Day 9 - Versailles and Chartres

Began the day with a 35 minute train ride to Versailles. This is the home of Chateau du Versailles -- the grandest and most famous palace in France. It served as the political capital and the seat of the royal court for more than a century (1682 to 1789). This is also where the revolutionary mobs came to drag Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette to Paris in order to have their heads lopped off.

I spent about 1.5 hours strolling through the Grand Appartements and other parts of the main complex. The royal bedrooms, a ballroom filled with mirrors and lots of richly decorated rooms. I took a quick look at the formal gardens -- they were quite impressive -- and then spent some time wandering around Versailles. The centre is very lovely, but there is not a whole lot to see. At least the tourists were back at the chateau -- it was crazy when I arrived at 9am and they just kept coming! I did find a cute little market that was right in front of Cathedrale St-Louis. Only had time for a quick peak inside because they were getting ready for some sort of family event.

Back to the train station at about 11:30am -- just in time to catch the train the Chartres (they only run about once an hour on Saturdays). The 13th century cathedral of Chartres is quite famous, and was really an amazing sight to see. The 172 stained glass windows -- almost all of which are original -- comprise one of the most important collections of medieval stained glass in all of Europe. The cathedral is also home to the Sainte Voile (holy veil). It attracted many pilgrims during the Middle Ages as it is said to have been woren by Mary during the birth of Jesus. The cathedral was very dark inside to give greater prominence to the beautiful windows. Someone also happened to be playing the organ during my visit, which definitely added to the atmosphere.

After I finished touring the cathedral, I went into the preserved medieval town centre, and then checked out the very large pedestrian mall. I got very turned around while on the mall and somehow managed to make my way to the side of town that is opposite the way to the train station. I got to the station about 8 minutes before the train was going to leave, which under normal circumstances would be plenty of time. Unfortunately, all the ticket agents were helping people who had problems with their tickets. As I was not keen to hang around town for another hour, I was pretty keen to make that train. I did -- with about 20 seconds to spare. Phew!

The train back took about an hour -- just enough time for a wee nap. I had some metro tickets to burn so I decided to head back to the Eiffel Tower one last time, and then back to the Louvre to pick up a book I had been eyeing earlier.

It was definitely another full day. I think I will take it a bit easier tomorrow. I am planning to return to Belgium... I haven't decided if I will stay in Antwerp for Sunday/Monday, or just do a daytrip there on Monday while using Brussels as a home base. Guess I have some planning to do!