France, Part I
Beaune
France, Part
II
Paris 1
France, Part
III
Paris 2
France, Part IV
Versailles, Bastille Day
Photo album and slide show
All our Versailles pictures | All
our Bastille Day pictures
Four Nights and Dazed in France, Part IV
July 11-15, 2004
Beaune | Paris | Bastille Day
Versailles
Photo album and slide show of all our Versailles pictures.
Extended our trip to see the magnificent but indulgent Versailles palace, glorifying King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette--and home of French kings for 100 years until the revolution in 1789. Its U-shaped courtyard, bedchambers for kings and queens, fine drawing rooms, chandeliers and gold leaf, bust of King Louis, 236-foot-long Hall of Mirrors (where World War I ended with signing of the infamous Treaty of Versailles in 1919), and Opera House.
The endless, 250-acre park with the manicured formal gardens of the Sun King, designed by Andrc Le Notre. And the Grand Canal and gravity-powered Latona Basin fountain, which apparently flows on Sundays.
Photo album and slide show of all our Versailles pictures.
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Bastille Day
Photo album and slide show of all our Bastille Day pictures.
The extended trip included celebrating Bastille Day, July 14, 2004, with thousands of French folks: parade-watching along the Champs-Elysees in Paris. No marching bands or floats in the parade. Instead, music from speakers in the trees; a British contingent for the first time in history; a display of military might (and horsepower); French President Jacques Chirac in an open jeep (though snipers were on rooftops); and blue, white and red afterburn high in the sky.
Spectacular fireworks at the Eiffel Tower: the final rendezvous for tour folks still around.
Photo of group members at fireworks.
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Photo album and slide show of all our Bastille Day pictures.
Beaune | Paris | Versailles | Bastille Day
Au revoir to France! Merci beaucoup for a wonderful time.
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©Gary and Donna Larson, Seattle, Washington. Updated Feb. 17, 2007.
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