Journal Day 06

06 October 2016

Palace of Versailles 

We went back and forth on going to Versailles or not. I wasn't sure if we'd want one more day in the city. I was very impressed by all we were able to do in the time that we've been there, so I didn't feel like we'd be missing out if we decided to go. 

So we decided to head out first thing in the morning to Versaille, there's a train that heads right there, and the stop was close to where we were staying so it was pretty easy. It was about a 45 minute journey from the time we left our apartment to walking up to the palace. 

I wasn't expecting it to be essentially in the city. When we walked out of the train station there was a starbucks. For some reason I always imagined Versailles in the country side. Which it once was, but I suppose quite a bit has changed since it was first built. 

We bought tickets there and there wasn't any line so we headed right in to view the rooms in the main palace. It is crazy how every inch of the place is decorated. It's really a bit overwhelming. There's a lot, and I believe it took us over an hour and a half to make it thought. We did stop for a break to grab some hot chocolate from Angelina's. It's known quite well and I was glad that they had it there, because we weren't able to get to it. It was delicious, of course. 

Next up, the gardens. Truly, the most spectacular part of Versailles, they go on and on. They have more restaurants on the grounds so we stopped to grab lunch and found a spot in the gardens to eat. 

We walked through the gardens a bit and headed to the other buildings on the premise. We first stopped at King Louie's other palace, which I enjoyed way more than the big one. The architecture was more simple and less overwhelming, it wasn't as busy, and had way more furniture. 

In hindsight, I would have skipped the first one, or just spent less time and go to only a couple rooms. It's easier to say now that I've seen it, but we could have spent less time there. 

The gardens just behind his second home were my favorite. The flowers were still blooming and there was a lovely mix of outgrown almost wild flowers with defined edges. 

I got some photos, but at this time Jordan somehow that it was like three hours later haha! I was trying to get a family photo and he got all frustrated saying we needed to move on. He didn't realize until later that we had plenty of time until everything closed. So we slowed down our pace again. 

We were very excited to see the Queen's Hamlet, a village Marie Antoinette created, because she loved the idea of peasant life. It was so beautifully bizarre. Sadly the main house, her house was being renovated, but we were able to still see the rest of the village. She had all different houses for livestock, gardening, and such. They still had some farm animals there, so we stopped for a bit so Ruby could see them. 

Afterward we took our time wandering around the gardens, getting a little lost. We walked back to the main gardens and stopped for a gaufres with nutella, which is harder than you would like to pronounce in french. I tried really hard, but to me it just sounds like gopher. Jordan made fun and mocked my attempts of trying to say it correctly. It was delicious, it was essentially a waffle, but the best waffle and nothing like I've had before. I'm not a waffle person, so this was our first time getting one, and we are still kicking ourselves for not trying it sooner. 

At the end of our Versailles trip it was around 6 o'clock (the time Jordan thought it was a few hours earlier) and we had spent way longer than we thought we would. We were just thinking a few hours, but we spent the entired day exploring Versailles! 

We got on the train and headed back to the city, stopping Le Marais for dinner. Determined to make our first falafel experience right, we headed there. The initial place we were hoping to go, L'as du falafel was open so we were able to get in pretty quickly and sit down and enjoy some yummy falafel. It was so delicious, and a lot better than the last place we went to, so I am glad that we ventured out again for it! 

Afterward we walked by the Pompidou center that we missed the last time we were there and then stopped the Amorino's across the street. We got another gaufres with gelato and nutella on top! Sooo good! 

We went back home as this was our last full day in Paris, so we needed to pack up a bit. We watched the eiffel tower light up every chance that we could from the view from our window until we went to bed.