Seriously, I think that was my best night of sleep ever, and after that Jet lag was not an issue. Day two in Paris was Sunday. We tried to get to church but overslept and then couldn't find a way out there in time. Brennan and I decided we wanted to out to Versailles, but my parents had already been on a previous trip and decided to try to go see Monet's gardens, so we went our separate ways. I think Brennan and I caught a train out to Versailles, it was probably an hour or so out of Paris. We arrived in the beautiful little town and walked a few blocks to the Palace. Wow. The Palace is beyond what I ever could have imagined, it is massive and ornate and massive. It was so so crowded, and the line to go inside would have taken several hours so we decided to do the grounds tour. I'm so glad, someday I would love to see inside, but walking the lovely grounds all day was the perfect way to spend a Sunday in France.
Here is Brennan in front of the gigantic palace.
I wish I knew how many hundreds of acres the grounds were. It went on forever, and at the very bottom or end of the palace grounds there was a park with the little river that ran through the palace grounds with cute little cafe's and shops. We probably spent 3 or 4 hours wandering through the grounds. There was one huge, corridor with lawn or water in the middle that ran down as far as you could see and then off to the sides were mazes of endless little forest paths leading to little courtyards with fountains or pools and lakes. Now there are also little shops and cafes and restrooms scattered throughout the grounds.
This is part of the back of the palace
When your back is to the palace, this is what you see
Here is one of hundreds of little fountain courtyards
Here's our Palace of Versailles Selfie
It was all so beautiful and so green. There weren't flowers, but the endless green and hundreds of water features were just so serenely beautiful. It was a chilly day, but never rained. We ate a yummy sandwich of just ham and swiss or maybe provolone cheese on a huge baguette, so simple and straightforward, but so good and filling. We also ordered hot chocolate at one the park cafes and sat under the heater on the patio enjoying the warmth.
After wandering there for several hours, we had heard about Marie Antoinette's farm nearby and decided to walk over there. It was one of the loveliest walks I have ever taken. We followed a little path from the Palace grounds to her farm through rustic little pastures, it was breathtaking!
I wish I had a picture of when we finally got to the farm. The whole property was surrounded by a stone fence and even a dry moat. We had walked for hours now and miles and miles and our feet were tired and aching. We found a gate and entrance to the farm only to find it closed, there people inside, and therefore obviously another entrance but it seems it was on the other side of the huge property. We saw some young adults jump the mote and climb a little part of the wall, so Brennan decided we were following suit. I hated to do it, but I hated the thought of walking several more miles to find an official entrance even more, so down moat we went and up the steep bank and over the wall, the group of young adults were so nice and kindly helped me up. We finally made it in and loved walking around the beautiful country farm with it's quaint little buildings and pastures.
We finally made found our way back to the Palace and then back to the train station where we caught our ride back to Paris. We figured we walked at least 8-10 miles. It felt good to sit for a while. When we arrived back in Paris, I think my parents were napping so we must have caught a tour bus over to the Champs-Elysees where we explored some of the shops and looked for a restaurant that Brennan ate at years before when he found french fries with a special kind of sauce. We wanted some real French cuisine, but most of the restaurants were Italian or German or American! We finally found a little spot and managed to get seated. Fortunately they had English menus, but our waitress didn't speak any English. We had a couple of mis-communications but finally got our food. I don't even remember what I had, but I remember liking it and more importantly Brennan found his sauce! It seems like after that we met my parents somewhere for dessert perhaps and then back to our hotel for another well-earned sound sleep.
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