The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
May 1 - The Road to Versailles
While
the appearance of the sun -- or lack thereof -- should not impact on whether
or not we have fun, it is certainly more festive in the sunshine. The good weather
appears to be back with a vengeance and we took advantage of it to get the photos
of the local area that we passed up in the drizzle.
Today we head north to Versailles, just outside Paris. We could have stayed in the big city and taken a train to the palace, but we just did not want to hassle with (and take the extra time with) making those public transit connections.
An hour or so north of our starting point is the medieval walled hill town of Vezelay. This has been one of Margene's favorites since we stumbled upon it during our first trip to the area six years ago. There is not all that much to the place, but it has a great "feel." The drill is that you leave your car at the gates and walk uphill to the church at the top. Inside it is a very plain building -- no stained glass, frescoes or gilt in sight -- but the crypt holds relics (a Catholic word for souvenir as far as I can tell) of Mary Magdelene. In this case, a piece of her robe. Who knows? Still, in the old days it took relics to get your church on the map -- things like bones, splinters of wood from the cross, scraps of cloth or whatever they could find that had a historical tie to some Christian figure. Like I said, souvenirs.
The rest of the trip was on the toll road so just like travel on the US Interstate Highway system, we made good time and didn't see a thing! We came in from a different direction than on our last visit and ended up driving through much of the town. We realized that Versailles in a much larger place than we thought, having been so focused on the area right around the palace. That being said, the rest of the town is boring!
Our hotel is an old stables. We stayed here before and while the rooms are tiny, the place is clean and well-located. The market hall in front of the hotel was jammed with a holiday market, so we wandered around that for awhile, but since the sun was still shining and it was only 5:00, we drove onto the Versailles grounds to walk around the gardens. (We are way behind on hour hiking!) Apparently, most of France had the same idea, even though the chateau was closed for the holiday.
Tomorrow we tour the palace ... and find our apartment in the Latin Quarter. Au revoir.
Dining in Vezelay and Versailles
© 2004 Restaurant Doctor
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