Paris – Day Four – Metro Adventures

Different Angles of Versailles

The train’s last stop was Versailles, and seemingly everyone was riding the train to get there.  We walked for about 10 minutes and were greeted by gates of gold.  If heaven could be depicted on earth, those gates could totally fit into that scene.  The line to get in though… disrespectful.  It wrapped around THREE times, and even though we purchased our passes in advance, we had to stand in that disrespectful line… for 40 minutes.  And remember I mentioned us grabbing our coats?  The sun came up (sweet), but the wind told the sun to let it go because he WAS going to show out today… and show out he did.  He also brought along his friend fog to join in on the fun.  Through all the nature nonsense, we still had a beautiful journey though the estate.

Inside the Palace (from top): The Ceiling, Details on Chairs/Tables and the Queen’s Quarters (even she loves leopard)

Versailles expands about 18,000 sq. meters and was occupied from 1692 to 1789 by French Kings.  When the Royal family were forced to leave and relocate, French nobility took over the palace.  Because of how expensive it is, the country of France took it over.  It is estimated that 6 percent of France’s income goes into the up keeping of the Palace every year!  Everything there was pretty much hand crafted.  Imagine all the people, time and effort it took to make this palace as grand as it is today!  To all of my history and art buffs, this place is for you.  Just eavesdropping in on some of the guided tours that were going on, I learned so much about the palace that I just wanted to stay and learn all that I could… just soak up all that information and bask in the glory of the palace.

There was no one thing that was out of place.  Even the trees were perfectly sculpted.  The art isn’t the only sight worth seeing because it has nothing on the landscape and gardens.  We contemplated walking down a side row in the garden, but remembered we were too far away from home to play games.

I know we would have appreciated the palace more on a warmer day, but since Mother Nature wanted to be so rude (and the evening was drawing nigh), we bounced.  We did get to see MOST of the palace, but we would need to go in the warmer months to see everything since some parts were closed and covered because of the weather. #bummer

We took the metro back home, stopped at a “creperie”, and came back to the room to just sit for a minute.  Knowing that we wanted to go back to the Eiffel Tower (and were more confident riding the metro and finding our way around town), we promptly left when darkness fell to catch the lights of the Tower.  I mentioned fog earlier, right?  Well, she still was lingering around, but made for interesting pictures:

Tour Eiffel at Night

We finished our night at the pizzeria right beside our hotel that had the best thin crust with the heartiest toppings ever.  Take a peek:

Veggie Pizza and Hawaiian Pizza – YUM!

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store! Stay tuned!!