So after crashing the day before, we got up bright and early to be at Versailles right when it opened. It was a nice train ride down and we got to ride a tram on the way to the train station. That was pretty neat. So we arrived and got to wait outside since we were there super early. We had our Paris Museum passes however on the website it says that during the high season (July and August) they won't honor the passes if they've reached capacity so they suggest getting there early. We spent the ENTIRE day there and even then we could have easily done another day if we had gone a bit slower.
Although actually going in was pretty awesome. They actually had free audio guides so we decided to get them which was probably a good thing given how PACKED it was and the tour groups that were there were super rushed. Oh and we got there on a wednesday....
So the Chateau is GORGEOUS. And huge. And very ostentatious. It was funny because by the end of it I told Drew I could never live in a place like that, it just hurts the eyes. That and you realize that the amount of money that was spent on it could feed a few countries for a while...
Nonetheless, we really enjoyed it! Above is a picture of the chapel where one of the Kings had it made to show how pious he was.
The famous hall of mirrors. It was super long but pretty! P.s. For some reason they decided to have a lot of random modern art strewn throughout the Chateau... and I'm normally ok and pretty open with most modern art but this stuff was just ridiculous especially when in stark contrast to what was next to it.
Drew got a bit annoyed with me for taking so many pictures at first, but then a few days later when I got around to loading them onto the computer he was really grateful that I had taken pictures. HA! Vindicated.
View of the gardens off to one side.
So the day that we went to Versailles was Drew and my 22 month anniversary. I know, we're cheesy and we still count the months that we've been married. But we decided that since our two year anniversary was going to be in Amman, that we might be able to do something nice while in Paris. So we ate lunch at the restaurant in the Chateau. The restaurant was called Le Angelique and it was an experience. Their food options were very snooty and so I got salmon (which made me laugh since that's a North American fish mainly....) with Asparagus and some weird sauce (blech) and Drew got some beef thing with green beans. It wasn't super spectacular however, our desserts were. I mean, just look at the display case!
It was so much fun ordering dessert because Drew and I wanted it all. We hadn't had dessert at the Musee de Orsay and especially since it was our "anniversary" we decided to splurge. So I got the Choc Africain and Drew got the Choc Mont Blac.
This was mine:
And this was Drew's:
At first we were going to share but after trading bites, we both decided that we liked our own better. Which was fine with me since it was absolutely HEAVENLY. I would have paid what we paid for the meal just for that dessert... it was that good. It was SO yummy. It was a chocolate cake with a thick chocolate mousse, covered in chocolate ganache and topped with a little bit of leafing of edible gold.
My goal in life is to figure out how to make that Again.
But back to Versailles. After lunch we went outside and started exploring around there.
This was the view of the grand canal. It was so awesome!
Of course we had to take pictures in front of the famous fountain:
This is looking back at the Chateau from the beginning of the grand canal.
So after walking around a bit, we decided to rent some bicycles since the locations for the Grand and Little Tranions and Marie Antoinette's play village were a bit far away. As it was, it was a good 10-15 minute bike ride to the first place. It was so nice to go along the canal and have the wind whipping by as we biked. It was super fun.
The Tranions were ok, but kinda meh. And we were starting to get a bit worn out. But Drew really wanted to bike to Marie Antoinette's play village so we made sure to do that. It was nice, but we were there for like 10 minutes and then biked back to the beginning of the grand canal and hiked back up to the Chateau.
Drew at the play village
We had such an amazing time and it was super neat to get to see Versailles from opening until (almost) closing.
Another thing we did before we headed back was eat dinner. Our lunch, although expensive, was rather small and as such we were hungry after our day of biking and walking. So we decided to go to an American institution: McDonalds. I actually enjoy going to McDonalds ONCE while in a foreign country just because it's neat to see what the differences are in what they serve. In India, for example, had no beef on their menu and they had a paneer sandwich and a maharajah mac (instead of a big mac). In France it seemed that the beef and cheese was a little bit nicer than in the US. But we also had to get something unique, so we got a chevré wrap. It was actually pretty yummy.
We were a bit tired after such a day and definitely had another early night. Curses on jetlag! At least we were getting over it in Paris and not in Amman.
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