Day Three

Day Three Years and years of anticipation finally came true when the Palace of Versailles was on the agenda. It was not located in the city center of Paris but on the out skirts. That meant a whole new metro and train station for us to navigate our way through. Once through the metro we had to board the RER C train to take us there, as we got to the train station we saw a train waiting there so we ran towards it to jump on when some French person standing with his accordion yelled at us to stop. We abruptly turned around and he politely told us to catch the next train. All I can say is that we really must have looked like true tourists for him to know that we were going to the Palace of Versailles and that train was not headed there. Sitting on a double decker train we managed to see the beautiful country side which consisted of a completely different style of buildings and houses while being serenaded by our accordion player. We arrived at the Palace of Versailles train station, hoping the Palace itself was close and that we could find some English speaking person to direct us there. Our prays had been answered when we stepped off the platform and into the station, there was this giant sign with an English speaking lady standing underneath a sign board that said Palace of Versailles tickets. Her directions were perfect and her English was the best we had heard so far, another magnet was bought and she charged us twice without us even realizing what she had done, Thankfully she told us and reimbursed us for the second magnet and we were on our way to find the Palace of Versailles the home of King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette before France became a Republic. The sheer size and detailed features on the palace walls were exquisite and the gold was everywhere. Seems to me that no matter where you go the Kings or presidents houses are worth billions and the people of the country are poor. Pictures were definitely a must and this time we were given an Audio translator for each room so we had a clear picture of the entire Palace. It began as a hunting lodge and ended up when King Louis XIV had about 20 000 staff members for his Palace so you can imagine the size of the Palace. It was filled with amazing paintings and some of his paintings were in the Louvre that we saw yesterday. The Hall of mirrors was spectacular with its chandeliers hanging from the ceiling surrounded by the sun bouncing off all the mirrors. His bed chambers that over looked all of Paris and that the palace was all symmetrical. If we thought that the palace was gorgeous the gardens were 10 times better. We gave ourselves the exact amount of time to see the palace as once we were complete with the tour we had to make our way back to our hotel where our city tour would begin when our driver named Philip would collect us. True to our form we got back to Hotel Batignolles a little early so we decided to walk down the street in search of the Moulin Rouge. Looking like a true tourist standing on an island in the middle of the street taking pics of us in front of the Moulin Rouge. Philip finally arrived and gave us a whizz tour of Paris in the comfort of a luxury car, we saw: Louvre, De la Concorde, Champs se Eleese, arc de triumph, courts where Marie Antoinette was sentenced to the guillotine. We got out enjoying taking pictures of the Eifell tower, Notre Dame Cathedral and Mamaete hill where all the famous painters lived. I am really glad we did that tour and got the history of Paris as we whizzed around in our luxuary car. That evening we were headed to the eifel tower to go up it but Jono got a touch of the French Belly so we were delayed and by that time the rain decided to join us after a gorgeous sunny day in the middle of winter. Brian and I set out towards the Champs se Elesse at night. The lights were spectacular and the Christmas vibe was very different to what we are use to. Christmas carols, little stalls decorated aligned the Chaps se Elesse the only unfortunate thing was the rain. Everybody crammed next to one another which the Franch seem quite happy with, weather it is on the metro or standing under a stall. We tried some of the Vin Chaude (hot wine) and some hot chocolate to keep us warm as we were soaking wet from head to toe. The Eifel tower idea quickly fell through as the weather was against us, so we decided to go up the Big wheel and still get our view of the city with its shiny lights and the Eifel tower glowing and sparkling with all its beauty for everyone to see.