Two days at Versailles!

So not so bright and early on Tuesday, we set off for Versailles. I know, I know Rick Steves says Tuesday is not the day to go. Construction in the metro tunnels had us doing detours on other lines…..so finally, 2 hours later we get to Versailles at 12.…bought our 2 day Museum Pass and put the date on it right away……if you come DON’T put the date on right away only at the last minute when you are entering the museum you are first entering!!!….then continued up to the Versaille and see a 3 hour line up!!!! in the sun….not today. We have wasted one day on our pass because Tuesday is the day that most of the other Museums that we would be interested in were closed.

We decided instead to go to the St Martin canals….we had seen them from one of the trains we were on and Sheryl had heard from Brynn that was a good walk…We managed to get to it on the metro (again detour on a bus because of tunnel construction) It was it was a beautiful day and we walked and watched the tour boats in the canal going up the locks. Went to find some lunch about 3:00 and all of the restaurants we went to, the kitchen was closed for lunch! (remember dinner on Monday) so we found a grocery store and put together a picnic along the canal which was really cute.

Got home about 8 and Paul cooked us a nice dinner.

So on Wednesday we started of really early and got to the palace at about 10:00 and were in line about 20 minutes!

This place is over the top….each room is more opulent than the next….it is incredible. Paintings on ceilings, chandeliers, fabrics, mirrors, and everything has real gold on it……it is beautiful.

After shuffling through the castle out we went to the gardens. The palace costs to get into but the gardens are free to everyone. The gardens or rather park is a maze of trees and hedges each opening onto a special surprise of a fountain or statue. We wandered through some of the gardens on our way to Marie Antoinette’s small house, which was way smaller and cosier and than the huge palace. We found some lunch and had a picnic then explored her house and her hamlet…..a little town that she built, just because it reminded her of Vienna and her country roots….but it was a very pretty part of the park. Sheryl and Paul explored it for about an hour while I sat and enjoyed the garden and the hamlet and chatted to people who came to sit down.

We didn’t leave until about 6:00.…and then the trip back home. We are really getting proficient at these trains….still having a bit of problem finding the right track in the station we are in though. Got home about 8 and went to get some barbeque chicken and all of us went to bed early exhausted…about 12 hours of walking

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