Observation of the Day: The early bird gets the palace, gardens, golf cart, & cold!
HM & VM: Another early alarm jumpstarted our day as we got dressed and packed for a mini outing to the Palace & Gardens of Versailles, the principal royal residence of France from 1682, under Louis XIV, until the start of the French Revolution in 1789, under Louis XVI. For HM, the gardens were another item on her bucket list & she was enthusiastic to adventure there (even with the early wake up call), whereas a more ambivalent VM was just along for the ride.
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| Just a quaint little spot...NOT. |
We grabbed the Metro to the train station and boarded our train by 7:30am. Upon arrival, we were both hit with a startling revelation when we exited the train in Versailles—it was significantly colder than Paris has been & we were both dressed for the summer. VM, slightly more practical than HM, wore jeans but a light t-shirt, while HM had picked a sleeveless & pantless romper—BIG mistake. And due to the early hour, not a store in sight was open. So shivering we went.
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| It pays to arrive early. We practically had the place to ourselves. |
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| The large Versailles palace you see in pictures is just half a mile from this train station. |
Versailles is only a forty-minute train ride from Paris. In addition, the Palace of Versailles is only a quick half-mile walk from the train station. In fact, we were both surprised to find out the face of the Palace is encompassed by the town of Versailles, which contradicts the images presented in many depictions of Versailles and, more importantly for HM, Epcot’s Impressions de France. Fortunately, we soon found the iconic Versailles images we were familiar with were at the back of the palace & its surrounding gardens—& it’s as beautiful as we both expected.
Because of our early morning start & indifference to visit the inside of the Palace (while it may sound pretentious, we have seen many lavishly gilded old places before), we were able to experience the gardens & back of the Palace just as the kings did so many years ago -- we virtually had the place to ourselves.
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| Although an overcast day, you can still see how splendid the Versailles gardens are! |
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| The view towards the palace from down below. |
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Welcome to my crib! 
At 10am, we were able to pick up a golf cart, complete with a GPS-triggered British narration, which allowed us to enjoy the entire estate, its gardens & surrounding sites in a fun, efficient manner. However, before we could start our self-guided tour, we needed sustenance. Also, as was noted before, HM was still freezing.
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| I knew I'd like this spot as soon as I saw these fabulous cement tiles! |
Because we were already on Versailles grounds, our restaurant options were limited & paralleled theme park prices, but we decided it was worth the expense. We found a quaint French bistro that served warm Irish coffee & the most expensive Coca Cola you will ever find (although HM defends it was the best sodas she has had the entire trip.)
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| HM sporting her shawl & channeling her inner Marie Antoinette in front of her residence! |
By this point, the souvenir shop had opened & HM went off to find a sweatshirt while VM got another coffee. VM had just set out to find HM when she turned the corner, & found HM styling a new leopard print shawl, apparently channeling her inner Marie Antoinette, as the gift shop didn’t have any sweatshirts. VM nearly fell to the ground with laughter at the sight.
We continued our tour of the gardens moving at a snail’s pace as the golf cart had two speeds: slow and slower. We got another case of the giggles as we very much felt we were like all the people we see going around Disney on electric scooters or in a famous Seinfeld episode with George. That’s about as fast as we were moving. For safety’s sake, we’re sure it was done on purpose, but it was still comical.
Along our route, we stopped to watch one of Versailles’ well-known musical fountains, where the water dances to classical tunes. While we really enjoyed the show, the best part was the little mama duck-like bird we encountered. First, she seemed unfazed by the show itself, next, we noticed she was swimming right towards the center of it, with a wood stick in her bill, as she was building her nest at the very center of the fountain. She was adorable to us although I’m not sure anyone else even took note of her. She made our day (see pics below of our feathered friend.)
About midday we returned the golf cart and headed out. We were again thankful for sacrificing some sleep to avoid the crazy crowds.
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| Was VERY HAPPY to avoid these crowds. |
We headed back to Paris and spent the rest of our day picking up some souvenirs and enjoyed our neighborhood gastro-pub for dinner. It was a nice ending to our lovely day.
Random Pics of the Day
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| Mama was unimpressed with the show as it started. |
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| She then valiantly swam, stick in mouth, to her mid-fountain nest. |
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| After placing her stick, she stood throughout much of the fountain show. |
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| And then finally decided it was time to sit! |
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