We ate another delicious "American breakfast" i.e. four croissants for me and checked out of the hotel right on time. Tom did some amazing Parisian driving (only thought I was going to die 2 or 3 times) but we made it safely through the traffic and to Versailles Palace. Oh. My. Word.
We did the customary bag check and metal detector (gotta love security theater) and grabbed audioguides for a tour through Louis XIV's state apartments. You know what...I took like 2 pictures. There was absolutely no way for me to try to photograph the amazingness. I mean, I wanted to. It would have been awesome. Tom took a few. But just...it was really hard. Plus also it was crazy and I mean crazy crowded. Soooooo many people.
After the state apartments we went and saw the apartments of two of Louis daughters. Interestingly because the French were Catholic there weren't a whole lot of eligible princes or even noblemen for his daughters and he had lots so these two never married. Their rooms were quite amazing.
After a little gift shopping it was out to the gardens which were so incredibly...formal. So tailored and crisp. Interestingly there was not a flower to be found which I thought was kind of strange. But the little pools and the trimmed trees and paths were lovely lovely lovely to walk in. And walk we did. For a long way. We wanted to get to the Grand Trianon which is part of Marie Antoinette's Estate and we made it but it was far. And Mom was so patient about her poor body. When we made it to Grand Trianon it was NOT OPEN YET. Apparently I should have looked closer at the opening times. But we did get to go through. So much smaller but still incredibly lovely.
After much consideration of many options we decided to get sandwiches and eat there at the Petite Trianon (next door to Grand) and then take the electric train back to the beginning as people's bodies were starting to just be really done. We all ate chicken cesear sandwiches and Diet Coke and ate on this lovely patio in the gorgeous sunshine and it was just...one of those moments. The peaceful wonderful ones that you know will be there when you need it. And it was followed by some of the best chocolate ice cream I have ever had. Ever.
The electric train was quite the thing. Quite the bumpy loud swervey thing. Glad when it was over. Finish with another gift shop and off we went back to the car to drive back to Calais to end our French adventure. Oh and what an adventure.
Due to some traffic we barely and I mean barely made our train. We actually were all in the bathroom when the car line started moving to board so there was some hustling there I tell you what. After the tunnel I was super super hungry so we found a Pizza Hut and had delicious dinner. I drove the rest of the way home while Tom took a rest. And then we were home. It's good to be home.
