For a Glimpse of Versailles and Other Things

Yesterday, while at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we wandered through just to catch sight of "William", that visiting from the Louvre Portrait of an Old Man a Boy (Ghrlandaio) and the Widmerpoolesque sculpture of the banker from a Berlin museum whose name escapes me at the moment. As we were about to leave, Other Half insisted we go see the Versailles mural, and I thought, Oh, That, Well, All right.  And so we did, and of course, there was not a soul in sight (except for the guard).  As usual, most of the people in the museum flocked toward the most predictable exhibition (which in today's case was the Mattise, Picasso and other 'avant garde' show, which is worth a quick walk through when there are fewer people, but a weekend visit at the peak time is surely not recommended except for the foolhardy.

In the quiet of that oval space, with its echoes, lay Versailles- a Versailles that could never have been seen by any (now) living eyes, and the sweet combination of memory, nostalgia and my own/our own history there allowed us to be shifted from the city to that place seemingly not so far away.

the approach to this Versailles

Speaking of which, the other day in a conversation I had with a friend he remarked on Versailles, and we both knew both the allure and the unattractiveness of said place- beautiful when there is hardly anyone around (winter being the season of choice for him, and for me possibly late autumn as I abhor the cold) and wholly unacceptable on the most pleasant of days (with the onslaught of tourists jostling for photo opportunities). We also spoke of that long yet most pleasant walk from the main building to those areas which are off the beaten path, and wherein can still be found magic.