Versailles: Oct. 16th

We woke up early and set off for Versailles with our friends Colin and Rebecca. It was a quick 30-minute train ride from Paris. We arrived at the station and realized there were no lockers available to store our backpacks. Fortunately, clever Ben found a grocery cart in the station. It was funny spectacle – Ben rolling the cart clumsily down the stairs to the exit, then placing all of our bags in the cart and rolling it down the street towards Chateau de Versailles!

We arrived at the castle and were instantly impressed with the size and appearance of it. There were 3 large wings to the castle – each at least the length of a football field. Behind the castle were the royal gardens which stretched for miles! Down the middle of the gardens were beautiful fountains and a man-made pond which rowers enjoyed. Tucked away in one corner of the estate was Queen Marie Antoinette’s getaway villa and estate. We didn’t have the opportunity to make it out there. Inside the chateau, there were 2-story high rooms with beautiful paintings all around – on most of the walls and all over the ceilings. In addition, there was an abundance of gold in every single room we ventured into and large mirrors in many of the rooms. There was one hall called the Hall of Mirrors. There were mirrors lined up along the walls for the entire hall – pretty interesting. Ben’s favorite room was the Hall of Battles – featuring 2-story high paintings of French battles from 700 to the late 1800s.

After Versailles, the four of us decided to partake in happy hour at the Tex Mex restaurant right next to the train station. That’s right. TEX MEX – in France!!! Each one of us ordered mojitos and we enjoyed nachos and queso fundido.

We took a late train back to Paris and then went our separate ways at one of the stops. Ben and I took a late train to Caen (Normandy) and finally arrived at our hotel at midnight! What a day!