Wow, when the alarm went off this morning, we were both out cold and that was with an extra hour of sleep because it was "European Daylight Savings." We had our typical French breakfast, which included a divine chocolate chip croissant downstairs in the hotel before meeting up for the group to travel 45 min west of Paris to the Versailles Palace.
Versailles was a Palace built by Kind Louis XIV in the late 1700's because the Louve was "too small" (crazy.)
We learned a great deal of interesting French history and now both want to learn more about that time including more about Marie Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI. We explored her private residence that she retreated to to get away from living at Versailles under such close scrutiny at all times. We saw her "cave" she had built where she could be alone in the darkness. We saw her theatre she had built so she could put on shows for her servants. And finally and most strangely, the "town" she had built on the grounds so she could, in essence, "play commoner" and see what it was like to be a regular towns' person.
At lunch, we ate a a quaint restaurant on the grounds and had the best dessert of the trip! I noticed that all the thin French women, including our tour guides, ate everything on their plates and asked them how they stay so thin? They said it is because they walk so much and never snack between meals... EVER. It must work, it was very rare to see an overweight French person, yet they are always eating super RICH foods, bread and dessert at every meal.
The gardens at Versailles are simply spectacular, the shear magnitude is mind blowing!
On the way back to Paris late in the afternoon, we stopped at the perfect spot to take some Eiffel Tower pictures.
These were the 12 of us that traveled together. We met some great new friends from all over the nation, California, Detroit and Boston.
This was our last night out in Paris. Blake and I went down to the lobby early to enjoy a drink together before heading to George's, a super modern restaurant on the 6th floor of a museum with a spectacular view of Paris 360 degrees around, while we ate! A great ending to an amazing 3 days in Paris!
After 3 days of drinking wine and champagne at every meal, Blake did manage to find a Heineken!
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