Versailles: Dull and Ungrateful?

Today I've been working on the Vignette Guide: Versailles a bit and wanted to share one of my favorite vignettes. The whole idea for the guide is that you can read a little or as much as you would like, so each room or part of the tour will have a section of fast facts and a fun vignette or ancedote that somehow relates to the room and helps bring it to life.  

This vignette is the first of the tour and serves as a something of an introduction. 

“Dull” and “ungrateful” are not the words you normally hear associated with Versailles. 

Before it became the magnificent building you see today, the palace began as a relatively small hunting lodge. Although it was worthy of being the king’s hunting lodge, the original plot of land was no place for a court. It was a mixture of swamp and sand. The water was stagnant and unhealthy, which often made workers sick throughout the years of construction.

None of this mattered to Louis XIV. He was The Sun King, after all, and this was his chosen land. It was tamed and moulded to fit his desires, whatever the cost and in spite of anyone else’s opinion. 

As The Duc de Saint-Simon wrote in The Memoirs of Louis XIV, His Court, and the Regency :

[. . .]nobody ever approached his magnificence. His buildings, who could number them? At the same time, who was there who did not deplore the pride, the caprice, the bad taste seen in them?[. . .]Saint-Germain, a lovely spot, with a marvelous view, rich forest, terraces, gardens, and water he abandoned for Versailles; the dullest and most ungrateful of all places, without prospect, without wood, without water, without soil; for the ground is all shifting sand or swamp, the air accordingly bad but he liked to subjugate nature by art and treasure.⁠1 

So the will of a king as powerful as the sun created this magnificence at the great cost of money and time, yes, but also of lives. 

1  Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon, Memoirs of Louis XIV, His Court and the Regency, accessed November 17, 2014, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3875/3875-h/3875-h.htm.

I love this vignette for a couple of reasons. Saint-Simon was not afraid to lampoon the king (or anyone else for that matter) and I love that he pulls back the mask of the  Versailles. I also love it because I think it helps set the stage for understanding just how powerful Louis XIV was and just how unpleasant Versailles could be. Louis XIV not only built one of the most magnificent palaces in history from what many thought was nothing, but he forced his entire court to move there. He took them out of the comfort and bustle of Paris to live in his vision, literally and figuratively. That vision was not always pretty or comfortable for them. 

Friday 10: Pies, Poison, a Podcast, and Passes

This week has flown by! I had my birthday on Tuesday and pretty much ate my way through it. Then on Wednesday, S and I went to a Toronto Maple Leafs game. I think it was my first game at the Air Canada Centre and we had a great time. The Leafs destroyed the Bruins. We paid approximately 1 zillion dollars for me to have a collectors cup full of Coke Zero. I drank it all. I don’t think I ever want to drink Coke Zero again. We stayed up way past my bedtime and I think I’m still paying the price. I am old now, what can I say?

So figured it was a good week for a link roundup! There’s some Ham, some Histoire, and some Travel. 

The Ham

#1  We received a huge pile of carrots in our CSA box this week. Melissa Joulwan’s recipe for Cumin Roasted Carrots came highly recommended to me. It seemed perfect for the season, so I’m giving it a try tonight. 

#2  On the less healthy side, Serious Eats’s list of 11 Must-Try Pies Across America seems like a good reason to go on a road-trip, right? Not to be biased, but I’d probably start in DC for the Baltimore Bomb which is described by Dangerously Delicious Pies as “loaded with Berger Cookies (a Baltimore specialty) that melt down and swirl into a sweet vanilla chess filling.” Sign me up!

#3  Italian master barista Ettore Diana gives coffee at McDonald’s and Starbucks a thumbs up. Take that coffee snobs!

The Histoire

#4  My favorite video and link of the week. Vince Speranza, a WWII vet, tells the story of returning to the French town of Bastogne 65 years later and finding out he’s a legend. It’s a must-see! You’ll probably want to check this out after you watch, too. 

#5  A look at the strange, fascinating history of poisonous Victorian clothing (link via Stuff You Missed in History Class). The exhibition that inspired the article, Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of Dress in the 19th Century, is on at Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum until June 30th, 2016. 

The Travel

#6  I’m daydreaming of staying in the Ufogel (€120/night), a Tyrollean house and "spatial wonder." I can just imagine cozying up with hot drinks to watch the snow fall on that beautiful landscape after a long day of attempting to ski.

via Apartments for Sale Paris and Paris Perfect | Saint Aubin

#7  I’m also daydreaming of buying this fully-furnished Paris apartment. It’s located in the 7th arrondissement and has an Eiffel Tower view. I’m not sure if €915,000 (approximately $1.2 million) is a deal or not, but it seems like it after seeing what Toronto prices have been doing lately. 

#8  I have been looking into the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France a lot  lately and this lovely post about the seaside town of Collioure from Girl in Florence has only sparked my wanderlust more. 

#9  Are those museum passes worth the money? I generally skip them because we don’t hop from museum to museum fast enough. The New York Times takes a look at Amsterdam, Madrid, Florence and Paris to see what kind of bang for your buck you are actually getting. 

The Wildcard

#10 And, finally, I’ve been completely mesmerized by a podcast called Serial. This season (I say that in hopes that there will be more) is all about the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, a young high school student in Baltimore. If you are one of the few who has not heard of it, give it a listen.

That's it for this week! The flurries were flying as I wrote this. I think I'll go settle down with some tea, a book, and a down throw!

I hope you have a happy and warm weekend. 

Forêt de Compiègne

On the 11th hour (Paris time) of the 11th day of November, 1918, the Armistice ending World War I went into effect. 

It was in a quiet clearing of the Forêt de Compiègne in Picardy where French commander-in-chief Marshal Ferdinand Foch, on behalf of the Allied Powers, began talks with the Germans. They finally signed the armistice in the early hours of November 11th in Foch's train car, which came to be known and celebrated as the Compiègne Wagon. 

via Wikimedia Commons | Foch (second from the right) outside of the Compiègne Wagon, 11 November 1918

On 28 June 1919, the Treaty of Versailles, famously signed in the Hall of Mirrors, laid out harsh punishments to Germany. The were required to shoulder the blame for the war, reduce their armed forces, pay hefty reparations, and return Alsace and Lorraine to France. It was regarded by many Germans as humiliating and, along with the Depression, helped set the stage for the Nazi party to take power. 

via Wikimedia Commons | The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28th June 1919 by Sir William Orpen

Foch, however, did not think the treaty did enough to weaken Germany and protect France. He presciently stated, “This is not a peace. This is an armistice for 20 years.”

Twenty-two years later, in June 1940, the French Third Republic sent word to the Germans that they wanted to negotiate an armistice after the Battle of France. Hitler knew exactly where to hold the signing and had the Compiègne Wagon brought back to the exact spot of the 1918 armistice.

via Wikimedia Commons | A still from Frank Capra's film Divide and Conquer. Hitler (hand on hip) looks at the statue of Foch before the signing of the armistice on 22 June 1940.

via DIREKTOR | Hitler at the Wagen von Compiègne

General Charles Huntzinger, who led the negotiations for France, signed the armistice on 22 June 1940.

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The Forêt de Compiègne is open for visitors. It’s a massive 14,885 hectare park with 600 miles of beautiful trails for hiking and biking. In fact, Joan of Arc hid here in 1430 before being captured in the town of Compiègne. 

There is a replica of the Compiègne Wagon on display—the original was destroyed by fire in German during WWII at the Clarière de l’Armistice (Armistice Clearing).

A couple of other nearby sites include Château de Pierrefronds, Palais de Compiègne, and the Museum of Historical Figurines.

Practical Information

Compiègne is located about an hour north of Paris and is easily reached by car or train.  Trains depart multiple times each day from Gare du Nord. The trip is generally around 40 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how many stops it takes. 

 

The Armistice Clearing is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm (except Tuesdays between 15 September and 31 March). ​

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I thought I'd share these two intertwined stories set in  Forêt de Compiègne in honour of Veterans Day/Remembrance Day/Armistice Day. I had never heard of the Compiègne wagon before and found it fascinating. It also reminded me that sometimes it's worth taking a look back to re-familiarize myself with history.

It can be easy to think you know everything and to forget to remember.