Paris Day 7

Wednesday 9/19

Tonya, ever the gracious hostess and best "big sister" got up early, returned the car and then left Momma G and I to navigate ourselves to the St.Michel's metro stop to meet her as we planned to take the train to Versailles. Originally we were going to drive to Versailles but we decided it would be much cheaper and easier to just take the train, only meeting with T at the station was a bit trickier. Unfortunately Momma G and I didn't have any wifi access so we couldn't get in touch with T to tell her where we were as there were several entrances to this station, and not all nearby. We waited for awhile at the top and then eventually decided to go in the station and look for her. T decided to look for us above ground so it took awhile to meet up, but we were all fine and reunited after not too long! We soon boarded the train and settled in for an easy 45 minute ride.

Once we arrived we headed straight for Starbucks to grab lattes and breakfast. (Have I mentioned yet that they don't have pumpkin spiced lattes over here---sadness!) Once our belly's were good and we had caffeine pick me up we walked about 10 minutes down the road to the Palace of Versailles. Oh it was so grand! It is just so amazing to me just how old these buildings are, and what history has taken place in them and here is little ole' me, just loving every minute of exploring them!

There is a really nice self guided audio tour included in the admission and we enjoyed walking around all the lavish rooms with period pieces. Unfortunately there were some very "unique" art designs that sadly obstructed your view of some of the REAL art but several of the pieces were quite interesting. I just didn't think they belonged at Versailles though! I came to see OLD ART, not your weird interpretations of pots and pans modeled as a shoe.

We wandered out into the gardens and made the smart decision to purchase "train" tickets so we could ride out to the Grand Triannon (aka the summer home, quite lavish), the Garden more extensively (about 2 miles long), and the Marie Antoinette Estate which was my favorite as it was built in the English village/manor style and was so idyllic!

After such a wonderful visit to Versailles we thought we'd grab dinner at a local restaurant before heading back into Paris. Sadly, this was probably the worst meal we ate during our trip! So, when visiting Versailles, do not, I repeat, do not eat at the Italian restaurant near the gift shops, it's awful. Moving on, we made it back to the train station, got on the right train, and back into Paris by early evening. The Train, the RER, drops you off near the Eiffel Tower and since we'd been by to take pictures but not yet to visit we decided to scope out the line and see if this would be our night to go up to the top! Ideally I wanted to go around sunset so I could watch the sky change and see all the city lights come on. Well, since this is the trip where dreams come true, this one of mine did and there was hardly a line and we made it up to the top in 45 minutes (or less) just in time for sunset, and with champagne in hand we toasted to yet another lovely day in Paris! Seriously, I probably took 200 pictures from the top, but how can you not when the view is this great and with the ever changing lighting!