84-0, "Let them eat cake..." (Part I)

"Let them eat cake..." is a translation of the French phrase "qu'ils mangent de la brioche." Mistakenly thought to be said by Marie Antoinette before the French Revolution broke, it was actually uttered 100 years before her by Marie-Therese, the wife of Louis XIV, the builder of Versailles and King accredited to moving the royal court from Paris. Le Flash played their third game of the season this week and we let our opponent "eat cake."

The Asniere-sur-Seine Molosses, (insert ironic name joke here), were the first team to contact me through my Europlayers.com profile, the same week I arrived back home from my summer in Helsinki. I was immediately interested, ... it was Paris. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for the Molosses, ... their coach or management never responeded to me.

Fast-forward three months, and fate led me to play for the La Courneuve Flash, an across-the-town semi-rival of the Molosses.

The week before the game Victoria and I spent the week before the game monument and musuem hopping. Tuesday we took the train out to Versailles, and met two women from Greensboro in a Starbucks. (That was the most American thing I have ever typed.)

Versailles was gorgeous, even in the dull, chilly February air. We audio-toured the Palace, and I attempted to read all the French-only descriptions and labels on all of the paintings of rich, dead guys wearing white-powdered wigs.

Note on Versailles: Louis XIV, the Sun King, was a master of garish detail. Great colonnaded rooms paved with marble. Bronze chimneypieces beneath ceilings so artistically painstaking it caused its unfortunate artist to commit suicide upon it's completion. (Francois La Moyne, exhausted by his task and suffering from depression, do so after finishing the world famous ceiling of the huge Salon d'Hercules. The Salon d'Hercules contains Veronese's Feast at the House of Simon which is 4.5 meters high by 9.7 meters long and kin to the Louvre's The Wedding at Cana, which dominates the wall opposite fan-favorite La Joconde, (or the Mona Lisa.)

Note on Veronese: The Wedding at Cana (housed by the Louvre) and Feast at the House of Simon by Veronese are massive in scale and detail, and you are overwhelmed looking at them. Veronese makes me feel as if I were reading a colossal 'Where's Waldo' book (personal childhood favorite.) If you remember these books, the artist placed dozens of small scenes within the one large spectacle. He was telling the story of tens of small characters, all within that one snapshot of action. Veronese makes me feel a bit like a child looking at that 'Where's Waldo' book. I am trying to find the meaning behind each of the character's actions within that one grande painting. I come away with a new story everytime I look at it.

The rest of the highlight of Versailles, were the 'The Hall of Mirrors.' The Hall of Mirrors is the central gallery of the Palace and is one of the most famous rooms in the world. The principal feature of this famous hall is the seventeen mirror-clad arches that reflect the seventeen arcaded windows that overlook the gardens. Each arch contains twenty-one mirrors with a total complement of 357 used in the decoration of the 'galerie des glaces,' or 'hall of mirrors.'

The gardens of Versailles are situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by André Le Nôtre. In addition to the meticulous manicured lawns, parterres of blooming flowers, and sculptures are the fountains, which are located throughout the garden. Unfortunately for me, the gardens are not in bloom in February, and the fountains are shut off until the weather brings in the large tourist crowds. Despite this the grounds were breathtaking, and I look forward to returning when the weather improves.

To be continued shortly...