Day 25: Versailles and Paris, France

This morning we did the three hour drive from Brussels to the general area of Paris in France. Instead of going right into the city, though, we decided to spend the afternoon touring the famous Versailles Palace, started by Louis XIII, expanded by Louis XIV, and finished by Louis XV (more or less).

We got there around 2:15 pm. First, we drove around for about 30 minutes looking for appropriate parking. Then, we got in our first line of the day, to purchase tickets. We decided to skip the gardens and just see the palace (we were able to see some of the gardens from the windows of the palace anyway). That line took about an hour.

We then saw the REAL line, the one to get inside the palace. It was super huge, winding back and forth through the enormous courtyard in front. We stood there for a minute, silently feeling the depression kick in and realizing that by the time we actually got into the palace, we might be dead.

So I now admit that we were a bit naughty: We simply walked right up to the entry, flashed our tickets, and walked in. No one in the line stopped us. The guards didn't stop us. So we just went in. It saved us the two hour line in the hot sun. We don't regret it. We then had to stand in another line, about 30 minutes, for the audioguides. Seriously, Versailles? By this time I was starting to get hungry for dinner, and that just got me thinking about eating cake... you know, 'cause it's Versailles.

So by the time we finally got in, we were ready to see some opulence. We weren't disappointed. It's pretty fancy in there, with lots of gold, paintings, etc. Actually a lot of the paintings on display are original old paintings by famous people, but they are the thumbnail sketches of really huge paintings that they later put on ceilings, parts of the palace we aren't allowed to see, etc. There's a decent little history lesson next to each thing where they teach you about the different Louis-es, French artists, etc. The entire thing took around four hours.

We then drove to our hotel, which is near the airport, so we had to figure out the Metro system into the main part of town. I asked the woman at the hotel desk how to get into downtown Paris. She said, "Take the shuttle from the hotel to the airport. That will cost five Euros. Then you take the tourist train from the airport to the Eiffel Tower. That costs fifteen Euros." What the who? Twenty Euros?? For each of us? Each way??? No thanks.

So we just went to our computers and Googled how to get from the airport to the Eiffel Tower. In about twenty seconds we got the local instructions and did that, which consisted of driving to a local parking lot for the Metro and taking three trains in. We bought a booklet of 10 tickets for a total of twelve Euros.

We took the trains to the Eiffel Tower and had dinner there, looking up at the tower during sunset, and we watched the lights on the tower become brighter as the daylight faded. It was very nice. Tomorrow, we'll take a bus tour of the city, where I hope to see the Arch de Triumph and Notre Dame.

Photos below are the main gate into Versailles and the Tower, just after sunset.