Mary, Me, Marie & Louis

We rode the crowded train to Versailles in the company of a whole host of nationalities, all heading to Versailles. The place held particular significance for me since this is where Mary and I began our hitchhiking adventure 50 years ago. As we walked from the train station to the palace, nothing looked familiar. Nothing.

Here’s what I wrote on that earlier trip. You’ll see that Versailles, the town, must have been much smaller then:

Friday, November 10, 1961

We did it! After touring Versailles, Mary and I walked past all the cars in the parking lots trying to look as if we had all the confidence in the world, though we were scared. At what we thought must be the proper hitchhiking distance from the corner, we set our two small bags down and waited for a car. For ten minutes or more we stood there, the stone walls of Versailles at our backs and a luxurious expanse of grass, lake and trees, at our front, watching the sunset with great interest while pretending to be unconcerned about the cars that weren’t coming.

As the sky became a Boucher painting of blue, pink and white sunset, headlights appeared! We thrust out two thumbs toward the oncoming car in what we hoped was the right style and -- O Lord! The car stopped! Our first ride!

Now, as I looked around, it seemed that one would have to walk miles to get to a good hitchhiking spot. Note that we stood with the stone walls to our backs and grass, lake and trees at our front, watching cars on a two-lane highway. Where could that have been? Everything now was built up, construction of roads and buildings everywhere. Bewildered, I knew I had to replace my former memory it with this new look.

It’s impossible to understand the power and wealth that extravagant kings had not so very long ago. Versailles is enormous – I was going to expand, but a couple of pictures will be better than words, and many of you have been there anyway. You know.

What’s amazing are the crowds! My word, look how packed everyone is! It’s got to be double or triple that later in the summer. The leaders of the Japanese tourist groups held little flags aloft so their people could find them. That was a good idea. Mary and I got separated and once again – I’ll tell you later.

I thought about Marie Antoinette and how this spoiled, arrogant woman felt with masses of peasants storming up her stairs as she tried to run away through a little blue door in her chamber. Imagine the fury driving those peasants forward, determined not to be awed or cowed by anything they encountered in the previously hallowed halls.

Now we peasants were back, clambering up the stairs, suitably awed by the exquisite profligate décor and architecture surrounding those monarchs. It’s hard to even try to imagine living like that.

Here’s a good timeline for Marie-A if you’re interested -- http://www.pbs.org/marieantoinette/timeline/married.html.

The one who comes out ahead in the history of Versailles is Louis XIV, the “sun king.” He became king at 4, but was mostly neglected as a child since regents ruled for him and his mother had better things to do than look out for him. But later, when he ruled on his own, France attained a glory and stature higher than any other nation at the time. He took his father’s hunting lodge and transformed it into Versailles as we see it now. I guess you need unlimited wealth and power to even think about, let alone succeed in, transforming a natural landscape into the extravaganza that’s there now.

After Louis XIV, his son and grandson (XV and XVI) led the way to ruin of the monarchy and into the Revolution.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, Mary and I got separated. We had made a rule that when one of us exited a place, we waited until the other came out. Why didn’t that work? Because these places are so huge that there are always multiple places to think, “Oh, this is where she would expect me to be waiting.” Next time we go somewhere, we are each going to have a cell phone, or even a flag like the Japanese tour guides.

However, the wait was not in vain. I strolled around some of the closer gardens and saw tulip bulbs dotting the surface where they'd been abandoned after tulip season. Most bulbs had been saved for next year, but these orphans needed a home, so I rescued three and hid them far away. Mary got four, but Customs in the U.S. took two of hers. I am just going out to plant mine now and hope they have survived the winter in my refrigerator.