned about the life of St. Francis and visited the crypt where he is buried.  The fresco's on the wall are infamous and would be familiar to many of us via Christmas cards.  This evening we stayed at a very nice hotel.  This was one of the dinner's provided by the tour group and it consisted of a wonderful buffet.  What a treat!  We had a choice of many delicious salads, breads, pasta's and meat dishes.  And of course many desserts.

Getting back to the trip and Have you brought your boots

The day is now Oct 27 and because of difficultys with the hotel internet service and the tour keeping me so busy I have not been aqble to keep up with the blog.  However hopefully I will be able to catch up a little today.  My last entry was when I was leaving Florence and on my way to Venice.  On my last trip to Italy I had only visited Florence and Rome.  I had missed Venice and Pompei, two places I dearly wanted to see.  Now I was on my way to Venice for 2 days and I was very excited.  The ride on the bus was good.  I did sleep a little as it seems the rolling of the bus provides a lulling motion and it is hard to keep ones eyes open.  However I was awake as we pulled into a parking lot next to the train station of Venice.  At first you do not see much.  A few food stands, the train station and the cars and buses in the parking lot.  You do see one bridge,  In order to get into true Venice we had to go over that bridge.  I will say that this is the bridge to a city like no other city.  Here is the city of many canals, ancient buildings, narrow streets, quaint shops and restaurants, and many hotels.  The Grand Canal is the main canal that goes out to the lagoon and sea.  Here you see all kinds of boats. Gonola's, speed boats, wooden taxi boats( looks like big century type crafts) and the bus boat( holds many people and are orange).  As I walked over the bridge I wondered how long a walk we would have to go before we got to the hotel.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Hotel Bellini was only about a long block from the Bridge.The first thing we did was to get to our room and arrange our luggage.  First of all,  this was a very old building.  Nicely decorated in 17 century motiff.  The actual room was small with huge curtains that looked like they could have used a good cleanning.  The wall paper matched the curtains and as you felt the wall you realized it was a padded type of wallpaper.  The bathroom was small but very modern.  For the most part Glenda and I were happy with the room.
Our first activity was to go on a Gondola ride.  There was about 18 of the group who had signed up for the ride.  The couples rode side by side in the gondola with the musicians and singer.Those individuals who were single rode together in separate gondolas.  About 4 Gondolas were gliding down the small canals off the Grand canal.  The musician played an accordian and a tall, dark haired young man(very handsome) sang a variety of Italian songs.  He was a great singer and had a great personality.  Getting into the Gondola was a little frightening as they were a little tippy and one did not want to fall into the canal.  Amazingly no one did.  According to our tour guide in all the 23 years of her tours only one person has fallen in.  And that was because a motor boat hit the boat as she was climbing aboard.  I was glad I took the gondola ride as glided down beautiful small canals.  I however missed my Irish prince and remembered the time we were in a gondola ride in Las Vegas at the Venician Hotel.  Now that I have been in a Gondola ride in Venice I would not do it again unless John were with me and wanted to go on the ride.  There are so many other types of boats to travel down the canals that are not so tippy.  One almost felt like they were in a cannoe.  However the gondola drivers were very good.  They looked a little bored and were often busy talking on their cell phones.  They wore a uniform of a black or red striped shirt and black pants.
That night we ate at a typical Venice restaurant. To get to the restaurant we took a water taxi. The restaurant was called Columbo and we had two courses of pasta,fish and meat and dessert.  After that our guide took us to St. Marks square the most popular square in Venice.  It is the square in front of St. Mark's Basilica which is a very famous church and said to be where his remains are buried.  This is the same Mark who was the writer of one of the 4 major books of the Bible.  Our guide told us that in the evening coming to St. Marks is probably the only time that you will see very few people in the square.  During the day, every day there are mobs of people coming to the square.  She said that every season and every day is a Venice day.  When we got to the square, she was right in the fact that very few people were there.  She said this is because most of the tourist stay at hotels away from Venice ( about an hour away)and stay in their hotels in the evenings.  The reason they are staying in hotels so far away is that the hotels are fewer than before because of all the water damage and the hotels in Venice are also very expensive.  We never found out how much our hotel cost but the price on the door said that that room could go for 800 a night.  Glenda and I knew that our tour Group, Globus did not pay that much as that would have been one fifth the cost of our trip. walking though the square that evening we could listen to the musicians who were stationed at the various restaurants along the square.  There were about 4 restaurants who had out door tables and muscians.  When one group of musicians would stop playing another group would begin.  The guide told us that couples who are on the plaza would dance  and the some of the couples who were in our group did dance to the music.  Our guide told us that we could stay in the plaza as long as we wanted but we all choose to go back with her as we did not want to get lost.  In the square there were puddles of water forming.  As I am sure you all have heard.  Venice is sinking.  At the time we were there it was a full moon and the tide was coming in.  When the tide comes in the floor of the square floods almost to 2 feet.  The guide said that the next morning the square would be under 2 feet of water.  She said then as the day goes on the water dimishes and the square drys out.
We found this to be true the next day as we took a guided tour of the churches and moluments of Venice.  The buildings, government and St. Marks have wonderful architechture, paintings, fresco's and statues.  Our tour guide was very tall but very informative.  He  took us to the bridge of Sighs, St. Marks church and square.  However when we went into the square true to our Guide, Christina's claim the square was now under about two feet of water.  The water was even in the shops.  Some people were wearring tall rubber boots were walking on the square but others were walking on a  series of planks 4 feet wide that were set on scafeling that was about 4 feet off the floor of the square.  The planks ran along the square so that people could see the square.  I felt sorry for the vendors as most of the tourist did not have boots and were not willing to walk in their shops with the water up past there ankles and lower legs.  After we left this area our next stop was the venician glass factory.  Here we saw how venician glass was made.  We had an opportunity to buy some.  I did buy some items but as I do not want to disclose the items that I intend to be christmas gifts I will not tell you what I bought.  Also in this tour was a lace shop and I bought a few items there too.
  From the Venice tour, our tour director took Glenda and I with other tour group participants to a island off the lagoon of Venice.  The lagoon is the big lake that is between the canals and adriatic sea.  We went by this water boat to an island where we had lunch.  Seafood and pasta.  There also were more shops and we bought post cards and other souveneirs.  From this island we went back to the Venice island.  Our guide Christina had to go somewhere else but gave us a new map that would help us find our way back to the hotel.  Glenda and I were with a few other people from the tour.  We tried to follow the directions.  Our tour guide had told us that everyone gets lost in Venice for 2 minutes and that was true for us, except it seemed like more than two minutes.  We followed the directions with some aid from the shop owners.   We were so happy to get back to our hotel.
We left Venice the next morning and I have decided that I definately would want to come back.  Venice gets into to your veins and you never forget it.

Florence or Firence

What a beautiful city and countryside.  We left Rome on Tuesday morning for Florence.  It was a beautiful drive despite the fact that I slept though part of it.  The Italian landscape is different than the France land scape as it has many hills, vineyards. cypress trees and farms.  In France you saw fields, a few cows and rolling hills.
we stayed at the Hotel Mediterraeo.  This was a big hotel and many tour groups besides Globus us it for their tours.  Our room was small but had a big bath tub.  We were able to get CNN and BBC on TV.
We were only in florence an afternoon, evening and morning.
The afternoon our tour director set those who were interested in a tour to the Uniffici Art museum.  this is probaly the most important art museum in Italy.  It is housed in the palace of the Medici family.  The Medici Family ruled Florence for 300 years and were very wealthy.  They were patrons of the Arts and purchased and comissioned many works of art from the Masters of the late middle ages into the Renaisance period.  The two most famous painting in the museum is the Botticello's  Venus rising and Rites of Spring.  Before you view these paintings the pre rooms contained religious icons, paintings and sculptures that lead up to the Master's work such as Botticello, DaVinci, Michaelangelo,Titian, and corregvagio.  We had a guide who explained many the painting,  she explained the progression of the art work, the stories behind some of the paintings and compared painters.
After the visit to this museum we went to hotel and got dressed for a drive in Tuscany countryside and a typical Tuscany dinner.  We first drove to a plaza above the city for a great view.  Then we drove on to the restaurant.  At the restaurant we had a buffet of different veg dishs,  two pasta courses,  a slice of prime rib and sausage and tarimasue for dessert.  There was a combo who sang and played an accordian, italian songs.
The next day we met with our Florence guide, Flabia, who showed us the Michaelangleo David.  This is Michaeangelo's most famous and best work of sculpture.  It stands 8 feet high and it took him 3 years to complete.  It was considered an masterpiece almost as soon as it was unveiled.
We took a walk past the most famous church in florence that has a Dummo roof.  The name of the church is the Church of the flower.
 We left Florence when it was raining.  It had been clear the day before but it rained as we were getting ready to leave.  Our next stop is Venice.

A Funny thing happended on the way to the Forum.?

Today was our first day of real Italian site seeing.  We left at 7:10 am after a delicious breakfast.  they had a custard croysant, eggs, bacon, cold cuts, some cheese, good coffee. fruit and all the other items one would fine at a hotel breakfast.
We went by bus to Vatican city.  Because we had a guide and the company Gobus had booked a reservation for our group we were able to walk to the front of the line and take short cuts that would get us in to see St. Peters Church and the Sistine Chapel.  Our guide's name was Chincia and she has been a certified guide for over 34 years.  She was very good.  She told us facts about the ceiling and the front wall fresco that Michaelangelo had completed for the ruling Pope of the time.  He had been a sculptor and before he painted the Sistine Chapel he had never painted before.  The ceiling, which deals with the creation of man had been restored(cleaned).  It took 5 years to clean and it looked brand new.  She said the procedure took a long time as each section had to be cleaned in small postage size area. I had been to the sistine chapel in 1969 and at that time I had been disappointed with the condition of the ceiling and the front fresco which deals with death, Christ and heaven and Hell.  This time the colors were very vivid and the true genius of Michaelangelo could be appreciated.  In the Church we were able to see the sculpture of the Mother and son.  Mary holding a dead Jesus.  It was behind a glass wall as in the early 70's a crazy man came to the church with a hammer and hit the sculpture 120 times.  Fortunately the sculpture was able to be restored to it original glory. After we walked though the church which the guide claimed held 55,000 people, we then boarded the bus and went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.u
The first thing we saw was the Arch of Constantine which is an arch built to honor the Christians.  The emperor Constantine was the first emperor to reconize the Christians.  I had studied about this in my Latin class in High school.  The colosseum is huge and according to the guide is the example for all major sports stadiums of the present.  At the time of the height of the colluseum in the summer when it was hot they had a roof to sheild the spectators.  The guide pained out where the different spectators sat and who sat where.  She showed us where the emperor sat and the slaves or conficts who were to fight to the death would come into the colusseum and salute him.
The colusseum also held 55,000 people and is the same size as the church of St. Peters.  The colusseum was a great structure and we again had priority viewing.
Then it was on to the forum, which are ruins from the days of the Roman Empire.  I took pictures of some of the ruine, the place that Julius Cesar was stabbed and cremated.The weather today was overcast but it did not rain.
After the forum we got back on the bus and came back to the hotel.  Glenda and I went for  a small portion of Pizza.  I then went back to the hotel and took a nap. and Glenda went to get an Asian Massage that took away all her aches and pains.  When she got back she reported that she felt like she died and went to heaven.
About an hour ago we went to dinner at a place called Dame,  which in italian means" its on me".  We had wonderful tender and tasty fillet of beef and vegs.  We had sorrbett for desert.  It was all great.
Tomorrow we go to Florence so I am now going to end here and get ready for bed.  Bonasera!

Wonderful Rome

This blog is about our first day in Rome.   After a delightful breakfast and help from the very nice front desk man, Giuseppe Loria at the Hotel Golden who helped me set up  my lap top  to activate the internet (so I could type my blog), I went shopping to look for a pair of nice shoes.  I only now have jogging shoes which are comfortable but not fashionable.  It was about 11 am and it is Sunday.  As I mentioned this section of town had very fashionable stores and some of the stores were way out of my price range.  However there was one shoe store that had exactly what I wanted and a nice man fitted me.  I bought the shoes that cost 69 euros which I did not feel was too expensive for what I got.  I then went to a little deli and had some delicious suppa as they call it.  It was a vegetable soup and very tasty.  It was getting close to to 230 and I returned to the Hotel.  The hotel had been very accomodating in allowing us to store our suitcases.   As Glenda had not arrived Giuseppe Loria helped me set up the internet again and I read my email until Glenda got there.  Giuseppe is one of the sons who is an owner of this family run hotel.  When Glenda arrived he got our suitcases from the anti room of our suite.  He called us a cab and was so helpful.  We took a picture of him with our camera and hopefully in the future when I insert the pictures you will see this delightful picture of this very nice man.  It was a great pleasure staying at the Hotel Golden.  We happened to come here to the Hotel Golden as Glenda had stayed here two years ago for 5 days and loved it.
I talked to Giuseppe about that question I had about the separation of Sicily and Italy.  He said that many sicillians are very proud and sometimes consider themselves different than other Italians.  But Giuseppe said that there is no difference between the two regions and they all share the same polical views and are basically the same.
The cab took us strait to the Albani Hotel and we got our key.  Just as we got our key I saw  Dona and Charlotte who are coming on the tour with us.  It was good to see them and I went to their room to have cheese and crackers.  They had been out walking and went to a art museum that morning.
The tour group was to meet at 430 but some how mutt and jeff  got the time wrong and thanks to Char who called us to tell us we would have missed the meeting.  The group leader seems very nice and has a good sense of humor. She talked about the whole trip and what our responsibilities were to make the trip go smooth.  We then went off to dinner to a wonderful restaurant. The restaurant was called mino and the food and entertainment was wonderful.  There was two pasta courses, along with a meat dish, brusetta with mellon and  thin ham slice salad and dessert.
The entertainment was wonderful with a two men singing Italian songs and playing a flute and guitar.  Another man came along and kissed each woman and gave her a rose.  There was plenty of wine, soda, coffee. beer available.  It was a very merry group.  At our table was two couples.  Josey and Jesse from New Jersey and John and Felicity from Austrailia.  Char and Dona and Glenda and me.  It was a lot of fun.  And now I am getting ready for bed.

leaving Paris, getting to Rome

Here is information I want to write about regarding Glenda's and my departure and our arrival from Paris to Rome.  Since the beginning of the trip I have been worrying about how I am going to lug this suitcase around.  When I was driving it was easy as most hotels we had parking and an elevator.  Coming to Paris vie cab to and from the hotel comfort inn worked out fine.  But it was from the apartment with Genda and our two huge suitcases that I worried  about the most.  When John left we met a taxi at the Comfort inn on the Mouffetard street.  It was a walk up the hill.  It was a huff and a puff up the hill and even without a suitcase I was breathing heavy when I got to the top.  I knew that I could not make it if I had to pull my suitcase up that hill. Also with the transportation strike being off and on I was worried that I might have a hard time getting a cab.  We went up the hill to see if the nice man who had helped me before would help me again by ordering a cab and when we got the cab we would have the cab go to the apartment and then to the air port.  I worried if the cab driver would understand.  Anyway the nice gentleman at the hotel hardly recognized me and when I asked him if he could make a reservation for us for the cab he said " just come on the day and I will call and it will only take 15 minutes." I sort of felt like my request was looked at like  I had overstayed my welcome( slag for he was tired of helping me) as the time before he had called and made me a reservation and the cab came on that date.  But at least I felt I had the option of having me come up the hill on that date to get the cab.  However it turned out that Glenda recommended a better solution.  We had met the gentleman at the Tabac across from our apartment.  She said maybe if we offer to pay him he will call the cab for us.  we asked him on the night before we were to leave.  He said sure and that it would take only 15 minutes.
I do not know if I mentioned that the apartment had two flights of spiral staircases to get to the apartment.  Getting the suitcase up practically wrecked me the idea of taking it down frightened me.  But amazingly  by carefully bumping the suitcase down each step slowly was no problem at all.  Glenda and I cheered at our ease of getting the suitcases down from the apartment and over to the tabac(store that is a little restaurant, bar sells metro passes, stamps et. al.  The nice gentleman called the cab and I gave him some money.  He tried to refuse my gift but I told him how grateful I was that he was calling the cab for us and that he deserved every penny.  Just as he called the cab a truck came down the street and we thought he was going to stay and block off the street all day.  It was a very interesting truck and a type of truck that Glenda and I had not seen in the states.  The street in front of the apartment where we were waiting is a one way street,  and narrow.  It turned out that he was a tow truck there to pick up two cars that we parked illegally.  The french really mean business of towing these cars away.  The truck had a long arm that was place over the car and  a cradle to put around the car.  the truck then picked up the car and put it on the flat bed.  He did this to 2 cars.  A line of other cars were behind the truck waiting to get through and Glenda and I were worried the cab would never get down the street.   However to our delight the tow truck did it's job and moved down the street.  Our cab  arrived and we were on our way to the airport.  This was a great cab driver as he spoke pretty good English and pointed out building to us as he drove along.  We got to the airport in record time.  We were pretty happy with the fact we got there.  Now we had about 4 hours to wait until the air plane would fly us to London then Rome.  The place where we were to drop off the suitcases told us to come back in 2 hours as they were not ready for us.  We could hardly wait to give up the suitcases but now had to pull them around with us.  We had lunch which killed an hour.  Then we did some shopping.  It was on one of these shopping trips that Glenda encountered a man who took a nasty spill on the escalator.  He somehow was getting on, tripped, fell backwards and was catch in the escalator.  Glenda was right there but could not drag him off.  A flower delivery person saw the accident ,dropped all his flowers and saved the man by pulling him off with all his strengh.  Glenda said the man who had hit his head quite badly, reported he was okay and we hope that he is okay.
Time finally came for us to drop off our suitcases and we went through the gate with no problem.  both flights went along fine.  I was lucky and had a lot of room with no people sitting by me.  Glenda had a Muslim Lady sitting in the same section and glenda had a nice chat with her.  She was from Dubai. The Captain of the second plane announced to us because of the transportation strike in France that they could not fly the plane through France but take a different route though Germany. Interesting huh.  We flew from Paris to England but could not fly over France going to Rome.  We got to Rome late and went to pick up our suitcases.  We waited and waited for them to come off the conveyor belt.  Finally we were the last one standing and no suitcase.  Oh no, what do we do?  Well we felt sort of stupid when we found out that we had gone to the wrong carrasel.  We went to the right one and of course there they were.  We got out the door of the air port and found a taxi.  Our driver did great and found the right address.  At dinner we both had a cocktail.

My Italian Holiday

We made it to Rome. My Italian holiday begins today.  I will be in Italy for the Globus tour of " Highlights of Italy and Sicily". The tour lasts until October 31.  I do not know why they separate Italy from Sicily in their title.  Some one told me the regions are very different and one region does not like to recognize the other region.  I do not know if this is true.  I will get back to you with the answer.  I had a long blog on getting to Rome but somehow it self destructed and I need to write it over again.  Currently I am staying at the Hotel Golden which is a wonderful hotel near a very fashionable section of the city and a very famous site called the Villa borganese.  I know I did not spell that right but the next blog the spelling should be better.  The rooms and the staff are very friendly and helpful.
Yesterday Glenda and I spent all day getting to Rome.  We arrived at the Hotel at about 12 am.  We then went out for dinner and a drink to celebrate.   We got to bed at 2am.  We slept til 930 and hurried to get dressed and go down to the breakfast room.  We were just in time and had a delightful breakfast.  We went back to our room and packed our suitcases.  Glenda is doing her laundry and currently I am trying to get this blog completed.  We will meet at 230 pm to go over to the Hotel Albani where our tour group will meet.  Hopefully they will have wi fi so I can write all the info I want to share with you.   Many of you have asked me where are the pictures.  I have taken lots of pictures but have not been able to put them on the blog because when I was at the apartment I was only able to use the apartment's computer and not able to download my own pictures from my computer.  Now that I will be traveling in different hotels that have wi fi,  maybe you will see some pictures as Glenda and I might have more time to figure out how to put the pictures on.
I am going to end this blog now as I want to go shopping in this section of town.  It is very fashionable and lots of shops.  The weather coming into Rome was fair, a little warmer than Paris.  However walking home from the restaurant it started to rain and it was raining cats and dogs as we got to the hotel.  I was drenched.  I have not gone outside today. I will report back to you.

The last time I saw Paris.

Glenda and I are moving on today to Italy.  We had a great day yesterday at Versailles.  We started out late and had to wait in line over 40 minutes to buy tickets.  Rick Steves recomends you buy a Paris Museum pass or some other versailles pass so that you do not have to stand in line.  Despite the wait it was not too bad and once we had our tickets amazingly all the people in line seemed to fade into the woodwork as the Chateau and Gardens that we bought the tickets for seemed empty.    The rooms on the first floor "history of France" were closed because their was another strike this day.  The strikers did not come on the Versailles property.   The Japanesse  art exhibit was still there and like Lisa, Glenda also thought the extreme modern art was not appropriate.  I did buy a book for Emily that has the sculptures in the various rooms.  I figure the book was a twice as good buy as it had pictures of the Chateau and the Japanesse Animae figures.
Because we got there late we did not have as much time in the Gardens.  The gardens had a hazy quality to them as it was a little overcast and by the time we left at 630 it was starting to rain.   We walked to the right train station, but found out that because of the strike they were not using it for the trains.  This station called Versailles Rive Gauge is a lot closer than the Versailles Chaintier station.  I was happy to find it but not happy that I had to walk to the other station.  There were quite a few people heading back to Paris.  Still not as many as were in the waiting lines to buy tickets.  Anyway we caught the right train and got home about 9pm.  We stopped at a little restaurant on Rue Broca and had some tasty rigatoni and Cheese sauce dish.
We got home about 10 and I was exhaused.  I went on my email site and I found out that the owner had returned my inquirey regarding renting the apartment when I return in November.  I am happy about this as now I do not have to worry about where I am going to stay at that time and the apartment is very reasonable in price.  They are going to be renting it for 80 euros a night which is about 107 a day.  Not bad.
The next time I will be writing this blog I will be in Rome. 

A relaxing day

This is Thursday and I leave Paris in 2 days.  This morning I was concerned about how we would get to the Airport on Saturday  Also as Glenda and I want to go to Versailles on Friday we were thinking we would take a tour that would provide transportation.  Glenda decided that she would go to the Musee d'Orsay this day.  After a delicious breakfast of Croisants, quiche and fruit at our apartment we got dressed and went up the Mouffetard street to the Comfort Inn where I hoped I could talk the gentleman at the desk to book us a taxie on Saturday and call the tour place to book us the tour for the Versailles.  I guess I was pressing my luck as he told us that on saturday when we get ready to leave he would call for a taxie and he also told us that in order for us to book a tour we would have to go to the actual tour office to book the tour.  I really can not blame this gentleman for not helping us more as I have now not stayed at this hotel for almost 2 weeks but I had hoped he might have helped.  C'est la vie.  Hopefully everything will work out on Saturday when we have to leave.
After this visit to the Hotel ,Glenda went to the D'Orsay and I decided to try to find the Carrefour store that supposingly was located a metro stop away.  The Carrefour is that huge store that I went to when John and I were in Dijon that was like a Super Walmart but better.  One would have thought the day was the 13th and not the 14th as when I arrived at that metro stop I did not see the store or have any idea in which direction it might be.  As I sort of stuck out at the hotel I was feeling shy to go into another business to ask if they knew where the Carrefour was.  What I did was walk back to the apartment.  At the apartment I went on the internet to see if I could find an address but only could find a picture of the Carrefour store as it was in 1930. If you want to see that picture, go to Carrefour, Gobins, Paris, France. That told me that the French had come up with this type of store long before America came up with Walmart. As I could not find it I decided that I would gather my laundry and go to the laundrymat.  This I did and in this task I was successful.  The laundry mat was empty and I happily did my laundry and read my book.  I had no problems buying the soap or using the machines via the French coin method.  In this laundrymat, one selects the machine you will use by pressing the corestponding button of the number of the machine and then inserts coins into the cabinet on the wall  where the buttons are located.  That process automatically turns on the machines but you have to go over to the machine and press the start button.
After the laundry was completed I went back to the apartment and worked on getting my luggage in order for Saturdays departure.  I also looked at the internet to attempt to book another apartment or the same apartment for my return to Paris after the Italy trip.  I typed out the itinerary of the places I was staying in Italy on the Italian trip and sent those to John and Laura for their information in case they needed to find me and could not get me by my cell phone.  My efforts with finding another  apartment for when I return in November has not yet paid off as I have not heard from the owner if the apartment I am choosing will be available.
I have to admit this day was not an exciting day except that I got my laundry done.  Glenda got home at about 7:30 pm and told me of her adventures of the day.  She loved the D'Orsay but said that getting there and getting back was a little frightening as there were many policemen with machine guns walking in the Metro station.  She said that the people at one station she was at, had to get out of the station fast as someone found a suspicious looking package left on the seat of one of the metro cars.  She said they all ran out of the station. However we have never heard if the package was a bomb or just a package someone left by mistake.  She said she had to walk to another station and that it took her almost an hour to find her way.  I have to admit that the French police are very active in there attempts to prevent any incidents.  You see them everywhere and in all shapes and forms.  The other day we saw 5 national guards on rollerblades skating down the sidewalks going somewhere in a hurry.    The police who wear the chamoflodge suits and carry machine guns walking on the streets and subways are the ones that really make you feel safe.?
Glenda and I ate dinner at the mexican restaurant (cafe') on the Mouffetard street.  The food was good, tasted sort of like mexican food and there were lots of students who were eating there along with Glenda and I. After we went to that restaurant we went to another little cafe that made crepes and I had a crepe with nutella and Glenda had a chocolate muffin.   This day I also was beginning to feel a little homesick and I called Laura and we talked for a few minutes.  I was happy when John called me and it was good to hear his voice and heard of the activities he had engaged that day.
We are planning on going to Versailles tomorrow and we decided not to book the tour as the man at the hotel told us the strike is over and we do not have to worry about the lack of transportation.  I know it will be a long day tomorrow, hopefully the weather holds up and we do not get lost like Lisa and I did when we went the last time.

Back in the saddle again

It appears that Paris is back to normal.  Except for the metro that was very crowded, all the museums that were suppose to be open were open.  Glenda and I had a great breakfast of sweet rolls and quiche from the bakery for breakfast.  We left for the Louve about 1pm..  We did not have our tickets but it turned out that we did not wait long to get our ticket and get in..  We rented the audio guides and split up as I had seen almost everything the previous visit except for some french painters, Flemish, German and Dutch paintings.  We decided to meet in 3 hrs and the time flew by.  However I did get to see all the rest of the paintings I wanted to see.  When we left the museum we found that adjacent to the museum is a little shopping center.  We broused the shops but did not buy anything.  After the Louve we went for a walk in the Tullerie gardens which is next to the Louve.  This is a beautiful garden that stretches out over 3 miles to the Bridge of Concord.  It had lovely flowers, lovely ponds with a fountain in the middle and many full sized sculptures lining the paths.  It was dusk and the leaves are now pretty colors of orange and red.
Our dinner pick was an African restaurant.  We both had a Chicken with lemon sauce. It had olives and cooked onions on top,  Dessert was a chocolate pudding with a vanilla creme sauce.
We are now home for the evening .  It is about 1030 and we are thinking of going to Versailles if everything is okay with the transportation strike.

Union protest shuts down Paris

Glenda and I were on our way to the Musee d'Orsay, when we found out that the Orsay was closed because of a transportation strike. On the steps of the Orsay, Glenda encountered her first scammer.  It was the wedding ring scam.  Where there was a wedding ring on the ground.  a lady picked it up and said to Glenda"do you think that this is gold.  Do you want the ring" Glenda said no and she saw the lady go to another and tryed to pawn off the scan.  Glenda claims that after the scanner gives you the free ring.  She comes back and asks you for money as she is poor.
  As none of the other museums are open on Tuesday we decided to take the hop  on hop off bus and go shopping on the Champs Elysee. The weather again was beautiful and I needed my sun glasses.  Our shopping trip was short but sucessful as Glenda was getting some special product for a friend back home.  I bought some make up and nail polish as I want to do my nails before I go on the Rome trip.
We were just about to switch lines when the bus driver told us that line would be closed and we could not switch lines at this time.  So we hopped back on the bus and rode that to a point where we could get the metro back to our apartment.  As we neared our apartment the traffic in the street of our apartment was very heavy and a policeman on a motorcycle almost ran me down.  He apologized as he drove past me. Glenda and I were confused but now for long.
We saw up ahead on a road that travels over our street a line of protesters and torches.  On our street level were policeman and Glenda wanted to get closer to the action.  She asked a female police officer if she spoke English. She did and we asked her what was going on.  She said that this was the workers protest against the senate changing the retirement age of 60 to 62 and full benefit age from 65 to 66.  Also they were prostesting the lowering of pension funds and demanding that money to be restated.  The police officer was sort of  empathetic with the cause as she too was a state civil servant and did not want her eventual pension or pension age to change.The police officer said to us that this is the way the French say No! and she held up her hand in a fist.  We asked her how long the strike would last and she said she did not know.  It could go on for a few days.  To find out more about this subject go to Union protest in Paris, Oct 12, 2010, Paris, France on the computer.
After watching the protest march for a few more minutes we went back to our apartment to get ready for dinner.  We had decided that we would go to the Vietnam restaurant only a few buildings away from our building.  As it was 530 when we got back to the apartment, we had to wait until 7 pm for the restaurant to open.  My boyfriend John will remember well our unhappiness of not being able to eat at our regular time of 5pm and having to wait till 7pm for the restaurants to open.
Well we both rested and were so tired we were afraid we would miss dinner.  We were hungry and wanted to try the restaurant so we clock watched for the next 30 minutes.  Tick Tock, Tick Tock.  Finally the time came.  We spruced up and ran out the door.  The restaurant was just openning and a gentleman who we had seen out there earlier was there to greet us.  I thought he might be the owner but he turned out to be a drunk Irishman.  He ushered us into the restaurant and sat us down at a table.  Then he joined the merry group of us two.  He had a glass of wine in his hand.  It turned out that he spoke English and it was about this time I realized he was not the owner and I became a little concerned.  I had not wanted to lead him on or be rude and so Glenda and I at first just nodded and  gave him short answers.  The waitress came up and took Glenda and mine orders.  The drunk Irisman claimed that he was going to pay the bill and that we could order anything we wanted.  Of course this is not what Glenda and I wanted but we were not moving.  What saved us is that he smoked and could not smoke in the restaurant and also he had to use the toilette once or twice. Glenda wanted to go behind the bar to tell the waitress that we did not want him to pay for the bill.  In order to get away from our table to do this she had to say she wanted to go to the toilette.  As a charming Irish gentleman, he offered and insisted on escorting her to the toilette.this was not a large restaurant and the toilette was upstairs and he took her all the way up.  She said she could manage but he insisted.  Luckily he did allow her to go into the toilette alone.  In the mean time I was feeling a little easier as I though Glenda was talking to the waitress. As it turned out she had whispered to the waitress that we wanted to pay the bill.  She told Glenda that the gentleman was a frequent client and that he was nice but drank to much. He wanted to treat us to wine but Glenda and I were having none of that influence.  Now don't think that this gentleman was a complete slob.  He was drunk and carring a glass of wine.  He was well dressed and spoke English quite well.    I finally began to feel that he was not a threat to us and began asking him questions.  He did admit that he had been drinking for the past 2 days and that he had a problem with the drink.  He was an expatriot of Ireland for the past 22 years and was 58 years.  He came from a family of 6 and had attended Trinty college.  He knew a lot about Chicago and that Mayor Daley was a crook.  He claimed he had worked in Texas once as a Computer programer for telephones but lost that job because of his Irish curse.(Glenda says that my questioning him was like completing a vocational interview assessment.)but this is just me as I am interested in people,  He kept on saying he wanted to take us to a night club or to his house.  I told him we were proper American girls and that we could not accept his kind gestures.  As we finished our delicious dinner and was able to pay the waitress he said he had to use the toilette and he hoped that we would wait for him.  However as soon as he got out of view, Glenda and I made a run for it.
Well we got back and talked about what we would do the next day.  I went on line to see if there was any news of the strike and sure enough it was posted that the protest/strike had really disrupted services in Paris.. Many airplanes had been cancelled and buses were not running.  Glenda and I felt lucky we had not been bothered with the protest.  But we began to worry about how long the strike would last and would we be able to take the plane on saturday.  How would we get to Rome to meet our tour group and where would we stay if we could not get out of Paris.  I went to bed and Glenda looked on the internet to the website that she can watch her dog at the woofdorf kennel.

Paris at Night

This date is October 11.  It is the day that Lisa leaves and Glenda comes.  Lisa and I got up at 5 am. We both hardly slept the night because we were so worried about getting to the airport in time.  We decided to take the metro and RER train from the Chatelet station.  We decided this as it is less expensive and Lisa doe not have a big suitcase and it would be managable.  It turned out that when we left our apartment at 6 that the metra was not mobbed. when we got on the rer train to CDG there were a lot of people with suitcases going that way and even though the advice is to be careful because this is where the pick pockets get you, I felt like I was in a circle of a family of travellers.  And I felt comfortable.  luckily there was a seat for Lisa and I to sit on.  We embarked and got to the are lingus kiosis where lisa was going to check her suitcase and find her gate.  We bid goodby at this time and I went down to arrivals and the information desk to  see if Glenda was going to come to the Terminal one arrivals or another place.  At this time I had plenty of time.  The information desk said no that the flight I was looking for would arrive at terminal 2E.  I thought well despite the fact that we or I had told her that I would meet her at terminal 1, I thought that I might get to terminal 2E and catch her before she headed over to terminal 1.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.   Unfortunately it did not work that well.  On the shuttle at one point they stopped the shuttle and told us we had to all get off and find different ways of getting to where we wanted to go.  About 60 people got off.  A man who did not speak much English told us to evaculate.   Eek,  I wondered what was going on.  Well better to be outdoors than in the terminal.  We all stood by a bus stop wondering where we were.  I knew that some of the people had planes to catch.  At least I knew that I only had to meet someone and I thought that I had plenty of time.  Finally a bus picked us up and took us to Terminal 2 and I walked to 2E to find out that the flight had been deverted to 2F.  So I walked to that arrival place to find out that the plane had landed early .  I waited by the arrivals gate for an hour.  Just when I was about ready to give up and go over to Terminal 1 I did get a phone call from Glenda asking why I was not at Terminal 1.  So to make this long story short, I went to T1 where we greeted one another and looked concerned as we saw men in camoulage outfits with Machine guns walk around.  We had a cup of coffee and caught a cab forParis.  the cost of this cab was 50 euros. not bad.
We got to the apartment and Glenda loved it.  We went for lunch on the Mouffetard.  and decided to book a tour that evening on a boat cruise and illumination tour.
We took the metro over to the Opera/pyrimedes stop at 630 to catch our tour.  It left at 730 and just getting dark.  The boat had lots of seats and it was covered with glass.  Seats were comfortable and each seat had a audio device that you could hear a narrator in many different lang tell about the sites on land lite up.  The Eiffel tower was spectacular and Glenda and I took many pictures.   After the cruise we took a bus that took a drive though Paris streets and the audioguide talked about the lite up buildings.  The bus tour was running late and we had to talk them into taking us back to the opera area so we could get the metro we had come on to return to the apartment.  When we got back to the apartment which was now about 12 we ate some cheese, a  vegetarian quiche sort of item. french bread a glass of wine and then bed. 

Getting to know Paris better

I am getting so busy with all my activities to see as much as  I can of the museums, churches and other sites that I hardly have time to blog.  So I am backtracking a little so that I can catch up.  I must say I was exhaused after the Versailles trip.   So I wanted this day to be a little easier.  I suggested to Lisa we take a ride on the hop on hop off bus and end up at the Orsay.  She agreed and we took the metro to the Louve where we knew we could get the hop on hop off bus.  We went on the hop on hop off tour called the grand tour.  It gave an overview of the Eiffel tower, the Champs Elysees, Louve, Notre Dame, Place of the Invalides and we got off about the place where the Musee d'Orsay is located.
The musee d'Orsay is housed in a old train station that was renovated.  The afternoon we spent there it was not crowded.  After using the auto guide at the louve and Versailes we decided this was a good idea and we got the autoguide for this museum.  This was a good idea as it gave great commentaries on the paintings and the artists. This museum is a great foundation for the different periods of painting styles up to and beyond the impressionist. I enjoyed renewing my knowledge of these era's and seeing some of the great masters of the naturalist movement, the realest movement, pre impressionism, impressionism and a little beyond.  I really think that there is a progression of museums you should visit in Paris.  Certainly the Louve is a good overall view of art, but the Musee d' Orsay really focuses on the 1800's- t0 1920's of the great art movement from realism, naturalist, et. al  to the art movement called faubism.  After I get a chance to see them all I will map out the progression of what museums the common tourist should see in order to get a good picture of European Art progression.
Lisa and I saw most of the Orsay but all of a sudden time was up and we had not gotten to the top gallery that held paintings of the water lillies by Monet.  As it turns out Lisa did go back and found that the paintings had been loaned out to another institute somewhere and we really did not miss them.
So at about 7pm we headed back to the apartment.  We stopped and had a little supper at a place on Mouffetard street where Lisa had her first crepes and I just had salad.  We got back to the apartment and began plotting our next day activities.  I must comment that the weather has been perfect for us.

Skipping down the streets of Paris

Today was a day of independence.  Lisa and I decided our priorities for the places we wanted to visit were slightly different and we decided to branch out on our own, and tackle Paris by our own resources.  Those resources being some tattered museum maps. and a slight remembrance of places we have been.  I refuse to carry the Rick Steves book around as I want to travel as light as possible and also not look too much like a tourist. 
Lisa's adjenda was to go back to the musee d'Orsay, the Orangerie musee and the George Pompidou centre for the Arts, the Modern Art Museum.  My adjenda was to mail some post cards, get some money from the atm, go to the Musee de Cluny, ride the hop on hop off bus and try to get to the George Pompidou centre to see the Modern Art collection on the 4th and 5th floor. 
Today is Saturday October 9th.    This is only a side bar thought.  As I write down that date I know it is a familar date.  And it has just come to me what happened on this date.  This is strickly personal to my family.  I wonder if my sister and brother who I hope is reading this blog remembers what happened on this date.  Today is the day my Mother died, October 9, 1984. At the time of my wanderings around Paris  on this date I am completely unaware and forgetful of this fact of what happened on this day 24 years ago.  I am smiling as I write this, I miss her but it has been a long time and in sprit she is always with me.  As I mentioned before my Mom said  she read in a book once or heard somewhere  that one should always visit Paris at least once in their life time.  She did not make the trip but she is traveling with me in spirit and I know she would approve of my choices of places to visit and eat.
Back to the trip.  This is Lisa's second to the last day of her  trip and the last day  of our museum pass.  We have to start

last day for Paris Pass

The dilema is to complete my blog or get in all the site seeing.  Friday was a little more relaxing but I did a lot.  Lisa and I went first on the hop on hop off bus and saw sites along the green hop on hop off pass.  our pass is good for 3 days starting today where as our museum pass is good only through tomorrow, saturday.  Our plan was to take the first route of the hop on hop off and then get off at the d'orsay museum.  That went quite well as we saw the  Grand Paris tour. had a small lunch and then to the Orsay museum, The grand Paris tour included a naration of what we were looking at and those sites were, the opera, Pont neuf, Concorde, Champ-Elysees, Eifle tower, Madeleine, des Invalides.  I will go into detail on these sites later.  We got home about 7:30 as the Orsay closed at 6 and the bookstore closed at 630.  The musee d'Orsay was wonderful and the museum is devoted to the painters of the 1800's and early 1900.  The periods covered are the Realist, Naturalist, Impressionist, neo impressionist, faubism, pointilism, cubism.  We paid extra for the auto guides but they were well worth it and I learned a lot.  The museum was not crowded and it is well layed out.  better than the Louve, not as big and new.  I do not believe tourist realize how spectacular is  this museum. Well we did not see it all and we both need to go back to see the top floor that displays more of Monet's water lillies. 
Today is the last day of my museum pass and i want to see three museums before 6.  write  more  later.

Let them eat cake!

As you might have guessed by that title, today my friend Lisa and I went to Versailles.  The evening before Lisa read the guide books and maps to determine the closest train station and the train line we would be going on. The book said leave early in the morning to get there near opening as this is a time that it is the least crowded.  We left the apartment at about 7:45 and found the train station.  It was about a 15 minute walk.  We walked past the Sobonne, the Sobonne(university) library and the natural history museum to get to the Gare d' Austerlitz. All so good, we discovered that this was not a simple train station but it also had the metro and  police station attached.  It was here that we did a lot of asking directions and went around and up and down the same places until we found the correct platform for the rer c, line c to versailles.  The first train we hopped on we hopped off as the stations that we passed looked like we were going into the heart of Paris and not south west where Versailles was suppose to be.  After getting off we checked the map and asked someone and we found that we had been on the correct train as the train goes though the heart of Paris and then turns south to reach Versailles. Lisa and I got to talking about old work related subjects and nearly missed our stop.  We arrived at the Versailles Chantier station.  Apparently there is another station called Versailles RG(rive gauge) but we never did find that.  Someone pointed us in the direction of Versailles and off we went.  At this point I turned on my Ped. GPS and it gave us the precise directions and street names plus a colored strip to guide us the right way.  The Rick Steves book although I am very grateful for his efforts did not give us the street names of the streets we were to walk down.    But for the reader I will tell you that the street in front of Versailles is the Blvd de Paris.  I recognized now the parking lots and entrance to Versailles from being there with John that one day.    The car parking lot and the amount of tour buses in the lots were very little and I definately felt this was a good sign.
We took out or passes and approached the entrance.  Everyone has to go though a scanner or at least their purses do and there was no lines for this. After this scanning process you can enter the large court yard which allows you to decide if you want to go to the actual Chateau rooms or to the Gardens.  We chose the Chateau rooms first. To start with the chateau you go though door H.  It was at this point that it started getting crowded. We were able to get free auto guides. The guide book said they would cost 6 euros but they were free.  Maybe they are free on Thursdays.   Any way the little auto guides are a one piece little machine with numbers and a go symbol and you hold it to your ear as you see important rooms that a number is displayed.  As you are going though the Chateau, you go though several rooms with portraits and paintings of the past dignitaries associated with Versailles, several portraits of Louis and other Kings,  A room with a lot of portraits of Women that I supposed to be the Queens.  But Lisa pointed out that the women all looked pretty much alike.  We presummed that either there likeness was due to the fact that they were closely breed or the painter only knew how to paint one face.  I was thinking maybe this room was portraits of one Queen who had her portrait painted each year.  Unfortunately there were few docents available and not particulary friendly.  And then there was that language problem.
I am sure for the French learning all about the history of France and seeing the pictures are familiar to them as seeing pictures of Washington, Lincoln, the white house et. al is to us Americans.  And although it was interesting one or may I say moi began to find it a little too much for my interest.  It reminded me of all those rooms you must go through to before you reach the Sistine Chapel in Rome.  The climax of the actual Louis !4th apartment rooms were at the top of a long staircase.  Then their was a number you punched into your auto guide that said now you are entering the Versailles tour of the living quarters.
It was at this point in the tour where it started to get even more crowded and I was happy that I had not forced John to go on this tour.  We reached the very splendid  room of the Hall of Mirrors.  I have to admit this is magnificent and well worth the tour.  The windows overlook the gardens.  The mirrors, Chandileers, and the ceiling paintings are fantastic.  I was in awe.  It was at this time that Lisa and I lost track of each other. It was at this time that I noticed the groups getting larger and the hall filling up. I also realized after seeing the mob of people who were enjoying the room as I was how it was a good thing John had not been there.  He hates waiting in lines and now with all the people there it was 6 feet deep with people to view the rooms off the Hall of Mirrors.  This must be what it was like when Louie invited the public to visit.  He said to his queen we are here to serve the public and we should allow them to visit the palace.  And apparently he opened the palace to the public and they came.  As the story goes,  this was the first time in history of European monarchy that royalty allowed its citizens to be a part of the royal court.  The one stipulation was that they had to obey the rules of proper editique.  To me this tells us that  this is why the French are such sticklers for formality.  Louie set the standard and the French people want to continue it.  Or at least some of the French people.
After I realized that Lisa and I had got separated I stood around and waited hoping that she would turn up.  However that did not happen and I finally did find her at the end of the tour.  After the hall of mirrors were the Kings anti room and the kings bedroom, the queens bedroom and her sitting room.  I did not see any water closets and there was no one around to report what was used.  Our auto guides did not have a section on that subject.
Besides the viewing of the rooms, all who went on this tour was treated to a spectacular show of Japannese Animae  characters.  I do not know if this was for the children or some how the agent of this modern Japannees artist was a fast talker and talked  the Versailles administration into allowing them to display these animae sculptures.  Lisa and I couldn't quite figure this sculpture show out as here were these very modern sculptured colorful animae characters against 17/18 furniture.  Talk about a captured audience for this Japanee.  This artist is suppose to be a very famous Japnnese Artist.  My daughter probly know about him.  I will find out later what his name is and put it in this blog later.  Any way these sculptures were very colorful and the one that was in the Garden was golden and super sized.  I took some pictures and when i can match my pictures with the subject you will get a gigle at the sculptures in this 17 century backround.
After I found Lisa we went to lunch. They have a nice cafeteria type lunch setting and also they have some full cafe's so you do not have to leave the grounds.   I would say that a trip to Versailles would be about 6 hrs.
Lunch was good and the price was not bad.  We were able to sit down at a table without waiting and enjoy our meal.  They even had wine and beer as part of the beverages for those who would like to partake.
ON TO THE GARDENS.
After our lunch we headed out to the massive gardens.  Someone said the size of the gardens was as big as
Paris.  I can not believe this but I have to admit it covers an expanse that is more than the eye can see.  I would call this sections gardens and forests. Lakes and Ponds, houses, stables and Marie Antoinetts own Chateau.  As the story continues once Louie opened the Palace to the public, Marie felt a little claustephobic.  She asked Louis if he would allow her to have her own chateau on the grounds.  She stipulated that this would be for her use only, to entertain him and her decided guests.  When you see the gardens at Versailles you can see her Chateau and her little hamlet.  The grounds according to the main guide takes 40 minutes to walk to the main garden.  Fortunately they provide you with some modes of transportation to see the different parts of the gardens.  There is a golf cart you can rent for 30 E an hour.  There is a tram, that takes you and about 30 others around the gardens for 12 e.  We took the tram.  The gardens were spectacular.  When you think that in the Days of Louis 14 that the gardens were even more beautiful and well cared for you are amazed at the wealth and care  it must have taken to maintain these gardens.  There are three main  areas of the gardens that  everyone who is visiting Versailles can enjoy at their own pace.  The gardens are free to the public and as I choose to sit on a bench in the woods near a pond, I spoke with a French gentleman who had come from Paris for the day just to enjoy the gardens.  He said he has been coming here for the past 60 years and he comes as often as he can.  The chateau of Marie Antionette was a lovely large country house with her own garden.  However besides the chateau, she had Louis build for her a small hamlet of houses, stables and even a little mill for her to enjoy as her own domain. There is also a beautiful pavillion and a little theather.
I could go on and on about these gardens but once I get my pictures ready you will see some of the different parts.  Also go to youtube.
It took us about 3 hrs to go though the gardens and we would have stayed longer but the gardens were going to close and it was time for us to go.  We were hoping we would find a short cut back to the train station.  We asked for advise and they gave us the same directions that we had used earlier. When we got to the train station unfortunately we got on the wrong train and were heading out into the country.  We did the logical thing as we got off the next stop and took the next train back to the Versailles station.  Our next try at picking out the station was the correct one and we happily were on the way back to Paris.  It was a long walk from the train and after a few blocks as it was now dark we found a taxie to take us back.  By the time we came home, walked the two flights of stairs, we nearly fell into bed