Tuesday, June 27
“Again we slept late. Had lunch here at the hotel before we started out for the day. Went to the Louvre and spent the afternoon there. It was wonderful to say the least. We were glad we were not with a guide. Saw many beautiful paintings and statues. The Venus de Milo and Victory of Samothrace impressed me as much as any I believe.”
[The Winged Victory of Samothrace (also called the Nike of Samothrace) is a marble scuplpture, circa 200-190 BCE, of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory).]
“When we left the Louvre we went to the Madeline.”
[L'église de la Madeleine (Madeleine Church) is a Roman Catholic church occupying a commanding position in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. The church was designed in its present form as a temple to the glory of Napoleon's army. To its south lies the Place de la Concorde, to the east is the Place Vendôme, and to the west L'église Saint-Augustin.]
“Hunted out a little shop that we had found on Saturday. I bought a bead purse. We got back to the hotel about 8:00 and had dinner. Spent the evening talking and now I am going to bed.”
Wednesday, June 28
“Got up and went down to the American Express to get our railroad tickets for Geneva and get Swiss and Italian money. No mail.”
“At 10:00 we started for Versailles. Visited the little palace first. It was built in 1766 for Louis XV and occupied by Mme. dePompadour and Marie DuBarry. Marie Antoinette chose it as her favorite residence. The gardens here were first laid out as botanical gardens but were changed by Marie Antoinette. The farm was worked by real peasants. There was a mill there and the dairy still standing. We had a good natured little guide who could spiel of French history by the yard. Next we took in the large palace. Here we saw lots of interesting things from coaches to tapestry. It is in this palace that the peace treaty was signed in 1919. We visited the room on the third anniversary. The table on which the treaty was signed is shown to all visitors. The room of mirrors where the table stood in 1919 is a marvelous place. There are beautiful gardens about the palace. The fountains play only on the first and third Sundays of the month, so of course, we missed that part of it.”
[The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919 in the Palace of Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of World War I were dealt with in separate treaties. Although the armistice, signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on 21 October 1919, and was printed in The League of Nations Treaty Series.]
“We got back about 6:00. Went to the opera in the evening. Saw “Samson and Delilah”. Got home early. We didn’t stay for ballet.”
[Samson and Delilah is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saens to a French liretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the Grand Ducal Theater on 2 December 1877 in a German translation. Samson et Dalila is a consistent presence in the opera houses of Europe. By 1920, the Paris Opera alone had given more than 500 performance of the opera.]
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