Paris- Day 6

We woke up at 9:30 and had a breakfast of eggs, baguettes, hot Coco and Jelly at the café next to the metro station. We also had all of our baggage with us which was very cumbersome and annoying! Luckily we brought small bags in our large suitcases to London so we could have smaller ones on our jaunt to France. Bit they were still ‘nnoying! We took the metro to a RER station (train station) after some last minute Paris shopping. At the station, we were waiting for a bus and I just thought to ask this girl if we were waiting for the right one. She said, “No! That’s the train to Versailles!” against our better judgment, we just jumped right on the train she said to and it started rolling right away! Thank goodness it was the right one! The train took 30 minutes to get to Versailles. When we got there, we got our tickets and lugged our baggage up what seemed like a mile of beautiful grounds! Luckily there was a baggage check there and we were happy. 50 pounds lighter, we were ready!

Versailles

We walked around the palace and were just blown away by the architecture and beauty, but we also kept making fun of King Louis because of his large, frothy, massive, Cher-hair that Steph said looked like it had been parted by Moses. This guy was full of himself! He was super flamboyant, and everything was so over the top and gaudy but amazing at the same time. After Versailles, we took a train to see Marie Antoinette’s “Petite Trianon.” King Louis had given her land to build her own house and getaway area, and this girl had taste! She built her own village “hamlet” with about 12 buildings surrounding a pond.

First – her own house was a small Palace and ornate, but not as gaudy as Versailles. Then we walked about a third of a mile through beautiful gardens and grounds and it reminded me of the East Coast (fall colors, grass). Her “Hamlet” was tucked in through that beautiful walk and they were little thatch-roofed houses. It looked like something out of a fairytale! It was the most spectacular place I have ever seen! (and I’ve been to some pretty beautiful place in my life). I felt like Elizabeth Bennett when she saw Mr. Darcy’s house for the first time. I’d never seen a place more happily situated. The village of thatched roof, country buildings produced things for her convenience. There was a mill, a dress maker, a dairy, farm, and other places that served her and Versailles. The lake was filled with fat ugly fish that these rude French boys were chucking rocks at! (That made me mad and I almost had to smack them down… but this time resisted. Boys will be boys) The place looked like my idea of heaven. I never knew until that time what my dream world looked like, that was it. So, yeh, we liked it… a lot! I will definitely be sending pictures of that.

By then it was time to go, we collected our largish bags and were off to the train station. We went from train to metro to another metro to another. The last transfer was ridiculous!! It was like we were trying to get in to a Michael Jackson concert! It was dangerous, there were so many people cramming to get on the tram. I thought someone would push me over into the tracks. The tram i/*s going over 100 miles per hour and stopping for less than a minute, 3 or 4 people get off and then 5 more try to cram on! We were at the front row for 3 trams and still couldn’t get on. Finally, some people took pity on us with our bags and my pregnancy and helped us push through to get inside. I was so squished in that thing, I could’ve lifted up both of my legs off of the ground and stay exactly put. I started getting dizzy and having a hard time breathing and my poor baby tummy was really being pressed. The worst was that the doors wouldn’t close on one of the cars and so the tram took 20 minutes before it actually started moving! Steph was in some ballerina pose the whole time with an arched back and seriously this black dude behind her kept grabbing her butt!!! I would’ve too, if given the chance- but ew! There was a nice French guy that I talked to about life while we were smooshed together with thankfully my bag between us. He looked and talked just like the “River Monsters” guy on Animal Planet. We were so glad we left with more than enough time to get to our train, we thought we’d be a couple hours early, but between the metro and getting bootys grabbed, we got there right as they were boarding! 3 1/2 hours! When it should have been an hour at most. Oh well, I am grateful I live in a place where I can have my own big car and go where I jolly well choose, but you can't beat the beauty of Paris at night!

We were relieved to get on our Eurostar train where we had nice seats, sit and read a bit. (I am reading the “House of Glass” series now) Steph started reading “Hunger Games”. We took a taxi back and we were SO happy to be back in London in that nice hotel! Steph was so glad to see Jeff again and we went nite nite.