(no subject)

[skyring]

Not keeping up LJ as I'd like. If you want a good idea of what I've been doing, Flickr is probably the best bet. I'll get around to describing every fabulous day, I really will...

Yesterday was Versailles. Huge place, very run down, but not too bad considering it was pretty much deliberately stripped and left to rot for decades. A lot of the huge gardens are just wilderness now. Fenced off from the paths.

Still very grand, but a LOT of work needed to bring it back. And would it return the cost when schools and hospitals need money?

Of course, that was the original problem. Funny. France supported the USA in forming the first modern democracy, you'd think they could learn from the example by at least moving towards constitutional monarchy in a timely fashion.

But instead the kings spent fortunes on what was really self-indulgent crap, and poor old Louis XIV and his family paid the price. As well as a whole bunch of other folk.

Ah well. It was a wonderful day out and we wandered around the Latin Quarter in the evening looking for a good place for dinner.

Today was tidying up loose ends. Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees and L'Orangerie. Notre Dame archaeological crypts. I would have like to see Musee d'Orsay, but too weary. Another trip.

We're off to Shrewsbury tomorrow.

Comments

The pedant in me says: wrong!

[elhamisabel.livejournal.com]

and poor old Louis XIV and his family paid the price. As well as a whole bunch of other folk.

It was Louis XVI (and family and others). ;-)

Re: The pedant in me says: wrong!

[skyring.livejournal.com]

Thank you for guiding me gently back onto the path of righteousness. Of course I meant to say Louis XVI, but those Roman numerals twisted my mind.

I am glad that I made you happy!

Re: The pedant in me says: wrong!

[elhamisabel.livejournal.com]

Oh no, don't blame it on your inability to read roman numerals properly. Next thing you'll come up with is that you have mild dyslexia or some such thing as an excuse. Won't work with me, ya know? ;-))

shrewsbury

[newkaligula.livejournal.com]

In which part of paris is shrewsbury?

[fancyhorse.livejournal.com]

Since reading A Tale of Two Cities, and now plugging my way through Les Miserables, I'm discovering that I don't really know much at all about French history. I'm learning, though.