This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of a reader in our WeChat group, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. Original link.

Day 3

Compared with the nonstop walking of the first two days, this day’s itinerary was much more relaxed, with only the Palace of Versailles and a Seine River cruise. I had originally thought Versailles would take about a full day, but we finished it in half a day and then squeezed in a last-minute shopping stop in the afternoon.

At first, we planned to take public transportation to Versailles, but our hotel was not in the city center and there was no direct public transit, so it was a hassle. So we booked another pickup and drop-off with Master Xiao Yang. For breakfast, we ordered hotel room service. The annoying part was that we barely ordered anything, but they still charged us based on the buffet per-person rate. Definitely a negative.

After driving for about half an hour, it was obvious that we were surrounded by suburban scenery.

Master Xiao Yang parked on a small road very close to the entrance of Versailles, and it was just a one- or two-minute walk to get in.

There were not many people at the entrance. As usual, they checked the Covid Pass and tickets. We had reserved skip the line tickets, but it seemed to be the same entrance as regular admission. The Museum Pass does include the Palace of Versailles.

The Palace of Versailles audio guide is free. They normally do not provide earphones, but when they saw us pushing a stroller, they gave us one pair. You can select Chinese on the audio guide, though not every exhibit has Chinese commentary; the default is English. Or you can download the Palace of Versailles App, although you have to find the item numbers yourself.

The Palace of Versailles is France’s grandest royal palace, built by the Sun King Louis XIV at enormous expense, using 30,000 workers, after he became envious of his finance minister Fouquet’s Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. It later became a model for royal palaces across Europe.

After the French Revolution, it ceased to function as a royal palace, and in 1830 it was converted into the Museum of the History of France. After the American War of Independence, Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris here. In 1919, France, Britain, the United States, and others signed the Treaty of Versailles with Germany here, declaring the end of World War I.

The most famous room in Versailles is the Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces), with seventeen विशाल floor-to-ceiling windows on one side and a massive mirrored wall made of more than 400 mirrors on the other. The Gallery of Battles is another highlight. Also not to be missed are the Salon of War, Salon of Peace, Salon of Abundance, Salon of Mars, the chapel, the theater, and the King’s and Queen’s apartments. The gardens of Versailles are considered the most beautiful palace gardens in Europe. In summer there are musical fountains, and on weekend or holiday evenings there are large fireworks displays.

Emperor Kangxi and Louis XIV were contemporary monarchs, and they also promoted cultural exchanges between China and France in the 17th century. Versailles also houses a portrait of Kangxi and a large collection of Chinese porcelain. To map China and the East, Louis XIV selected people such as Zhang Cheng and Bai Jin in 1688 to travel to China. Emperor Kangxi kept Zhang Cheng and Bai Jin in court service, where they introduced Western astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and other natural sciences to him. Eager to learn more about Western science, Emperor Kangxi sent Bai Jin back to France in 1693 to recruit scientists to come to China, and had him bring many precious gifts for Louis XIV, including large quantities of Chinese porcelain.

In 1698, Louis XIV supported Bai Jin and more than ten of his fellow Jesuits, including Bouvet, Ma Jo-seph, and Régis, in returning to China aboard the merchant ship Amphitrite, bringing gifts for Emperor Kangxi such as clocks and telescopes. Emperor Kangxi then appointed missionaries including Régis, Bouvet, and Dominique Parrenin, along with Chinese scholars, to conduct surveys across the provinces and frontier regions and draw a national map by province. After more than a decade of work, they completed the Kangxi Atlas in the 57th year of Kangxi’s reign (1718).

*Paris - Versailles Rive Gauche* Please note that the T ticket is only valid on the RER within the city of Paris. To go to the Palace of Versailles, you need to separately purchase a "Paris - Versailles Rive Gauche" ticket; the T ticket cannot be used. You can reserve a timed entry ticket with skip-the-line palace access through the official Palace of Versailles website. This allows you to enter the palace without waiting in line within half an hour of your selected time slot, and reservations must be made 2 days in advance. The Paris Museum Pass only lets you skip the ticket-purchase line; it does not let you skip the entry line. Also, the museum pass only includes the palace, not the gardens of Versailles, the musical fountains, or the Trianon Palaces. Versailles is in Zone 4. Starting 2015.9.1, the weekly metro pass no longer distinguishes between zones and is a flat 21.25 euros, plus a 5 euro first-time card issuance fee.

After finishing the indoor portion, it was about noon. We grabbed a simple lunch at the restaurant inside the palace (really just a bakery shop). The line was pretty long the day we visited.

After lunch, we headed to the outdoor area to see the King’s gardens.

It was absolutely freezing outside at the Palace of Versailles. Even in down jackets, we were still shivering. We didn’t want to brave the cold wind and walk all the way down to the gardens, so after looking out from above for a while, we decided to head back into the city.

Shopping

When planning the trip, we had originally wanted to spend the entire day at Versailles. There’s actually quite a bit to see outdoors there, but we were just too cold, so we skipped the outdoor portion and ended the visit early. That freed up some extra time, which naturally turned into more shopping. Our driver, Mr. Xiao Yang, told us that Printemps really does have a lot fewer people than Galeries Lafayette, so off to Printemps we went again.

With Christmas approaching, traffic was unbelievably bad. Once we got to Printemps, it wasn’t nearly as empty as it had been the night before. We waited in line for about half an hour and even caught a mall performance up close, which was pretty nice. We bought another bag—still no stock of the classic styles anywhere. Once inside the store, we made our purchase quickly, and the tax refund paperwork was also handled right there in the store. After that, we planned to head back to the hotel to rest up before the evening Seine dinner cruise.

At that point we were getting a little hungry, so we placed a pickup order on the Chinese takeout app “方圆十里,” which ended up being the only Chinese meal we had in Paris. The restaurant was called “Tian Fu (Restaurant Tian Fu),” just behind Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, so the location was very convenient. We ordered the wasabi shrimp balls and pig trotters in sour soup. Both dishes were quite good. Compared with Chinese food in Seattle, it wasn’t cheap, but the portions were fairly generous.

Paris Dinner Cruise

We took a G7 back to the hotel, ate our takeout, rested for a bit, and then took a taxi to the Paris dinner cruise.

There are several companies on the Seine that offer river cruises and dining services. Bateaux Parisiens is the largest cruise company in Paris. Its dock is located right beneath the Eiffel Tower, and both the sightseeing cruises and dinner cruises are good quality. Their boats are regularly updated and maintained, so they are generally in very good condition. The sightseeing boats have fully transparent glass windows and air conditioning, making them comfortable in both winter and summer. In summer, outdoor side seating is also available.

Whether you just want a one-hour sightseeing cruise, a leisurely lunch on the Seine or along the riverbank, or a romantic experience on board for Valentine’s Day, a birthday celebration, or another special occasion, Bateaux Parisiens offers an option to suit your needs. Taking into account that Chinese diners often prefer to eat earlier, they specially added an 18:30 90-minute highlights dinner cruise. There’s no need to dress in formal business attire either—you can enjoy dining on the Seine in a more relaxed way. The traditional 20:30 dinner cruise was redesigned last year with a completely new décor and layout, making it a better fit for both couples and business diners. One reminder: like some upscale French restaurants, the dinner cruise meals are refined and delicious, but not especially large in portion.

We booked the classic 8:30 pm Dinner Cruise, which lasts 2 hours. The Bateaux Parisiens dock is right below the Eiffel Tower, so we got another close-up view of the tower. At check-in, we still had to show our Covid Pass. After check-in, a server led us to our assigned seats. Our table wasn’t by the window, but we could still enjoy the Seine-side views outside, and the ceiling was also made of fully transparent glass. The only downside was that the tables were fairly close together, so it wasn’t possible to maintain Social Distance.

The menu on the table showed the landmarks the boat would pass, but the audio commentary was only in French, so for us, figuring out where we were mostly came down to guessing and checking google map.

Since the cruise price is fixed per person, the menu is simply a self-selected 3-course meal, and we ended up ordering most of the options between us. Honestly, while the food wasn’t mind-blowing, it was still quite tasty—definitely much better than the Michelin three-star meal we had the day before.

The Statue of Liberty is one of the world’s most famous monuments, and replicas can be found around the globe. One of them is the Statue of Liberty in Paris, located on Île aux Cygnes near the Grenelle Bridge, close to Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s studio. In 1885, this replica was cast in bronze by the well-known French Gaget, Gauthier & Co., and was presented to France by the Committee of Americans in Paris on the centennial of the French Revolution.

You probably know that the Statue of Liberty in New York was a gift from France, but you may not know that Paris also has two smaller Statues of Liberty from the same era. If you’re cruising on the Seine, you can spot one of them. The Paris Statue of Liberty stands at the southwestern end of the narrow artificial island Île aux Cygnes in the middle of the Seine. It was a gift from the American community to the people of France. It faces west, corresponding to the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

Overall, I’d say this was definitely worth trying. The Seine at night paired with a good meal made for a lovely experience, even with a little one in tow. The boat ride itself was very smooth. Since I’m prone to motion sickness, I took a pill just in case, but honestly it didn’t feel necessary at all. You could barely tell you were on a boat—it was much steadier than a cruise.

After dinner on the river cruise, the taxis at the dock were still charging outrageous prices, so we again used G7 to get a ride back to the hotel. We washed up, packed up, and got ready to switch hotels the next day and move closer to central Paris.

Paris Trip Series

This article was originally published in 2021, so some of the content is still related to the pandemic. However, most of the tips and experiences are still useful, which is why we’re republishing it on this site.

About the Author

This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of one of our reader group members, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. All of the articles there are original and well worth reading, so feel free to check it out if you’re interested.