Olivier’s older brother lived in Paris and said I was welcome to come and stay at his apartment for a weekend. So thirty years ago today I took the 90-minute train ride from Tours to Paris.
Statues grace the gardens and ponds behind the Palace of Versailles.
My Photographs from today in paris
My first stop was the Palace of Versailles, home to King Louis XIV.
Day 23 / 9-29-94
Paris, France
On my first full day I intended to explore as much as possible, so unlike other days up to this point, I did have a plan of sorts.
My first stop was the Palace of Versailles, home to King Louis the XIV. This place was enormous, opulent, and extravagant. A far cry from where I had lived with my roommates in our college party house “The Dome”, and one of the first real cultural places that made an impact on me about the differences between the history of Europe and America.
Unfortunately, I still was missing my journal. I hadn’t found it.
So I’m still writing these memories from my memory now in 2024.
I remember strolling through the hall of mirrors, my amazement at seeing paintings bigger than any I had ever seen (or even imagined), the gardens and fountains behind the palace that seemed to stretch to the horizon, and the feeling of being a little bit inconsequential and insignificant in the grand scheme of history.
However, I was loving every minute of it!
The next spot I wanted to visit during my day in Paris was also a cultural shrine to many people in my generation … Jim Morrison’s grave in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.