Although November is technically considered “low season” for tourism in Paris, it’s still mobbed with visitors, though perhaps the line-ups move a little bit faster than they do in high season.

The château de Versailles was busy as ever on the day that C and I visited. Several big tour groups arrived around the same time, which made it a bit difficult to visit, owing to the crush of people in each room.

When C and I entered the wondrous “Hall of Mirrors”, I quickly found a spot in one corner, and listened to the commentary on my audioguide. I was busy admiring the stunning hall, thinking about all of the historical figures that passed through it over the last several hundred years, and how incredible it is that the palace was designed and constructed without benefit of computers or modern building equipment. I thought about the important events that took place in the hall, including the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the first world war. I was lost in these thoughts, moved by the magnitude of the importance of the place, feeling very lucky that I was visiting, when suddenly, I felt an obnoxious finger poking me in the shoulder.

I turned to see a woman in a red sweater who mimed rudely that she wanted me to move. She was posing in front of one of the large windows opposite the mirrored wall. I turned in the other direction and saw the woman’s companion holding a camera, looking sheepish and a little embarrassed. In that massive hall, they chose the only spot where a tourist was actually paying attention, learning, and absorbing a little history and French culture, so that Red Sweater could have her picture taken.

She got her picture, and then the two of them swiftly continued their visit, never stopping to admire the hall or the artifacts within, though they did stop at the other end so that Red Sweater could have another picture taken of herself. She may not be able to tell you what Versailles is about, or who Louis XIV was, or why he was important, but hell, she has the pictures to prove she was there.