Paris - Day 4 - Versailles

Have you ever had 5 blisters on one foot? Blisters on almost every toe, and between some of those toes as well? It sucks… and it hurts… and it makes one very grouchy at the end of a long day of walking. Versailles is on the outskirts of Paris, maybe 15 miles or so, and we had to take several metro lines and a train to get there. Once we (or should I say I) got up and ready for the day (10:30am instead of the scheduled 8:30am), we followed our trusty metro map and scouted out our route. Off of our first metro stop there was supposed to be a connection to the RER C, the train that takes us to Versailles, but they no longer ran the RER C from this metro stop, so we ended up having to backtrack about 7 metro stops to connect with another line which would connect us to the RER C in a different part of town. Luckily, this line connected and we were on our way. Stanley woke up this morning with a cold or some nasty allergy and there is a pharmacy store directly next door to our hotel, so we went in before catching our first metro to get him some allergy/cold medicine for congestion. All the medicines were behind the counter and the pharmacist didn’t speak any English, so it was hard to communicate with her what we were looking for. Finally, after showing her that his nose was stuffy, she brought him a box of Zyrtec and we thought that was perfect! Unfortunately, it seems that this Zyrtec was the drowsy formula though because by the time we boarded the RER C a little later on, Stanley was feeling very woozy. Not off to a good start this morning… me running 2 hours late and Stanley woozed up on French cold medicine. We wondered if we should just turn around and try to hit Versailles on Wednesday instead.

“Nope, let’s do this!” we both said, so onward we went. The train ride to Versailles was much shorter than we expected and the train was packed, so we expected Versailles to be packed, and it was! Luckily, we had our trusty Museum Pass, so we were able to skip the crowds waiting in line to get in and go straight in, but then on the inside, it was also packed which made it difficult to explore the palace. The palace though, is the most impressive palace I’ve seen thus far. It is also the largest palace I’ve explored and it was really cool. Inside the palace, the Hall of Mirrors was my favorite, along with a couple of really cool rooms designed all in marble. I think Louis XVI had an infatuation for all things Roman because a lot of the décor on the inside of this palace, and a lot of the statues of Louis XVI and his buddies are all donned in Romanesque décor and outfits. Stanley could probably tell you all about why it’s like that, but for me, I just liked it… who cares about any of that history stuff anyway?? Just kidding.










Outside of the palace is one of the largest palace grounds in the world. Fountains, trimmed hedges and bushes, hundreds of statues, flowers, ponds, lakes, etc., it is really beautiful. It was super sunny and super hot today, so along our walk of the gardens, we found a little snack shack and ordered an ice cream (which was SOOO yummy) and some sandwiches and ate them in the shade hidden back in one of the hedge mazes. Afterward, we found a nice shady spot on the grass near one of the ponds and took a short snooze in the afternoon heat.






After our rest, we walked to the far end of the gardens to where Marie Antoinette’s estate was. Here you find the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette’s mini peasant village she had built to remind her of home (Austria). This was my FAVORITE part of Versailles and you’ll see why in the pictures. It was so cute and nice and cozy and just drew you in. I loved it and could have just moved in, right then and there. Up the walk from the little village was a cool Roman looking structure called the “Temple of Love”. We took some pictures - Stanley gave me a kiss there – it was romantic :) Ah.










By this time we walked back to the Palace and found a cool pond with a dragon fountain that I thought was really cool, so I snapped too many pictures of the fountain and then we rested in the shade. My neck and face got really sunburned today and silly me, I left my sunscreen back at the hotel. Regarding the walking distance of the day, we figured just around the palace and the palace grounds we walked about 5km, so including the metro stops, connections, and everything else, we probably walked 3-4 miles today alone. All together, in the last 4 days, I’m guessing we’ve walked at least 10 miles if not more. Blisters and sore tendons and muscles… my feet are screaming!!! And there is still more to come.






Tomorrow, we are planning to visit the Museum d’Orsay, Dome Church Cathedral, the Catacombs (and the Museums of Rodin and Picasso if we have time). I’m sure there will be a lot of walking included in those sites as well. Don’t get me wrong, I like walking, and I know it’s good for me, and it helps toward getting thinner and more fit. I just don’t like the blisters and the sore muscles/tendons. ☹ ~Michele

PS – Stanley would post tonight, but he’s in a Zyrtec induced coma on the bed. I hope he feels better tomorrow – it’s no fun to be sick in Paris!!!

PSS - We took some pictures of the room last night to show you how small it is in there. I don't know if you can really get the full perspective, but if you look at the size of the space between the bed edge and the wall, you'll see that it's a very small room with a queen sized bed. And, there's the pictures of Stanley in the shower to show you how small it is in there. I've been calling it our "closet home" and it's been pretty funny. We're not complaining, it's a very nice room and European hotel rooms are generally very small to begin with, so it's normal really, but this one is for sure the smallest yet!