Page 2
Matt & Mary's 2nd day in Paris
Passy France December 1776
Benjamin Franklin had arrived in France for only a few days when he
had decided that he was well rested from his journey across the Atlantic. After
some good food and a few nights rest he moved on toward Paris by coach. He took
the time to write to John Hancock before departing to Paris. Franklin writes
that he would avoid taking “ a public character” and try to keep
a low profile, “thinking it prudent first to know whether the court is
ready and willing to receive ministers from the congress.”
France was not a place, however, where the world’s most famous American
would find, nor truly seek, anonymity. When his carriage reached Nantes, the
city feted him a hastily arranged grand ball, where Franklin reigned as a celebrity
philosopher-statesman. To the French this lightning-defying scientist and tribune
of liberty who had unexpectedly appeared on their shores was a symbol both of
the virtuous frontier freedom romanticized by Rousseau and of the Enlightenment’s
reasoned wisdom championed by Voltaire. For more than eight years Franklin played
his role to the hilt. In a clever and deliberate manor, he used his wit and
joie de vivre ( joy of living,
: keen or buoyant enjoyment of life ) the French so adored, he would cast the
American cause, through his own personification of it, the young enlightened
state fighting the corrupted irrational old order.
Once Franklin reached fashionable Paris the celebrity fever had spread to all
corners of the city. His fame was so great that people lined the streets hoping
to get a glimpse of his entry into Paris on December 21, 1776. Every one had
to have a picture of Franklin. Bronze medallions where struck in all size with
his likeness on them. His face was etched onto the tops of snuffboxes and his
portraits were hung in restaurants, hotels and homes all over the city. The
fad went so far as to mildly annoy, though still amuse, the king himself, Louie
XVI.
In England Franklin had set up a cozy household with a surrogate family.
In France he quickly assembled not merely a household but a miniature court.
It was situated, both figuratively and geographically, between the salons of
Paris and the palace at Versailles, and it would grow to include not only the
requisite new family but also a visiting cast of fellow commissioners, deputies,
spies, intellectuals, courtiers, and flirtatious female admirers.
The village of Passy, where Franklin reigned over this coterie, was
a collection of villas and chateaux about three miles from the center of Paris
on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. Jacques-Donatien Leray de Chaumont owned
one of the finest of these estates, a nouveau rich merchant who hoped to profit
on associating him self with the American cause. Franklin’s Passy compound
became America’s first foreign embassy.
Thursday September 15th 2005
Mary and I got up early that morning going down to get some free breakfast that the hotel provided every morning. It was a large buffet with sausages, ham, turkey, eggs, bacon, cheese, croissants, fruit, and bread of all types. It was an impressive spread. As I ate a hardy breakfast Mary nibbled on a banana and some bread and jelly. Breakfast was always a interesting experience. As I sat there drinking my strong French coffee I would listen to a medley of languages from people all over the world. Later that morning before we got picked up to go to the king’s palace at Versailles Mary threw her breakfast all back up in the bathroom. However after she did that she began to feel much better and she got some of her appetite back by that afternoon.
Our guide and driver picked us up at the hotel at 7:45 sharp. His name was Sebastian
and he turned out to be a very good guide. He informed us that we had 3 more
stops so that we could pick up more tourists. We picked up one Italian, two
from Spain and two more from a country that I could not make out. On the trip
out of Paris I tried my best to make small talk to the two Spaniards. They did
not speak any English but I did my best to remember my collage Spanish.
I think Mary and I had a wonderful time at Versailles. It is a place
that every one should go and see if you ever get a chance to visit Paris. It
was only about a 45-minet drive from Paris and we got a chance to see a little
bit of the French countryside as we traveled. I was hoping that we would get
lucky and travel through the French village of Passy but it was not to be. At
best I think I saw a road sign that had Passy on it. I often wondered while
on the road to Versailles if Benjamin Franklin road along these same roads.
This is were the king kept his horses.
front view of the palace
lots of china men here in France
The king's chapel
The hall of mirrors. This is where the treaty of versailles was signed to end world war I
The grand canal
The kings coronation room.
The entrance to the kings. mistress palace
King's mistress palace garden
Notice that the trees are square.
Our tour guide Sebastian told us that the King officially had 4 mistresses. His favorite one lived here.
Mary and I getting our picture taken near the kings mistress palace.
The queen’s château
This place was not far from where the king kept his favorite mistress. It was constructed so that the queen would have a place to go in the summer time.
The food that was grown on the farm near the queen’s château feed the servants at the Versailles complex.
The homes where constructed in the Normandy stile architecture.
