Author: ceckman

Paris – Day Three: The Palace of Versailles, Café de Flore, Beach Volleyball, and The Louis Vuitton Foundation Party

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Jetlag Rating: C

ALBUM: Paris – Day Three

By now, we had our routine down: Tim would get up early and go downstairs to wait in line to secure us a spot for our chosen daily event and tickets to our nightly one if we were doing something other than the main event. For day three, we reserved spots to travel to the Palace of Versailles and then head to Women’s Beach Volleyball at the base of the Eiffel Tower in the evening.

Front view of the Palace of Versailles

From our guide: “Step into the opulent world of the royalty who called the Palace of Versailles home and experience an unforgettable journey through French history. You’ll get to peek behind closed doors and uncover the exquisite architecture and grandeur seldom seen by the public. A personal historian will guide you through the Opera, as well as the private apartments, bringing to life the tales of the royal residents.”

Look familiar? Truly a woman of the people.

Versailles is located about 45 minutes west of Paris. Louis XIII built a hunting lodge there in 1623. Then, in 1661, Louis XIV expanded the lodge into a palace, and for a while, it became the de facto capital of France. It wasn’t until 1789 that the royal family returned to Paris. During the French Revolution, Versailles was mostly abandoned, and the surrounding city nearly empty. It was restored in the 1830s, and the palace and park were deemed a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

The back of Versailles that looks out onto the Gardens

The palace is breathtaking. Each room is adorned with opulent furniture and decor, crystal, gold, and parquet. Like the Louvre, it seems to stretch endlessly in all directions, and even the ceiling frescoes are extravagant. We explored some of the private apartments, which are usually closed to the public, and the magnificent Opera. The Opera is a remarkable surprise, its grandeur concealed behind a low door. I can only imagine the other hidden secrets that Versailles conceals.

The Opera

At the end of the tour, we only had a short while to spend in the gardens, which we could have spent hours in. At its peak, there were 2,400 fountains in use at Versailles. Today, only fifty still function, and they go off on different schedules. You can see them here:

Tim and I in front of the Fountain featured in the video above
The Gardens at Versailles

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to opt for a little shopping and so walked around until we realized we were starving. Out of happenstance, we realized we were just a few steps from Café de Flore, one of the oldest and most famous coffeehouses in Paris. It was associated with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and other famous thinkers of the 40s and 50s. Its rival, Les Deux Magots, is nearby and known for Hemingway, Picasso, James Joyce, and Julia Child. The truth is that the cafés have had a rivalry for years, and most of the people mentioned were known to have switched allegiances from time to time. We sat down and had an incredible lunch; I ordered a Croque Monsieur, a tomato gazpacho, and a sparkling lemonade.

CAFE DE FLORE, Paris - 6th Arr. - Luxembourg - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor
Cafe de Flore, which we discovered by chance

We had time for a quick nap, and then set out for the Eiffel Tower and beach volleyball.

Beach Volleyball
At the base of the Eiffel Tower, getting ready to enter beach volleyball.

This was our second Olympic Beach Volleyball experience. If you ever get the chance to go, it is the most fun of any Olympic event. There is a live DJ, the crowd has specific cheers for specific moves, ie. MONSTER BLOCK, and the event is energetic and so much fun. Make sure to check out the album links I’ve posted, again, at the top and bottom of this post but also on the photos tab for all the videos and pictures we took while we were there. At 10p they lit the Eiffel Tower, and we got to see the whole thing sparkling with the Olympic Rings on the front.

The tower just before it was lit.
Getting ready for the match between Brazil and Canada for Gold!


In the bronze match, we watched Switzerland beat Australia in straight sets. Because our first Olympics were in Brazil, and we saw what the Brazilian crowd is like, we were on Brazil’s side for the Gold match. It was incredibly exciting to watch Ana Patricia Ramos and Dude Lisboa beat Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson 2-1, in Brazil’s second gold in the sport, the first one in 1996 when beach volleyball was first played at the Atlanta Games. There was one point when the teams began arguing, but the DJ played John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and the crowd sang along as they smiled and finished the match. It was one of the best games we’ve seen.

At this point, we were both exhausted but decided to quickly check out the Foundation Louis Vuitton party. It was hosted in an incredible architectural building designed by Frank Gehry. There were drinks, small bites, and music that was so loud I realized why we don’t go out much at our age anymore.

Fondation d'entreprise Louis-Vuitton — Wikipédia
Exterior of Foundation Louis Vuitton Building

We made it back to the hotel by 1 a.m., and crashed so we could get as much sleep as possible for Day Four!

ALBUM: Paris – Day Three

Paris – Day Two: The Louvre, Les Enfants du Marché, and Athletics

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Jetlag Rating: F+

ALBUM: Paris – Day Two

I do not often wake naturally before 9 a.m. I also do not often wake naturally after 9 a.m., but we don’t need to go there right now. On day two, I was surprised to wake up feeling well-rested at 8:30, while at home it was 12:30 in the morning. This may have been partly due to the fact that I was excited to go to the Louvre because duh, of course I was; it’s THE LOUVRE. 

Tim and I in front of the Olympic Torch cauldron balloon, which floats at night

If you’ve never heard of the Louvre, you’re dead to me, but here is the blurb on it from our guide: The Louvre Museum is a world-renowned cultural institution and a must-visit for any art enthusiast. Housed in a magnificent palace, the museum is not only a showcase of artistic treasures but also a historical monument. Home to over 35,000 works of art spanning from ancient civilizations to the 19th century, the Louvre offers a captivating journey through the evolution of human creativity. Visitors can marvel at iconic masterpieces like the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, creating an immersive experience that captures the essence of art and history.

In front of the Glass Pyramid at the Louvre

I’m only going to post a few highlight pictures here — the links at the top and bottom of this page, also found on the photos tab, have many more photos, which can be saved or shared. The Louvre is massive; the galleries span over 15 acres and, if stretched out, would go on for eight miles. We had a crash course tour of some of the most famous works, sprinting from gallery to gallery to catch what we could in the limited amount of time we had to spend.

Diana of Versailles, a representation of the hunt

This is Diana, goddess of the hunt. Shortly after seeing her in person, I read that on September 2nd of this year, an expedition to the RMS Titanic found a thought to be lost two foot tall bronze replica of this statue, which was featured atop the fireplace mantel in the First Class lounge.

The Venus de Milo

Sculpted between 160 and 110BC. One of the most famous works of Ancient Greek sculpture in the world.

Some Italian Lady

The room was super crowded for this one. Not sure why, it wasn’t even that big of a paining, and her eyes followed you very creepily.

Winged Victory of Samothrace, the goddess Niké

Niké was found on the island of Samothrace, north of the Aegean Sea. Another masterpiece of Greek sculpture, it shows the goddess of Victory on a ship’s bow. If you look closely at her abdomen, the sculptor was able to show her garment soaked with water, almost appearing transparent as it clings to her.

Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix

If you look at the head of the Goddess of Liberty, you’ll find this is where we get our mascot for the Paris Olympics — the Phrygian cap!

The Phryge

There are many more photos in the album, and I could go on for pages about each work of art, but I hope this at least inspires you to take a look at the Virtual Tours of the Louvre available online. As soon as we made it out, we were loaded onto buses and taken to Marché des Enfants-Rouges, the oldest covered market in Paris. It was founded in 1628, and we were there to have lunch at Les enfants du marché, a high-concept seafood and natural wines restaurant at the back of the market. We were given a tasting menu with all kinds of things to share or eat on our own.

The Menu

I opted for the terrine of the day, which was a sweet and savory tomato-based cold soup. We ordered the snails in Burgundy style, which were hot and salty and briny, though Tim refused to try any. Instead, he did a respectable job of almost finishing a bowl of tender mussels in tangy Gorgonzola. He played it safe with the dry-aged sirloin, while I may have played it too brave with the squid and black pudding. I did enjoy the squid, and I really liked the peppery flavor of the black pudding, but once I remembered it was blood sausage, I couldn’t get the idea of eating congealed blood out of my head and sort of spoiled it for myself. Oops.

At this point, we were exhausted. We didn’t make it to cheese or dessert; we called an Uber and escaped back to the hotel for a late afternoon nap. We awoke just in time for athletics.

Athletics

Athletics is an event perfect for those with short, wandering attention spans. It rarely gets boring because multiple events are usually happening concurrently. This can be exciting but also distracting, as while I was watching the long jump, I missed Arshad Nadeem make a record-breaking javelin throw, which luckily Tim was recording.

Arshad Nadeem wins Men’s Javelin Gold

We were seated front and center to witness the incredible Tara Davis-Woodhall win gold in the Women’s Long Jump Final. Her joy was contagious and her victory was probably my favorite out of anything we saw.

I caught Letsile Tebogo win the Men’s 200m final. And the US dominated in Hurdles, with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Anna Cockrell taking the 400m gold and silver, respectively, and Grant Holloway and Daniel Robert’s doing the same in the Men’s 100m.

We made it back to the hotel late, once again decimated the buffet, had a nightcap, and went upstairs to crash. Already I was falling in love with Paris, and full of pride getting to be here watching so many great Americans achieve their dreams.

ALBUM: Paris – Day Two

Paris – Day One: Montmartre, The Lutetia, and Taekwondo

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Standing in front of the The Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre

Jetlag Rating: F-

ALBUM: Paris – Day One

They say that jet lag occurs when a person travels across at least two time zones, and the more time zones they cross, the worse their symptoms become. These can range anywhere from brutal daytime sleepiness, insomnia, whole-body fatigue or malaise, headache, indigestion, irritability, and lack of concentration. Exciting, right? These facts are especially true when flying east, and it takes about a day of recovery for each time zone crossed. Paris is 9 time zones east of Denver, so you can imagine how hyped on adrenaline we must have been to have stayed awake after arriving on our first morning in Paris. 

I have been accused, from time to time, of living in the world of movies, television, and books, rather than the real one. So it makes sense that after landing at Charles de Gaulle Airport and taking the shuttle to our hotel, I convinced Tim to go with me to the neighborhood where my favorite films took place. Montmartre, a place I’ve dreamed of visiting since first watching Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge” when I was 13 years old, is a large hill in the 18th arrondissement with a large basilica at its summit. This is the hill Amélie Poulain sends Nino Quincampoix up in a scavenger hunt, slyly waiting at the bottom and fleeing once he spots her, leaving a note asking if he’d like to meet her. It is the area of town in which the famous Moulin Rouge is located. It’s featured in An American in Paris, Beauty and the Beast, and is for me, the first place I fell in love with in Paris. 

The view from the top of Montmartre

We began at the summit, looking out over the city. The views were spectacular, rivaled only by the massive Basilica at its peak. We took the stairs down the hillside, passing fountains and steel railings bulging with locks left by lovers, friends picnicking on the hillside, arriving at the base adorned with an old carousel that no longer seemed to run. It was dreamlike to have known a place so intimately without ever having actually visited it before. 

We could, at this point, both feel the jet lag setting in. If you’ve ever pulled an all-nighter, for whatever reason, it feels just like that. You’ve been awake far too long, you are sweaty and tired, and the sun is out when it feels like it shouldn’t be. Still, I dragged Tim to the Café du 2 Moulins, where Amélie worked as a server in the movie. I posed inside the café, identical in almost every way to what I’d watched so many times before. A server greeted us, and we decided to have a Nutella crêpe and two cafés, stealing a moment and imagining what it would be like to come there every day as an aspiring yet fruitless novelist or a hopeless romantic pining after the woman behind the cigarette counter. On our way back to the hotel, we took a quick picture of the Moulin Rouge, its iconic red windmill on the roof. 

Cafe du 2 Moulins

The Hotel Lutetia opened in December 1910 and has been a home away from home for guests like Pablo Picasso, Charles de Gaulle, Josephine Baker, Peggy Guggenheim, and James Joyce. It was remodeled in 2015 and reopened in July 2018, after a $234 million restoration. None of this happened to concern me on our first day because when we got back I face-planted onto the bed and immediately fell asleep. A few hours later, I had to summon titanic effort to get in the shower; we were going to watch Taekwondo in the Grand Palais.

The Hotel Lutetia

The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées is a historic exhibition site and museum built for the Universal Exposition of 1900. It underwent renovation in March of 2021 and was reopened just in time for the Olympics. 

The Grand Palais
Taekwondo

Neither of us knows much about Taekwondo, so at first the scoring seemed totally subjective. Coaches are allowed to challenge calls, and often times they are overturned, adding to the confusion. We watched Korea’s Park Taejoon win gold over Azerbaijan’s Gashim Magomedov 2-0. Less than a minute into the match, we watched Magomedov crumble to the ground with what looked like a fracture or a very bruised ankle. He kept fighting, limping as he tried to make a comeback before going down again. There was booing in the crowd as Park kept at him relentlessly, maybe a bit too relentlessly, and Magomedov fell a third time seeming to be in intense pain halfway through the second round.

Park wins Gold

When we got back to the hotel there was a dinner buffet open until midnight, so we had some sandwiches and drinks and went to bed. I fell asleep sometime around 2:00am, because you know, jet lag, and dreamed boundlessly about what day two might bring. 

ALBUM: Paris – Day One