We were thinking about doing something special for our 1st year wedding anniversary. We thought about going to Ireland, but than Randy came with the most romantic idea, how about few days in Paris. I always wanted to go, but it never seemed like the right opportunity. Our first aniversery was the perfect reason.We made it to our hotel in La Defence fairly easy. It was cute little hotel on a little street, little plaza with fountain. First sightseeing we decided to do was Chateau de Versailles. Because we arrived to Paris in the morning, we were fresh and excited to go. So we hoped on train to Versialles which got us there in about 30 minutes. Randy would push me to use French everywhere. It was so laughable in Versailles, when I asked for 2 tickets for Chateau. The young guy in the box office knew right away, that’s probably about it in my repertoire of French. Anyway, he gave us our options and told us about the discounted rate after 4pm. So, we decided to start with the magnificent gardens first and come back after 4 to see the palace and get the discount rate.
What could be a better romantic stroll with your partner, then taking paths in tree alleys ending with less or more glorious fountains? Which must be even more stunning when blooming in summer. When we came back to get the tickets, actually around 5, the ticket guy gave us one ticket free with words ”Somebody must have lost it”. So, my friends don’t be shy, use the language, you never know whom you will charm with your bad language skills. J
Versailles was insignificant village until Louis XIV, son of Louis XIII, transformed and enlarged his father’s former hunting lodge into a palatial centre of court and government in French Baroque style for an absolute monarch, him, the Sun King.
The most brilliant years of Louis XIV reign were the 1st 20 years, he and his Minister Colbert reorganized the kingdom, trade and manufacture were developing, and the King had many triumphed victories. The sun emblem was picked by Louis XIV himself, in association with Apollo, god of peace and arts. He indeed encouraged art and science by founding royal academies. As today Chateau de Versailles covers 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of grounds, 1/10 less then it was started on.
We couldn’t go to Paris without going to the top of one of the world’s wonders, Eiffel tower. Gustave Eiffel built hundreds of metal structures of all kinds, all around the world, railway bridges, viaducts, fine buildings, also the under structure for Statue of Liberty in New York. Eiffel finished his 300 m- tower in 1889, in occasion for preparation for universal exposition in 1889. We also went to see the Statue of Liberty replica, which stands on the island off the bridge De Grenelle.
One evening we took boat trip on the river Seine, which gave us an excellent opportunity for a different view of Paris and its beauties. We also went to Montmartre, the only hill in Paris where the white domain of Basilica of the Sacré Cœur sits. This area used to be the artists center, where they lived, apparently because it used to be cheap area, with vineyards, so easy resource of cheap wine.
We walked on one of the most famous streets in the world, The Champs-Elysées, to us just another busy, dirty street. We are fans of smaller, more romantic “rues”, but anyway, this one took us to our point of interest, which was the gigantic Arc de Triomphe with its height 51 meters (165 feet) and width 45 meters (148 feet). Where we did our best pictures of Paris, because the day we went to the Eiffel tower, weather was too hazy for any good pictures. Arc de Triomphe was built to honor Napoleon I vicory in battle of Austerlitz (battle of the three emperors) in 1805. Austerlitz is town near Brno, Slavkov u Brna in Czech. Yes, this historical battle took place in Moravia region, which is part of Czech Republic.
The evening of Jan 25 was our anniversary, we got nicely dressed, and even called for taxi, so that we’d come to the Hotel de Crillon in style. Well what a stressful experience taking a cab in Paris. It was something to be experience but, once being enough. But everything bad was forgotten with the first steps into the Les Ambassadeurs restaurant, where we celebrated our 1st year wedding anniversary by the most exceptional dinner we ever had. We felt like king and queen because of the service we got, and the courses of delicious food and wine so good, and never having had tried before. This was a lifetime memory we experienced.
We didn’t make it to the Musee D’Orsay, so we didn’t get to see the French Impressionist collection. That is on the list of the things to see on our next visit.
Premysleli jsme, jak vyjimecne oslavit nase 1. vyroci svatby. Temer jsme uz zacali pripravovat cestu do Irska, ale pak prisel Randy s tou nejromantictejsi myslenkou, stravit par dni v Parizi. Vzdycky jsem se chtela do Parize podivat, ale nikdy nebyla ta prava prilezitost. Nase vyroci bylo tim perfektnim duvodem.
Do naseho hotylku na La Defence jsme dorazili celkem jednoduse. Byl to rozkosny maly hotel na male ulici, s malym namestickem s fontankou.
Rozhodli jsme se, ze jako prvni navstivime zamek ve Versailles. Protoze jsme prileteli do Parize rannim letem, byli jsme svezi a plni nadseni vyrazit. A tak jsme skocili na vlak, kterym jsme do Versailles dorazili ani ne za 30 minut.
Randy me tlacil, abych pouzivala francouzstinu pri kazde prilezitosti. Jak usmevne, kdyz jsem ve Versailles pozadala o dva listky do zamku. Ten mladik v pokladne razem vedel, ze tim muj repertoar francouzstiny zrejme konci. Nicmene nam nabidl moznosti slevy vstupenek po 16 hod. A tak jsme se rozhodli, ze zacneme s nadhernymi zameckymi zahradami a prijdeme si pro slevu po 4 odpoledne.
Co by mohla byt romantictejsi prochazka, nez v alejich lemovanymi stormy vedoucim
k vice ci mene skvostnym fontanam?
Kdyz jsme prisli zpatky k pokladne, abychom si koupili vstupenky, vlastne uz kolem 5 odpoledne, podal nam ten nas pokladnik jednu vstupenku zadarmo se slovy ”Nekdo ji tu musel ztratit”. A tak mili pratele, nestydte se pouzivat cizi jazyky, nikdy nevite, koho svou gramatikou a prizvukem okouzlite. J
Versailles byla nevyznamna vesnice do te doby, nez Ludvik XIV, syn Ludvika XIII,
premenil a rozsiril puvodni loveckou chatu sveho otce v palacove sidlo dvora a vlady, to vse ve francouzskem baroknim stylu pro absolutniho vladce, sebe, Krale slunce.
Nejzarivejsich bylo 1. 20 let vlady Ludvika XIV, kdy se svym ministrem Colbertem reorganizoval kralovstvi, obchod a vyroba se vyvijeli, kral slavil vitezstvi.
Emblem slunce si vybral Ludvik XIV sam, mel asociovat Apolla, boha miru a umeni.
Kral slunce opravdu podporoval umeni a vedu zalozenim kralovskych akademii.
Zamek ve Versailles dnes zabira 800 hektaru pudy, o 1/10 mene nez puvodne.
Nemohli bychom prijet do Parize a nevyjit na vrchol jednoho ze svetovych divu, Eiffelovu vez. Gustave Eiffel postavil stovky kovovych konstrukci po celem svete, zeleznicnich mostu, viaduktu, uslechtilych budov, ale i konstrukci pro sochu svobody v New Yorku. Eiffel dokoncil svou 300 metrovou vez v roce 1889 u prilezitosti svetove vystavy v temze roce.
Taky jsme se sli podivat na repliku sochy svobody, ktera stoji na konci ostrova u mostu De Grenelle.
Jeden vecer jsme si vyrazili na vylet parnikem po rece Seine, a tak jsme mohli videt Pariz a jeji skvosty z jineho uhlu. Taky jsme jeli na Montmartre, jediny kopec v Parizi s domenou basiliky Sacré Cœur. Tahle cast Parize byla centrem umelcu, kde sami zili, snad prave proto, ze Montmartre byval levnou ctvrti s vinicemi, tedy hlavne i se zdrojem levneho vina.
Prosli jsme se po jedne z nejslavnejsich ulic sveta, Champs-Elysées, pro nas vsak jen dalsi ze spinavych, prilis rusnych ulic. My davame prednost mensim, romantictejsim ulickam, ale nicmene Champs-Elysées nas dovedla k cili naseho zajmu, gigantickemu Viteznemu oblouku (Arc de Triomphe) s vyskou 51 metru a sirkou 45 metru. Z neho mame vlastne nejlepsi fotky Parize, protoze kdyz jsme byli na ‘Eiffelovce’, pocasi bylo prilis mlhave na pekne fotky.
Vitezny oblouk byl postaven k pocte vitezstvi Napoleonovi bitvy u Slavkova, tzv. Bitve tri cisaru, v roce 1805.
Vecer 25. ledna prislo nase vyroci, pekne jsme se oblekli, I si zavolali taxi, abychom dorazili k hotelu de Crillon stylove. Netusili jsme, jaky stres taxikem v Parizi zazijeme. Byla to zkusenost, kterou jsme chteli zazit, ovsem jen jednou. Ale vse spatne bylo razem zapomenuto nasimi prvnimi kroky do restaurace Les Ambassadeurs, kde jsme slavili vyroci 1. roku svatby tou zvlastne neobycejnou veceri poprve v zivote. Citili jsme se jako kral a kralovna tim servisem, ktereho se nam dostalo, temi chody vytecneho jidla a vina tak dobreho, ktere jsme neochutnali nikdy predtim. Tahle zkusenost nam bude opravdu celozivotni vzpominkou.
Nedostali jsme se do Musee D’Orsay, tedy jsme nevideli vystavu francouzskych impresionistu. To nam tedy zbyva na seznamu pro pristi navstevu Parize.
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