Along with several thousand of our closets friends we toured the Palace of Versailles on Boxing Day, December 26th. Needless to say there was very little elbow room and the tours are scheduled so that you have maximum contact with friends from all over the world.

Still, the place is amazing; to think this was someone's home, what a heating bill in the winter time.

Our tour guide, Jean, was very good. He spoke French, English and Spanish. We had a couple from Madrid and another couple from Los Angeles in our group. Despite the crowds we enjoyed the tour and learned a bit more about the French Revolution. This is one unusual fact, after Louis the XVI had been taken to Paris and beheaded, along with Marie Antoinette, there were still executions at the Place de la Concorde during the Reign of Terror.

The non-stop beheadings, using the guillotine, were most active in the summer of 1794 when in a single month more than 1,300 people were executed. A year later, when the revolution was taking a more moderate course, the guillotine was removed from the square. It was removed because residents in the area were complaining of the stench of blood and other by-products in the streets and the fact that local business were suffering because no one wanted to go to that part of town to shop!

Here are some views of the palace and the grounds. As a realtor would say, "notice the high ceilings and low floors."

The only major incident during our stay took place on this day, I lost my beret! I left it on the tour bus; I had bought it ten years earlier in Paris and it had followed me to Peru, Japan and Hawaii. The pictures with me wearing that black beret were the last to be recorded. I have now replaced it with an olive-colored beret which is easier to see in the dark.