Journeys through moments in time... Château de Versailles

Now... Where do I begin?

The KCWC (Women's Club) meeting last Thursday morning was held at the Royal Geographical Society; a talk in a conference room filled with a majority of 95% women, all Londoners, from different parts of the world. Sue had invited me to join her for an informative talk on the subject of Iran; a country in turmoil since the revolution in 1979, taken over from the Shah by the clergy.

Persia, being one of the oldest cultures in history has gone through major changes.

The name had changed to Iran during an intense modernisation or should I say Westernisation at the Shah's father's time, who was an ambitious soldier and through a coup d'etat, had declared himself king.

He did bring the country forward, and built roads, dams, and tunnels. He made laws for women to have to leave their 'chador' at home and take up jobs to support themselves and their families. The women's role was no longer to be in the kitchen. Things were moving too fast.

Persians were originally Zoroastrians; the religion simply stated: "Good thoughts. Good words and Good deeds are necessary to ensure happiness." In other words... See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil. They built fire temples as their place of worship.  

How beautiful is that?

In the 7th century, some 1400 years ago... however... the Persian Sassanid Empire was overthrown by the Arabs and the state was Islamicized. During the peak of Darius the Great's Empire, Persia stretched from North Africa and Egypt to northern India and parts of Greece!  

What captured my imagination was the picture of the Shah crowning Empress Farah at their coronation ceremony in 1967 which took me back to the pages of my school days' French history books; with the glamour of The Louis Kings; the magnificent clothes they wore; the grandeur of their palaces and the beautifully carved furniture in a shimmering gold finish on the woodwork and elaborate materials of fabric flowing through the heavy curtains. Colours of richness and warmth. A flamboyant taste in decor and costume.

Chateaux de Versailles with its manicured gardens and fountains, which I finally visited two years ago in May with good buddies Dylan and Beata.  

I am now going to further confuse you with the story from that trip! Haha...

If contemporary art means 'anything goes'... Then I can call this 'contemporary writing'.

I was going to visit my Girl (daughter) who was living in Paris at the time. Elliot (from NYC) had called to say: "Darling, I'll be visiting a good friend in Paris in May, why don't you come and join me?"

"Brilliant Darling. I'll be there." I somehow always respond this way to Elliot's ideas of our global travels.

At one of the regular Thursday dinner parties my good friend Dylan held at his place, I suggested to him: "Dylan, it's your birthday next week, I'm meeting Elliot in Paris. Why don't you join us with Beata?"

He listened, and after a pleasant journey on the Eurostar, we arrived in the city of Paris, Gare du Nord. My job was to dig out the dash of smoke I had hidden away in a most unimaginable public spot in Paris! It was still there. Clever me. Or I should say lucky me.

On the first night, we got together with Elliot, Dylan, Beata, my Girl and Elliot's God-daughter to go to dinner at a new, buzzing restaurant in St Germain.  

A 'little' bit of shopping (of course). Long lunches with discussions and laughter over French wine, which I am not about to start naming as it's partly a snobbery in wine names-dropping to impress. For now, I just carry on pretending I don't remember names! Ha-ha. Though I do confess to being a snob at times! Briefly.

On a Saturday morning, the group was scattered around the city with chores of their own except for Dylan and Beata who met me for breakfast... Aaaahh... That French croissant dipped in the cafe au lait. Haldita... Move on...

Anyhow, it was a mutual decision to take the train and go to Versailles. Weather predictions were... No good but we decided... Let's do it anyway.

We went on a short (as in roughly 25 minutes) journey on the metro/RER and got out of the station at Versailles-Rive Gauche to follow the crowd who were obviously visiting the palace. It was so simple, I just hadn't tried it before! The dark clouds were hovering above us but seemed to be lightening up with the mild blow of the wind.

We arrived at the Gate of the palace with gardens so vast that they continued as far as the eyes could see from one side to the other. As we walked through the gardens, the clouds began to part slowly. I took pictures of the many sculptures and statues in different lights, merging partially leaved branches with cotton-wool ball effect clouds behind as scenery. We had lunch in a French-like pavilion in glass and iron on the right side of the water which could neither be described as a lake nor a large pool; dark, but shining on the surface with shadows of tree lines and buildings by its side, clearly reflected upon it.

As we were strolling back towards the main palace gate where the entry and exit signs were allocated,  there was an announcement on the speakers from four corners of the garden. The French manly voice said: "Please gather at the Northern left fountain for an hour of classical music and turn back the clocks. At 5 pm."

We happened to be close by. As we followed the sound of the classical music, by Mozart, being played from the Northern corner of the gardens, miraculously, the sun shone through the white bubble of the clouds. The fountains were dancing with the sound of each note, jetted up in the air, to die down below, time after time. In front of us, appeared a couple dressed in full Louis XIV costume. The lady carried a colourful fan over a lacy glove in one hand, close to her masked face, and wore strong red lipstick. And those shoes; pointed at the toes with a turn-out at the end of the comfortable heels, in gold and red. With the flow of a 'burlesque' bustier giving definition to her waist and cleavage... don't think there is any need to describe that one! Ha-ha ... What a masquerade.

And to add to this surreal scene, a rainbow... yes, a rainbow became strongly visible through the tiny water drops being thrown into the air and their contact with the rays of sun shining on them. It was 'magic'! A miracle.

As we were walking back in a daze of our virtual experience of the whole afternoon, I took more photos of others passing by in full costumes of the era strolling in the streets and having their photo taken.

"Now... I've seen these scenes we just experienced in history books as a child and always wondered what they really looked like. But I never, and I mean never imagined to get a chance to see them 'live'." I confessed, tearful.

"AAaaahhh... Wasn't that pure magic, now!" Dylan was in awe.

Beata was speechless as we strolled to the metro back to Paris. 

the photos of the monuments, gardens, statues, the weather, and the magic of the moments are here...

I hope this is not just a one-way journey... Have you ever been to Versailles? What were your views I wonder?