Where was I? I know that I had been discussing my visit to the exhibition again on Saturday morning with Gary and Ana. We toured the entire visit together and I listened and asked a few questions as well. I knew it was General Turenne when I asked Gary if it were, and he said that I should know. I said well I know that it is. General Turenne is one of the most successful generals in the King's military in the early days of the reign.
However, in the portrait all that one can see is the back of his head, with the King, I believe, standing to his right pointing at something...if my memory is still any good at all.
One of the more interesting things in this exhibit was a piece of armor that had been specially made for Louis XIV which does give a good idea of his size when wearing that suit of armor if he ever had. It may have been simply a ceremonial piece. Another piece that always attracted me is a gold costume for his ballet performances. It is mentioned on the video and is seen in both videos as a matter of fact.
I was rather struck by Ana's comment that it seemed cruel to have the Queen's portrait alongside all the portraits of the various mistresses who were also in the same location of the exhibit. Madame de Maintenon's portrait was the most revealing, and I must admit this now that of all the portraits that I viewed, hers is the only portrait from which I viewed what I would call "hostility".
The portrait of Moliere is still fascinating to me, as I will admit that I am quite psychic and believed that I had received a "psychic" message from him. Would you believe that at the airport when I left Paris I ran into a French woman who was returning to America after her visit there. I told her that she reminded me of Moliere in physical appearance, as she actually did make me think of him. She was a very nice lady who actually listened to me explaining my interest in Paris and this exhibition, and what I had thought of all of the time spent there.
Anyway, Gary and Ana and I proceeded to finish looking at objets d'art and left to finish our individual itineraries. Gary bought a book and discussed the marble statuary that greets everyone at the entrance. He said that alone was reason enough for anyone to make the trip to visit the showing.
So we parted and went our separate ways. This was our first meeting together.
So I went back upstairs to take pictures of the portraits in the apartments that I had seen the day before but did not film. I did notice that changes had been made.
Believe it or not, while the entire chateau appears large, the rooms are actually quite small in size. One goes from one room to another very quickly after having been there for the "dry run", and so I was able finally to take some photos and video film.
As I said this is a museum now and so portraits and other movable objects can be changed and altered very rapidly. I suspect that some may have been taken into the exhibition rooms, but don't know that for a fact. I just did note a few differences it seemed.
The water show was to be given during the late afternoon and I wanted to see all the fountains at work with the waterworks flowing. I stayed around, had a bite of lunch there, and highly recommend that one not even bother to fool with the food stands there. I had read that others had not liked it, and I learned why. Pretty paltry fare for visitors to have to find that the small food stands are absolutely dreadful in taste and offerings...Ugh! I did not like my sandwich at all, but nobody can do too much to ruin a beverage.
It is best to go outside the chateau, find a place downtown, and then return if you can stand to walk that much.
All those wonderful food stalls are very busy early in the morning even at the town of Versailles, but get there early as they become very busy.
So finally, I toured the entire formal gardens of the chateau, and man alive, if that isn't the most tiring thing to do, I do not know what is...It is absolutely huge, but very well tended, very well laid out, and beautiful to see. I made my way to the canal to see the famous Apollo and chariot but found it to be defaced and full of grafitti. I did not like that a whole lot, but I also found a very charming Frenchman who actually used my camera to take a picture also, and we chatted for a short time before I ambled on.
Finally, the show began, with sounds of Lully in the background, and I visited favorite spots again, and looked for as many fountains that were spouting water as possible. I took many scenes on my flipcamcorder and I have them posted, but they cannot be seen here until I get them on youtube.
The format does not fit this blog I learned last night.
Since I am writing this blog rather extemporaneously without too much thought of planning, and what to do to make it fascinating and interesting, I am just so to speak letting it all hang out. I figure that if I want I can go back, delete, and rearrange, or fix or whatever when the time comes. I may add lots of photos of the king, his mistresses, as well as of the others. I just don't know. There are already so many blogspots that use photos and gadgets that I will have to play it by ear until I get a feel of how this one should go.
In the meantime I use youtube videos to accompany whichever topic I am discussing if I find something appropriate to use.
By the end of Saturday afternoon I was so tired I could hardly believe it, so went back to my motel, had some of the fruit and cheeses that I had bought at the market in the shopping center, and went to sleep. I was bonetired, and it was my last night to be there.
Next day I go back to Paris to return to Arizona via Houston. So I will continue with that and backtrack a bit to when I first arrived.
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