At least I got a much more restful sleep Saturday night, because we still had to wake up at 6am on Sunday. No such thing as relaxation when you're trying to fit a city like Paris into 2 days worth of sightseeing. After another super-awesome-delicious breakfast, it was on to the Palace of Versailles.
It was about a 40 minute drive to get to the palace. A 40 minute drive full of our fellow group members talking non-stop about the traffic situations of Paris. Yes, I got it the first time you said, "Oh my god, how can anybody drive like that!?", "Look at that person cutting that other person off!", "You bicyclists/motorcyclists are all crazy!!". I'm very thankful that no one could see the facial expressions I was making. At one point, I rolled my eyes so hard they almost got stuck.
So, we got to Versailles a few minutes before it opened, which was reallllly nice - less crowds!! Now, I never really realized before this trip exactly how much I LOVE learning about French history. I have always loved reading/watching movies about Louis XIV, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, etc. It was awesome being able to have an understanding of the stuff that actually happened inside the Palace, and not just learning about it for the first time while there. So you all know how much of a hippy, past-life, tarot card nutcase I am. So this shouldn't come as a surprise to most of you. But, I am 100%, without a doubt, convinced that I was a courtier at Versaille in a past life. (of which, there were 7000 couriers living in the palace at the time of Louis XIV)
Are you still reading? I didn't lose any readers with that statement, did I?
I'll just make that my last statement on the subject. Suffice it to say, I felt very at home at Versailles.
You know what really really irritated me, though? The number of people on our group who had no clue whether or not they were at Versailles or the Louvre. They seriously did not know the difference. Also - at least 3 people asked, "What church is THAT?!" as we passed by the Notre Dame on our way to Versailles. Yes, the same Notre Dame that we spent 1.5 hours at the day before, and passed 16 times in the bus since.
And now - BACK TO VERSAILLES:
I. Freaking. LOVE. this place.
The grounds were just as amazing as the palace.
One thing I thought was really cool is they have golf carts you can rent to drive all over the grounds, and drive down to see Marie Antoinette's private chateau. But, of course, we didn't have time to do that....stupid group tour.
We also learned a valuable lesson while at Versailles. Josh and I found some really neat things at the gift shop that we wanted - a clock, and a shoe figurine. But, since our next stop was at the Louvre - we figured that it would be better to wait to buy our souvenirs until then. We had seen the clock and shoe at another gift shop earlier, so we assumed that the Louvre (being the size that it is) would SURELY have those items at its many shops. Plus, what if we found something that we wanted better, and we had spent a ton of money on a shoe & a clock...
Of course, as it turned out, the Louvre didn't have either, and didn't have anything else that we wanted as much. Crap.
So, yes, after Versailles, it was on to the Louvre. We had 3 hours to spend there, which SEEMS like a long time, until you realize the size of the Louvre. If you spent 5 seconds looking at each work of art, it would take you 2 full days, and you would have walked something like 35km. True story.
And, at this point, my ankle was close to being toast. I can't complain about that (shock!!) since it did so well up to this point. But the Louvre is easily the most confusing building to navigate through. We got lost in the African/Native American/Central American section for a half an hour - and we didn't even WANT to be in that section in the first place! There are 4 levels to the Louvre, but all these levels inside the levels, with twisty-windy, uneven staircases everywhere. We were rushing around trying to see the "main" pieces, that we barely got to enjoy being in the museum at all. Plus, we were starving, and sweaty, and cranky.
But we still got to see a bunch of cool stuff. ;) The big 3 to see are the Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, and Venus de Milo.
Then, of course, you gotta go outside to see the glass pyramid.
There was so much stuff we missed out on. We got to see the big 3, run up and down the Italian Renaissance section (Josh's favorite), see some Egyptian and Greek artifacts (my favorite) and then run outside to take a photo of the pyramids. By this point, we had 45 minutes left to find the perfect souvenir (which we never did) and eat. I'm only slightly embarrassed that we ate at the McDonald's in the Louvre. At least I got some French monopoly pieces from the food. :)
Then, we make it back to the bus, and of course the bus ends up leaving 15 minutes late because of some of the people on our group not being able to tell time.
I hate to say it, but I was actually kind of glad to be on our way back home. Not because I didn't love being in Paris with Josh, but because the whole thing was just so draining. I wish it had just be us exploring the city. But, you live, you learn.
On the way home, we watched the Kirsten Dunst Marie Antoinette. We own it, and I actually watched it before we came on the trip. But, there was just something about watching it right after our visit to Paris & Versailles that made it that much cooler.
We stopped at the same gas station restaurant on the way home. Not only did we buy some Emmentaler cheetos (they don't have regular cheetos in France, apparently), but I bought a box of the best gas station lemon tarts EVER. I'm sure it's the equivalent of a French Chips Ahoy brand, but whatevs, they were amazing.
And we FINALLY got back to the base at 9pm. And damn was it cold. Paris was at LEAST 10 degrees warmer at night, and 20 degrees warmer during the day.
So, here's a rundown of our trip:
Josh's favorite:
Notre Dame (with Versailles a close second)
Courtney's favorite:
Versailles, hands down
Josh & Courtney's least favorite:
the mall district of Paris. I couldn't possibly care less about window shopping at Dior or Chanel.
What do we definitely want to do next time?
Walk the Seine river. There are so many peddlers along the Seine that we wanted to visit - tons of antique books, and art work.
Go back to Versailles. We will definitely be renting one of the carts next time in order to go visit Marie Antoinette's chateau. Also, we still need to buy our clock & shoe.
Revisit the Louvre. Actually, this isn't necessarily a MUST do for us. We love museums, but the frustration level at this one was off the charts. I want to visit when we have time to be leisurely about it.
Visit Montmartre & see a show at the Moulin Rouge.
Visit Claude Monet's gardens outside of the city. I did that when I was 12, and I remember it being awesome.
Also...if you couldn't tell...we will never ever ever ever do one of these weekend group tours again. Especially not to Paris.
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