Versailles is a huge palace in the suburbs of Paris. Louis XIV had decided to move his court out of Paris and settled in Versailles which is about 15 miles from Paris. It originally was a hunting Lodge for the earlier kings but was expanded over time. It became a huge compound with the palace, grounds and gardens living quarters for the staff and offices for the government.
To get there you have to drive or take the long distance commuter rail called the RER. The RER lines run underground in downtown Paris and often share the stations with the Metro lines which are only in Paris. The RER line which goes to Versailles has a stop at St Michel which is a block from our apartment so I thought we were set. But Crista saw on the Versailles website that the RER line under the city was closed for maintenance so we had to make other plans. This involved an extra train transfer but it was easy as we were getting familiar with the Metro lines.
We arrived at 11:45a to a crowd that covered the entire front courtyard of the Palace. It wasn't just a crowd but an organized line that snaked around to enter the palace. We had heard that the wait would be at least two hours but we had no other option but to wait. Good thing we packed our sandwiches so we ended up having a picnic while standing in line. I also found a grocery store a few blocks away so I left the line for beverages and chips and would have had time to go back to the store for ice cream or dessert as we did wait in line for over two hours!
Once inside the experience was pretty miserable. You shuffled room to room in narrow walkways and doorways so it was hard to escape the tour groups. The leaders of these private tour groups would push their way through a crowd and the 20 people in the group would have to follow. Even larger spaces like the hall of mirrors were hard to navigate as ladies would suddenly stop, fix their hair, freshen their makeup and take a few selfies. I wish I had a video of that process as it has happened many times during this trip. Our experience was much nicer when we visited 17 years ago during the off-season and had the castle to ourselves.
On the way back to Paris we took a detour and stopped at the Arc de Triumphe. So that tourists don't get killed by the cars there is a tunnel under the road to the Arc. And just like the other destinations there was a long line in the tunnel to purchase tickets. Our Museum pass allow us to skip the line and go directly to the security. We climbed to the top of the Arc using circular stairs similar to the climb to the top of Notre Dame. We had a great view of the action on Boulevard Champ Elysees. Our legs were definitely worn out by the time we got back to our apartment.
After washing up we reluctantly put our shoes back on and looked for a place to eat. Our apartment is on Rue de la Huchette which is full of restaurants and carryout places that offer gyros and crepes. The hardest part is deciding where to go. We didn't have to walk far to find a Greek restaurant with various meats cooking on the rotisseries in the window and the owner standing on the sidewalk convincing us to eat at his restaurant.
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