Versailles

Conquering Le Metro was a golden moment for me as I'd been beaten by it last time I was here. Eric has always enjoyed mastering the complexities of these systems so it was great team work. The price for both of us to catch the metro and train on a one hour journey to Versailles was €7.10. This is similar to the price of Sunbus in Cairns from Yorkeys Knob to Cairns CBD.

 We were shocked to see hundreds of people in line this had not been the case on my previous visit.  Nevertheless this was no problem as I read my guide book to while away the time.  The history of Louis XIV the Sun King makes a fascinating read and it enriched  our viewing!

Upon entry we first visited the Queens chambers then crossed to those of the King. It's
Impossibile to describe the incredible feeling of seeing such majestic works of art up close and we spent most of our time looking at the incredible works of Veronese and Le Braun. Touching the marble fixtures was surreal to me, imagining the grand members of court doing the same centuries ago.

The Mirror Room with all the chandeliers and windows looking out to the immense gardens was of course our favourite as it is so glorious.  We were in the palace for about an hour with our ears glued to the complementary audio guide. I learnt so much from it and it was good to add to my prior knowledge.

On a marble bench overlooking one of the magnificent water features we dined resplendently on a feast of pastrami,  brie, antipasti and baguette - to the envy of passers by. After our late lunch we caught the mini train to visit The Grand Trianon and The Petit Trianon. My goal was to see the Petit Trianon which was the private dwelling of Marie Antoinette.  Next time I aim to explore The Queens Hamlet.

We caught the mini  train to the Grand Canal where I begged Eric to row me about on the Lake unfortunately he refused, so instead we went into the restaurant which was quaintness personified.  We enjoyed the crispest pearish cider I've ever had. The only downside was that my body was too large for the miniscule seating space and I nearly knocked the table top off when trying to dislodge myself. Luckily Eric is trim so we swapped places. We were entertained by the waiters extremely unpleasant service he was very unhelpful and slammed the cups etc onto the marble table top causing me to have a giggling fit with each slam.

The mini train was a foot saver and we caught it back to the palace where we went for a leisurely stroll through the extensive gardens and saw the cascading water feature that was designed by the character played by Kate Winslett in the movie A Littlebit of Chaos. This movie was the reason I went here in the first place - I am greatly influenced by pop culture because sadly my historical knowledge is minimal.

Catching the RER and Metro back to Hotel de Ville was a breeze and went for a stroll down 'our' street to find a place for our late night victuals. We were not disappointed we shared a cheese platter and the most delicious onion soup unfortunately the portions were so large that I couldn't order confit le canard but luckily for us we are returning in a month!!!