Versailles

Thursday we were all excited to visit Versailles. We tried to get an early start but by the time we got showered, dressed, fed, and walked to the train station, went 3 stops, transfer to another line with a 30 minute wait, took a 30 minute train ride, walked about a half mile, saw a french cafe and were hungry again. So we thought we would stop for a quick salad after seeing how efficient the cafe was in Paris. While we enjoyed our meal, it was not a quick stop at all. It took about 90 minutes from the time we sat down to the time we paid. Ok, so now it is almost 2:30 and we haven't even seen the palace yet.
Time to walk the last quarter mile to the gates, and we were thinking it is good we already have our tickets with the museum pass so we don't have to wait in that line and can just go directly to the security line. We approach the gates and see the enormous line and think, haha, we get to skip that line. Nope, that is the security line! The line starts on the right, loops down and to the left.

Then continues around the courtyard to the left where we enter security. OH BOY! I can already see the steam starting to build up in Eric's ears. Luckily, the line moves pretty fast taking only about 20 minutes.

We enter the royal apartments and I find it fitting that there were some anchovies on my salad niçoise for lunch because we were literally sardines in a can! Ally couldn't even see anything besides the ceiling. It would thin out a little after the first couple rooms but only to the point of not physically touching strangers as you walk. We snapped a few pictures above the heads and tried to get out of there as quickly as possible.

 King's Chamber beginning with Louis the 14th

Queen's Chambers

Finally we get out to the gardens, to fresh air. Oh boy, I glance at a sign and the long lines behind ticket booths. Today is a special day where you must pay extra to enter the gardens because they are going to turn on the fountains and play music. They want to charge 8.50 per person beyond what our pass cost. Wow, are these people trying to ruin my day?

Not wanting to spend the extra money, we hear that we can go outside the gate and turn left and enter the side gate to get to Marie Antoinette's Petite Trianon separately without going through the garden. If only it was as easy as it sounds. After walking about 2 miles though side streets and long tree lined streets, and many attempts and tantrums of wanting to turns around, we finally made it, just in time before they closed.

It was a bit over rated after walking so far but it was tops on Ally's wishlist since she had done a report on Marie Antoinette this year. She was happy so that is all that matters. Luckily we found a mini train to take us back to the front for an additional 3.70 per person. Apparently you can pick up this train from the gardens that we didn't want to pay extra more for. Since the gardens were now closed it dropped us off in the gardens. Here are the views we would have missed. To think any other day besides this bank holiday and we would have entered all the gardens for free. I thought that being a holiday is the reason it was so busy but I was reassured that we were actually lucky because there were no field trips and it is always this busy! Craziness!