Day 10 – Tuesday 31 May 2016

The Palace of Versailles took a long time to get to this morning, the Paris traffic jam was worse than usual as the train workers had gone on strike and it was raining. Then, on top of that, there was a car accident on the road we were on, so the trip to Versailles took 3 times longer than expected. The Palace of Versailles was originally started as a hunting lodge for the king, which then was built into a small palace, then extended into a larger palace & then extended into the very large palace it is today. The gardens are very large and elaborate, with fountains & statues complemented by hedge plantings & pathways. Unfortunately the rain is still with us, so out with the wet weather gear & umbrellas to walk the 200 metres from the coach.

The palace is very elaborate & built on a grand scale, even the stables across the road are larger & more elaborate than most mansions. The first thing to strike you is the gilding of the fence and the elaborate gilding on the roof of the palace, very fancy indeed. Inside there are large paintings on all the walls & ceilings, with elaborate decorations in the corners of the ceilings. The associated chapel has the most beautifully painted ceiling to go with the rest of this beautiful building. Walls are covered in marble & each room we walked through appears to be stunning in its own way. The King’s Sitting Room & Bedroom were also designed & built to impress, they certainly do that. And then we got to the grand mirrored room – this is the most impressive room we have seen in any building, it is very long, with mirrors on both sides & painted ceilings, the photos do not do it justice, it is indescribably impressive. Louis XVI & his wife, Marie Antoinette lived a lavish life style until the peasants revolted against them because they had no bread & Marie Antoinette’s famous reply “ïf they have no bread they should eat cake”. In this room the Treaty of Versailles was signed to end the First World War.

We only went for a very short walk to see the gardens, the rain was coming down & the wind was blowing umbrellas. We wished it was a nice day as we missed out on seeing a very special & beautiful garden, something we could perhaps come back to see. Although, looking at the queues on a miserable wet day, I would hate to see it on a good busy day.

Our next stop was Dijon, a few hours down the motorway through lots of lush green fields & lots of wheat growing. Lots of water laying in the fields & the small creeks were overflowing as we drove through the heavy rain. At Dijon we visited a winery, the Chateau Marsannay for a small tour & wine tasting. The owner was very informative and spoke English well, even joking at times, as he explained the region & the winemaking process, before showing us the cellar with lots of French Oak casks full of different types of wine from Pinot Noir grapes. Next we had a taste of a sample of 6 of his wines, ranging from rosé to 4 different reds, finishing with a white. After he explained how to taste the wines, we listened intently as he explained the complexity of the flavours & smells. He also explained how important the type of soil is to each wine & in his vineyard pointed out 4 different soil types in 4 different plots of grape vines, all with different soil characteristics. As we finished he told us we could also keep the tasting glasses, very nice indeed. Let’s hope that they will survive the journey.

A short drive from the Chateau Marsannay into the centre of Dijon & our hotel where we checked in, tidied up & dinner at the motel. I was expecting more of the regions speciality, although we did get Burgundy Beef, a stew cooked slowly in red wine. We had a nice chat at dinner & got to know some of our fellow travellers a little better.