Saturday, October 26, 2013 @ 10:49 PM in 2013 Europe
Day 122
We got up pretty early today in order to get to Versailles before the crowds. What we didn't plan for was the main train line from Paris to Versailles being closed. We got to the station and an attendant let us know about the closure and told us a different way to take to get there.
I think we got to Versailles around 11 and got in line for our tickets. We got the full ticket which also included access to the gardens and Marie Antoinette's palace. We packed a lunch and a couple small bottles of wine to enjoy in the gardens. When we went into the palace they scanned our bags and told us we needed to check them. It was a bit chaotic there so we just played the dumb tourist card and kept all of our wine and food anyway.
The first thing we did was the tour of the main palace at Versailles. It wasn't as busy as I thought it might be for a Saturday which was nice. An audio guide was included in the tour so we could hear about what the various rooms were used for.
We were getting hungry so we went out into the gardens and had our sandwiches with some fruit and wine. Our sandwiches consisted of baguettes with cheese, spinach, tomatoes and spiced olive oil. Some bees bugged us for a bit but otherwise it was a great relaxing spot to enjoy lunch in the gardens.
After we ate we went and saw Marie Antoinette's palace which is huge in its own right and also has its own giant gardens. Once we walked through there we drank our second mini bottle of wine at the end of the big pond with a great view of Versailles and the gardens in the distance.
On our way back to the main entrance it started to rain on us a bit but fortunately it didn't last too long. We walked through more of the gardens and saw a little music/fountain show. The gardens were great to walk around in the fall because you get all of the fall leaves and the smell associated with them.
Back at the palace we took a few more photos of the exterior with the dark storm clouds in the background and the palace lit up from the sun. It was a really nice contrast seeing it that way.
It was a little walk back to the train station but we got our tickets and missed the train by about 20 seconds so we had to wait about 15 minutes for the next one. Fortunately it was a direct train into Paris which made it a lot faster than getting to Versailles. When we got to Paris we hopped on the metro to the Eiffel tower to see it at night. We got there at the perfect time. We got some shots of the tower at sunset and then were also able to catch the light show they did at 7pm.
It had been a long day so we headed back to the apartment and grabbed a baguette, cheese and wine for dinner. The area near our place was packed with people out and about and both of us just wanted to get back and kick our shoes off.
Finally we made it back and have just been relaxing and enjoying not being on our feet. Tomorrow I'll upload all the photos we took today. There are some great shots from Versailles and the Eiffel tower.
Teaser photos:
Tags: daily journal, paris, france
Posted from: France