Versailles was unbelievably big. The tour through the main building was interesting, mainly for the insight into the lengths the French royalty went to spend money on such... splendor? The strange thing that took away from the atmosphere of the place was this ridiculous artist's exhibit in almost every room. Check it out here. It was very bizarre. Sure enough, here's a blurb (copied from Wikipedia) on the controversy from the display:
"Jeff Koons Versailles", an exhibition of 17 Koons sculptures at the Chateau de Versailles (September 10 - December 14, 2008), marked the first time that the chateau has organized an ambitious display of an American contemporary artist, and is also considered Mr. Koons' first retrospective in France. The National Union of Writers of France, a right-wing group dedicated to French artistic purity, has been organizing protests at the palace gates, demanding the cancellation of an exhibition that they describe as "a truly sullying of the most sacred aspects of our heritage and identity." Arnaud-Aaron Upinsky, the group's chairman, added that the display "strikes at the heart of a civilization" and "is an outrage to Marie Antoinette
The grounds of Versailles were beautiful, and expansive. After half an hour walking around, I avoided another meltdown by finding a Nutella crepe vendor :-). But neither of us lasted too much longer on the grounds of Versailles, so we decided to head out.
Near the station, I managed to get this crap shot of a menu at McDonald's which featured the Royale with Cheese and Le Big Mac.
We went straight over to the Champs-Élysées for some Beth shopping time (I brought my book!). We found a little place called George V next to the George V metro station, and decided to go back there in the evening for dinner before we went to the Lido.
Unfortunately, after a some drinks, a bottle of wine and a bottle of champagne... yada, yada, yada... I lost my Blackberry. That was annoying. Here I was, smiling, before that happened!
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