Un jour a la Chateau Versailles

Paris has this great deal on the first Sunday of every month, where practically all the museums, monuments and other attractions are free. Since Versailles is one of the most expensive of these (18€ a pop!) we decided to take advantage of the freebie on Nov 4th and visit the famous palace.

We were joined by Lina, a friend of Kevin and Walter's from Germany, studying at the Sorbonne, and her brother Timo who was visiting. We took the RER train out to Versailles (unlike my last time visiting, I paid the proper fare this time), arriving around 11:40. After a round of coffee, we found a little grocery store to add to our picnic fare (they had an olive bar. It ruled), stopped in at a boulagerie for a baguette (90 cents. So awesome) and arrived in the palace courtyard at around 12:15. It appears many people shared our grand idea. The line of these people snaked around the courtyard several times and appeared to be at least 2 hours long. Onto plan b!

The lineup for the gardens was literally non-existant, and as I'd visited the palace before but not the grounds, I was totally fine with the change of plans.

The Gardens

Posing in the sunlight

I could list several synonyms for the word "massive" and still not do the size of those jardins justice. Absolutely colossal. And also stunningly beautiful! There was a "grand canal" in the middle shaped of a cross that started at the chateau and then expanded almost as far as the eye could see. Around the canal the gardens were organized into lovely tree lined lanes and courtyards. There were fountains and statues everywhere.

It took us about an hour and a half to walk down one stretch of the canal, where we met up with Mark and some more student friends, these ones from Italy. We took a break for our pique-nique, which felt quite quintessentially Parisian to me. A bottle of red wine of course. We had figs, plums, oranges and bananas. Fresh olives, salami, baguette and briiiiiiie! Such lovely brie. You can get a wheel here for 2€ the same size as you'd pay $15 for at home.

BAGUETTE!

I allowed myself one small piece of fresh baguette and momentarily ascended into gastronomical heaven. After our nice little picnic, we parted ways with Mark and the gang and continued along just the 5 of us who had arrived together. We went inside the "Petit Trianon"- a summer castle Marie Antoinette enjoyed all to herald. It was what you would expect- a lot of grandness, but on a lesser scale than the main chateau.

Our next stop was Marie's little village she had created so she could feel normal, which was definitely a highlight of the day. It was just so adorable with its little thatched roofs and cute knobby fences! There were even operating vegetable gardens and a field filled with goats and geese and two strange looking highland cows. I fed an adorable baby goat.

Cute little fella

Such a rebel.

After the village we parted ways with Lina and Timo and continued on to the "Grand Trianon". It wasn't anything that special really, except that it boasted some exquisite views of the garden. Man, last time I was at Versailles I had no idea any of this stuff even existed!

We made our way back down the canal (had to jump a fence like a bad ass to get there) and to the main palace around 5pm- the last admittance. We basically blitzed through the first floor of the chateau at lighting pace, but we saw the hallway of mirrors, which was my fave from last time anyways, so I was satisfied.

Petit Trianon from afar

We couldn't be bothered with the evening onslaught back to Paris on the RER, so we killed an hour at the Starbucks in Versailles, leaving around 7pm. Walter made a yummy dinner for the three of us that night, and after a game of "Ticket to Ride" we said our good nights and went to bed!

Next up is a grand museum day. Get pumped.