versailles

leap from bush
Originally uploaded by Ffoggy

Yesterday Nick and I went to Versailles. As we learned from our audio tour, Louis XIV built it to be kind of a super-deluxe prison o' fancy-pantsiness. He forced French nobles to spend part of every year at Versailles worshiping him, and by doing so managed to awe and bore the formerly rebellious second estate into submission. That may sound like a lame plan, but now that I've been there I totally get why it was successful. Versailles is intimidatingly beautiful and completely exhausting. I almost collapsed during the hour we spent wandering around lost in the weird little faux peasant village that Marie Antoinette built for herself and her friends. When we finally found the exit I was in no condition to rebel against anybody, let alone god's chosen vessel on earth. Well played, Louis!

By the way, the French seem to have totally gotten over their beef with Marie. She is BIG tourist business now. That's life, I guess. One day people are screaming for your head, two centuries later they want to buy frilly pink souvenirs with your name embroidered on them.

If you're thinking of visiting Versailles, try downloading Rick Steves' free podcast tour from iTunes. It's a good alternative to the museum audioguide. It's much cornier (he actually makes a "Louie-Louie" joke - gag), but also a lot less focused on the names of the architects and painters and horticulturalists who created Versailles. Don't use his tour for the Louvre, though. It's hopelessly outdated. If anyone has any other good free podcast walking tours for Paris, please let me know.