Paris Is Always A Good Idea: Day Six

I think it's about time to get this trip wrapped up, non?  It's taken me so long to get to day six, and now the pictures I took with my good camera have disappeared.  I'm hoping they're hiding somewhere in my computer files, or maybe the cloud?  I do not understand the cloud, so let's hope they're not there.  For today, I'll have to share what we took with our cell phones.  If you missed the first five days, you can read about them here, here, here, here, and here.

We woke to another warm, sunny day, perfect for a trip out of the city to visit Versailles. Having finally figured out the train situation, our plan was to arrive early to avoid the long lines to get into the Chateau.  Success!

Standing outside, waiting for the doors to open, and taking in the opulence of the outer chateau, it wasn't hard to imagine why there was a French Revolution.  I can see the peasants' point.

The Queen's Wing was closed for renovation, so we toured the other half of the chateau fairly quickly.  The Hall of Mirrors was breathtaking.

After grabbing a picnic lunch to go at a cafe, we headed out into the gardens.

In the distance you can see the Grand Canal.  In Louis XIV's time, authentic gondoliers, imported with their boats from Venice, lived in a little settlement next to the canal.  Today you can rent rowboats and sing to yourself.

We wandered around the gardens, finally stopping for our picnic lunch.  There are beautiful pictures somewhere, if only I can find them.

After eating we made our way to the Trianon Palaces and the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette.  Back in the day, Versailles was an escape from the pressures of ruling a country.  But as the Chateau became busier, Louis XIV needed an escape from his escape, so he had a smaller palace built out in the north 40.  Later generations expanded the area and added Marie-Antoinette's Domaine.  All sorts of shenanigans went on out there.

The palaces and gardens here were intimate and even more beautiful.  If I ever build a palace for myself, it shall be made of pink marble.  

There was a grotto, and a hamlet, and a Temple of Love.  Damn, I wish I could find my pictures!

Exhausted from our day of pretending to be French royalty, we caught a train back to Paris. There was an epicerie fine in our neighborhood, with yummy looking salads and meats in the window, so we stopped in for some dinner goodies. After smiling at our terrible French, the owner asked where we were from.  It turned out that he and his husband had honeymooned in Seattle many years ago, so we spent an hour talking about all things Pacific Northwest. 

After dinner and a few glasses of wine on the terrace, it was off to bed.  Tomorrow I had a date with Mona.