Wednesday

We woke early with a goal to leave at 8:30, Versailles opens at 9:00am. We took the 4 to Saint Michel, and then walked to the train for Versailles. It was a double decker train car that ran along the Seine for much of the way. It was a 15 to 20 minute train ride as Versailles is on the outskirts (Zone 6 it's called). We stopped at Starbucks and then headed for the gates. The line was very long but it only took us 40 mnutes to get in, which wasn't bad considering how long the line looked.

The toilette had a line of women, but men could bypass them to use the urinal. Both men and women share a bathroom but the mendon't need to go into a stall. We toured the Chateau De Versailles first and ended up in the garden (Jardin). The opulence of Versailles forms my first impression: it's no wonder they had a French revolution they used tax payer money to build it. Now people from all over the world come to gawk. The buildings and structures are awe inspring.

The pieces of art, the giant paintings, the size of a theater screen, the lavishly painted ceilings, the gold are beatuful and historic, but man you could have thrown a bone to the commoners.

The most beautiful place in Western Europe in my opinion, from my limited exposure, is Marie Antoinette's nature retreat surrounding her Hamelet at Petite Trianon. The hamlet was made for her. The weatther conttributed to the beauty. The sun was finally shining yet there were still cumulus clouds, and the sky in the far north was threatening with an incoming rain storm.

The kids fell in love with a big fat pig who waddled over and ate flowers out of their hands. There were also donkeys, goats, and big woolley sheep that weren't afraid to come up to the fence for a pat. There were also chickens, hens, roosters, Swans, ducks, and cows. Different varieties. The ponds and lakes were full of fish that swarmed up to the bank and begged you to feed them like a swarm of pigeons. The houses and structures in the hamlet looked like they were straight out of a fairy tale like Snow White. The grass was lush and green with wild flowers blooming. The trees were giant and gnarled and different varieties. There were two vineyards with rows of dormant grapevines covered in buds and ready to explode onto their support lines. There were also large patches of rich soil that would soon be planted with flowers or other vegetation. The trees and grass and sheep, cows, and horses were as far as you could see. There were paths everywhere too. There were some through open meadows and some through trees and shrubs (great for playing hide and seek).

You could take a path back to Petite Triannon and find the temple of love, a marbled column domed atrium with a statue in the middle. Thes was just a small section, perhaps an 8th of the grounds of Versailles. There were also many other gardens and groves. The Grand Trianon, the Grand Canal, Marie Antionette's estate, etc. Three were certain anles where you could look down a straight roadway to the Chateause a mile or so away. By the time we left, it started to rain. We took the train to Saint Michel and had dinner. When we got out of the restaurant the sun was shining again and it was 8pm.