Day 2

It got a little chilly last night with the windows open, but it felt wonderful! I got up at 7:30 and started getting ready. Phyllis woke up when I got my shower. Thanks goodness I brought a dual voltage hair dryer. The one they have in the room would have taken me at least an hour to dry my hair! With both Phyllis and I having to dig through our suitcases and trying to find everything we needed, it took us 2 hours to get down to breakfast.

We ended up making a sandwich to take along for lunch and then headed out for the Gare de l'Est to get our Museum Pass and a carnet of metro tickets. Then we were off to buy our train tickets to Versailles. We got on the RER Line C train...but as we discovered, we got on the wrong one. We ended up getting off the train...getting on another one to go back to one of the stops and then had to walk about a mile to Versailles. We did get to see the quaint little town of Versailles though.

Both Phyllis and I were at the Chateau before...but seeing it again, it was still outrageously opulent!!! Here's Phyllis at the main gate and a picture in the main courtyard. Louis the XIV's bedroom is on the second floor where the three arched windows are located.













The history and architecture is fabulous...with gold leaf everywhere. Typically the gardens are free, but today since they also had the fountains on...they charged an additional 8 euros. Oh well...it was something that I never saw before, so I guess it was worth it.













We also walked to the Grand Trianon, the Petite Trianon and Marie Antoinette's Domaine. Louis and Marie Antoinette used to go to to get away from the limelight of the Chateau. The Grand Trianon was a wee-bit smaller, but still opulent. Marie Antoinette's Domaine was very quaint and country cottage-like. They obviously aren't keeping up with the maintenance on those structures...and you couldn't actually go into her domaine structures.













We left around 7:30 p.m. and got back to the Gare de l'Est around 8:30 p.m. without any incidents. We stopped at a local restaurant and had a bite to eat. Tomorrow we are going to do a little sightseeing in the morning and early afternoon and are going to my see my brother around 5 PM. Well better get some shut-eye so we can get moving early!

Signing off for now...