July 17, 2009

Today was another fun train ride experience/adventure. We left this morning around 9:15 for Versailles. It was nice to take the train because up until that point the only transportation sight-seeing we were able to do was either underground in the metro so basically nothing, and inner city sights so we couldn’t really cover much ground. But being on the train really gave us a broader understanding of just how large of a city Paris is. Once the train took us farther out of Paris the landscape was gorgeous. The last stop on that train was Versailles. We walked a few blocks and then bam there was Versailles. It was larger than I had thought it would be. We met up with our tour guide named Sid and he apologized for being late and we began our tour. We went through all the rooms in the Palace and Sid explained to us the history of Marie Antoinette and Louis XIV. The rooms we saw were so beautiful and designed to the max with baroque style. The views from the Palace looking out into the gardens were great and the gardens seemed to go on forever. We then exited the Palace and went out into the gardens and looked at the fountains and sculptures that lined the walkways, and everything was groomed perfectly. We stopped at a central point in the middle of the gardens called Petite Venice and there was a good sized body of water where you could rent a boat and paddle around. There were also a few restaurants to eat at. So we took a break and rested our feet and shoved some food. Then Sid wanted to show us Grand Trianon which was a smaller chateau away from the Palace of Versailles where Louis XIV would take his mistresses. We toured through this area and I was actually a little more impressed with Grand Trianon than I was with Versailles. A little bit farther than that we went through another woodsy area and came upon Marie Antoinette’s retreat. This was the place that she would take her children to escape the Palace and relax. It was a nice area with her own private theater and her own hamlet. The hamlet was the cutest little village area with a dairy and a tower by a small lake where they would fish. This area had immaculate gardens I was have tempted to snatch up some tomatoes and carrots but I resisted. After we toured this area we were on our own and the storm clouds were moving in fast so Erika and I took of and surprising enough we only got moderately drenched from walking a couple of blocks in the rain. I fell asleep on the train ride back to Paris and before I knew it we were there. We went home and relaxed and checked some stuff on the internet and then we went to get some Mcdonalds ba da ba ba ba I’m lovin it. That was about all that happened that day we decided not to go out that night and just took it easy.