Today walking about we experienced a mist all morning much like walking around the plunging falls at Niagara. This would be an ideal day to be indoors and visit the Louvre. We took a cab to visit what we hoped to be one of the highlights of our visit to Paris. When we arrived in the great open square with the pyramid at the navel of the entire complex it was truly impressive. Even more impressive was the line up. We still felt it was worth lining up. We followed the line to get in place at the end. It wove it serpentine length around the square out a portal, which we followed. On passing through the portal we entered another square with another serpentined line up which exited through another portal. In our mind it would take 5 hours to get in so with heavy heart we left. 

In our minds we contrasted when we visited Rome recently at Christmas. When we visited St Peters there were no line-ups and we wandered easily throughout the great church with few people. When I came out I fell to my knees and cried out “a miracle, a miracle” at the fact there were no line ups like there would be in the summer. How true the line ups would be at the Louvre and more.

 We then choose to visit Sacre Coeur a wedding cake of a church high on hill of that also gives a great view of the city. I should have thought this one out. Misty, view no. The Basilica of Sacred Heart, known as the National Vow, sits atop the Butte Montmartre. The National Assembly ordered its construction in 1871 as part of a new “moral order” following the riotous events of the Paris Commune. This was a reaction against the Government because of its loss in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. With over 10 million visitors a year is the second most visited monument after Notre Dame. 

Next we then took a taxi out to the outskirts of Paris and Versailles. When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a suburb of Paris, some twenty kilometres southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Regime.

 Well you guessed it. The 50 plus buses in the parking lot should have been a clue that there would be serpentine line-ups. In front of the main building on the cobblestone square tourist lined up for a view of how the rich lived in the past. We passed. We however did visit the grounds and the patterned gardens, sculpture, fountains and ponds were fabulous. In fact Versailles was the gold standard that all Royal families wanted a palace like it. 

We were then hungry and choose to eat in Versailles and found a restaurant called the La Taverne de Maitre Kanter. From the looks of it outside and inside we thought it to be Swiss. As it turned out it was a chain that started in Alsace Lorraine and area that switched back and forth between Germany and France over the year. I choose to have Clams Almond, Dover Sole meunière and diet Profiteroles. Elizabeth had a unusual meal of duck, wiener, sausage and a slice of large bacon on Sauerkraut followed by sorbet with small lemon zest and covered with Vodka. It was all-fantastic. One of the best meals so far. We waddled out and grabbed a cab for the hotel.

On returning to the hotel Elizabeth decided to have a sleep and I choose to investigate how I would get to the assembly area for the Bastille Day parade the following day. I rented a bike and ended up at the Arc de Tromphe. They had mounted a giant French flag that filled the central arch. Up and down the Champs Elysees tri coloured banners in red, white and blue were on every lamppost. I found some ladies that took my picture in exchange for my taking theirs. I then rode down the route to Place Concorde. The road was marked out with line for the troops to follow the next day.

I added this experience to the fact I have run the Olympic course, spoke at Ephesus, followed the Via Roma out of Rome and surprisingly skied Mt Etna. All along the route the street had been cleaned towards Place Concorde, bleachers had been established for VIP’s and the cameras were in position atop cranes for getting the best shots. Where ever I went in the downtown area young soldiers gathered and wandered about at leisure before marching smartly for the following days parade.

 I checked my bike in and wanted to visit Napoleon’s Tomb. I arrived a half-hour before closing and was not admitted. My watch had the wrong time so I arrived at the wrong time. I returned to the hotel and woke Elizabeth to go for supper. We walked four blocks away and were lucky again to find a restaurant with food we like. The times are changing. This time I had Country Terrain and frog’s legs. Elizabeth had fish soup and green beans. In two words yum yum.

We then returned to the hotel and I to write this blog and sleeping beauty to bed. I have left a wake up call for 7 a.m. tomorrow since the parade seems to start at 8 a.m. Imagine the Santa Claus parade or any other parade starting at this hour.