Wednesday September 3:

After our…shall we say “busy” Tuesday, we afforded ourselves a bit of extra time to sleep in- but not much! We originally planned on waking up at 6:30, but we decided that 7:30 would be best. Yeah..we didn’t quite make that either…We were were out the door by 8:30 at least! Our feet led us down the familiar path towards the nearby Saint-Lazare Metro station. However, we first made a detour to the main Saint-Lazare train station to purchase some to-go (“à emporter”) croissants for breakfast. We made our way down the various escalators until we reached the Metro level. We returned to our good friend the green Metro ticket machine to purchase two Mobilis passes (Zone 4, this time!). Our destination? Versailles. Yes, it was time to brave the crowds and see what the elegant palace could offer.

Our Mobilis tickets gave us the ability to travel anywhere within Zones 1-4 for the entire day (Versailles is located comfortably in Zone 4). We took Metro 13 to the Invalides station where we transferred to the RER C line that was destined for “Versailles-Château-Rive-Gauche.” Be careful when picking a RER C train here- there are several different routes that are possible. Only one will take you directly to the Versailles Château (Versailles-Château-Rive-Gauche).

We settled in and watched the Parisian suburbs pass by as we munched on our croissants. The train ride took about a half-hour, and we arrived around 9:30. When we stepped off the train, it was pandemonium. People were all practically running in the same direction towards what I could only assume was the Palace of Versailles. We quickly followed the hordes for about a block. We turned a corner, and wham!- The Palace of Versailles hit our field of vision with a golden flash. Needless to say, it was impossible to miss. After another block, we were at the gates- along with every other tourist in a 100 mile radius apparently. Once again, we used our 6-day museum passes to enter (today was the last day on the passes). The passes really came in handy here because we did not need to wait in the very long line for tickets that snaked around the plaza. The security line was actually nonexistent, so we quickly passed through into the relatively-empty entry courtyard.

Well, that did not last long. As soon as we entered the Palace itself, the crowds reappeared. We meandered through the interior in a huge mass of humanity. I imagine that what we saw-The Grand Apartments, King and Queen’s Bedchambers, and Hall of Mirrors would have been incredibly impressive if they were not chock full of people. The “Hall of Battles” was probably my favorite room because it featured grand paintings of famous French battles through history- From Pre-Charlemagne to Napoleon. Megan was not much of a fan, but the noticeably fewer people there was a welcome change. After about an hour inside the Palace, our mild claustrophobia got the best of us, and we ventured outside. Despite the crowds, the palace was still definitely worth our walk-through just for the historical perspective.  Ok, there is too much to write about that subject here, but in case you slept through history class…Versailles Palace was originally a hunting lodge château (sound familiar?), but it later became the seat of French royalty as well as the symbol of Bourbon monarchical power from 1682 until the revolution in 1789.

It was nice to be outside! The weather was beautiful, and the Palace grounds were impressive. We first walked around the upper gardens. These gardens are the only ones on the main Versailles grounds that have flowers- the area is just too large to maintain any other flower gardens. From here, we also enjoyed the great long range views. The Palace is built on a hill, so the grounds are laid out in the lower elevations in three different directions- offering great views.

With the whole day ahead of us, we decided to explore as much of the grounds as we could. Since it was a Wednesday, entry to the gardens/grounds was free. However, all of the fountains were turned off (or under construction!), so we basically had nice statues and sculptures to view amid the calm water pools that were seemingly everywhere. We walked down to the Grand Canal, which was a major crossroads for the gardens. The majestic Apollo fountain was located here, and even though it was not running, it was still very memorable.

There were still a lot of people about the gardens, but the expansiveness of the grounds made it feel like there were not many people at all. We walked along one of the tree-lined pathways to the Grand Trianon. The Grand Trianon is an elegant marble building that was built to provide the royalty with a bit of a reprieve from the carefully controlled nature of life in the Palace. (Read: Mistresses galore…probably). Today, this building serves as a museum of sorts for permanent and travelling art and historical exhibits. Unfortunately, we arrived about 45 minutes before the Grand Trianon opened at noon. We could have waited around until it opened, but what a waste of time! Instead, we wandered all the way to the back of the Grand Canal and enjoyed the peaceful solitude of this area of the gardens that very few people ever see.

Our 3km walk  brought us back through a small forest to the Grand Trianon- which opened shortly thereafter. We used our museum passes yet again to enter the building and gardens. There was a very interesting exhibit about French Naval history inside the building, but the true highlights of the place were the Grand Trianon gardens. The marble of the Grand Trianon mixed well with the hedges and flowers (Ok, so I suppose I lied when I said there were no more flowers- although one could consider the Trianon Gardens to be separate from the main Versailles Gardens…They have a separate entrance at least!)

From here, we took the short walk over to the Petit Trianon which was actually the entrance to Marie Antoinette’s estate. This area also required an entrance ticket, but our Museum Pass performed valiantly yet again. The Petit Trianon was a very strange little building that was built for Marie Antoinette to have a place to stay away from the Palace from time to time. I say strange, because the architecture seemed out of place, and the furnishings were much more modest than we had been seeing in the Palace and even the Grand Trianon. Marie Antoinette spent most of her time here and in the “hamlet” that was built for her nearby. (More on that in a minute!)

Just a short walk behind the Petit Trianon led us across a babbling brook to the sight of a whimsical-looking “village.” This village was quite picturesque, and it would not have appeared to be out of the ordinary in some bygone era- except that it had an odd tower overlooking the pond adjacent to it. The whole thing reminded me of something out of a theme park…and really, that notion is not that far from the truth! This “village” was of course the Queen’s Hamlet. Marie Antoinette had this whole area built exactly to her liking so that she could have an even better “escape” from Palace life. The Queen would spend many days here with her friends putting on plays and playing at “peasant life.” However, even though this hamlet was purely contrived, it did serve some purpose other than a hideaway. There was a working farm on the property that actually supplied produce to the Versailles kitchens. This area of the estate was the best part of the whole visit to Versailles- hands down.

The hamlet, with its houses, gardens, and thatched roofs really did seem to be like something out of a storybook. It was enchanting. We walked along the lake and admired the little village until we reached the farm. I had not expected to see such a menagerie of animals there! Rabbits and Roosters, Peacocks and Pigs, Chickens and Goats and even Guinea Fowl all lived together in harmony on that farm. For some reason, we couldn’t stop laughing at it all- we loved it! (Though perhaps we were finally beginning to go crazy from all of our nonstop adventuring…)

As we left the farm, we realized that we were incredibly hungry. Luckily there were several dining options on the Versailles grounds. We were not being too particular, so we sat down at a semi-crowded restaurant near the Grand Canal called “La Flotille.” I would have said that it was nothing special, but the frites were exceptional!

At this point, we had seen all that we had hoped to see at Versailles. We made one last turn around the upper gardens and walked to the exit.  Retracing our steps from earlier, we found ourselves back at the RER Station in only a few minutes. The RER C train to Paris was waiting at the station, so we did not have to wait very long to start our journey back into Paris.

It really was a beautiful day, and since the RER C line stops right by the Eiffel Tower, we got off at the Champ de Mars- Tour Eiffel station to snap a few more pictures. I wanted to capture the Parisian icon with a brilliant blue-sky backdrop to compare with our cloudy/rainy pictures from earlier in the trip- and I was not disappointed!

To be quite sappy and cliché, there is just something about Paris in the sunshine that is good for the soul. From the tower, we walked all the way back to Place Joffre (and the Military School) and then followed the Avenue de Tourville past the beautiful golden dome of L’hôtel des Invalides. We were not aimless wanderers, however. Our destination was close: The Rodin Museum.

Just across the street on the corner of the Boulevard des Invalides and Rue de Varenne is the home of some of the greatest sculptures in the world. When we first arrived at the Musée Rodin, we saw that there was a very long line outside along Rue de Varenne. We initially got in the back of the line. However, on a hunch, I went to the front of the line to ask if there was a separate line for museum pass holders. There was not a separate line, but with our passes, we were actually able to skip ahead of the entire line- even better!

The first building just housed the bookstore and security checkpoint. The “real” museum actually began just outside in the courtyard. I had expected to visit these priceless sculptures in a safely-protected indoor gallery, but to my astonishment I was immediately face-to-face with Rodin’s famous sculpture, “Le Penseur” (The Thinker) outside. It was a surreal and fantastic experience to see this masterwork outside in the sunlight. It was also much larger than I expected. Other sculptures dotted the courtyard landscape- most notably Rodin’s “Gates of Hell.”

We walked around the beautiful building that acted as a centerpiece of the grounds. (We later discovered that this was the famed Hôtel Biron, which dated back to 1731 and wore many hats though its life including private mansion, government building, boarding school, and boarding house). We would go inside later. For now, we were content to leisurely stroll through the outdoor exhibits while the sun was still in the sky.

The inside of the Hôtel Biron had been superbly renovated into a two-story museum. There were many Rodin works to be found within, but there were also some hidden gems from Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, and Camile Claudel.

In all, it took us a little over an hour to see the impressive and beautiful museum. The consensus at this point was to go back to the hotel to relax before dinner. For some reason, we could not locate the entrance to the nearest Metro station- Varenne, so we walked north for a few blocks until we reached the entrance to the Invalides Metro station as an alternative. While riding Line 13 to Saint-Lazare, we both simultaneously thought that some ice cream would be a good idea. Luckily we did not have to walk far. Pomme de Pain across the street from Gare Saint-Lazare had some tasty frozen options on the menu. With our snacks in hand, we took our time in walking back to our nearby hotel.

Even though we had not seen too many “sights” that day, we had still walked a looooong way, so it was nice to rest up at the hotel for a few hours. Plus, we were able to watch some more French television- which is always fun! We were a bit nervous about our dinner plans because we had been unable to make reservations at the restaurant that we planned to visit that evening. This was not due to lack of trying! It appeared that the restaurant was simply never open during daytime hours for calls. Even the fantastic staff at our hotel (Hotel Wilson Opera) were unable to track them down. No matter- we were just going to show up and hope that we would be able to get in.

We left the hotel shortly after 7 to try to make it to the restaurant before the big dinner rush. We walked to the Europe metro station this time and took Line 3 to Villiers where we switched over to Line 2 in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe. We exited the Metro at Ternes station, and after a quick minute to get our bearings, we set out in search of a small little restaurant on Rue de l’Étoile called “La Cantina Chic.”

We had read nothing but good things about this small Italian restaurant, and we were relieved to see open tables inside. (However, we were lucky because all of these open tables except two were actually reserved!) We were warmly welcomed into the clean and well-decorated restaurant and we sat down at the table by the window. The restaurant smelled amazing. We ordered a bottle of wine and a settled in for what would be one of our “Top 3” meals of the entire trip. The service was friendly and on point, but the food- oh the food! I will tell anyone who will listen that my Mushroom Pappardelle with was the best pasta dish I have ever had (and quite possibly the best overall dish I have ever had). I think the truffles made it exceptional. I cannot express to you enough how much I wish I could eat that dish tonight. I even seriously considered returning to La Cantina Chic before our trip was over, but Megan made a good point that we should try as many restaurants as we could. She was not as completely infatuated as I was with La Cantina Chic, but she still considered it a strong “Top 3” to compare with all of our meals. Our dessert of choice was the Tiramisu- which was (I-sound-like-a-broken-record alert!) also the best Tiramisu that I have ever eaten!  By this point, the entire restaurant was full, and the proprietors had to even turn some people away. I seriously felt bad for those poor souls.

We had planned to go to bed (somewhat) early again that evening due to an early wake up planned for the following morning, but first we had one more thing that we wanted to do. The clock was ticking on our museum passes- we only had 3 hours or so left to use them. But what would be open at 9pm? The Arc de Triomphe of course! Yes, we had already visited this iconic monument- but that was in the daytime. This time we would be able to take in the city sights at precisely my favorite time of day in Paris- sundown. So, underground we went to the security entrance. Trying to not be too sad that we were using our museum passes for the last time, we bounded up the many, many stairs straight to the top. The views, as always, were incredible! 360 degrees of uninhibited views of the Parisian nightlife are hard to beat anywhere. The sun had already set, and the last vestiges of gloaming light could be seen behind the grand arch at La Defense. Towards Place de la Concorde, we could see the city coming to life as the streets bustled with activity and light. The golden Eiffel Tower was impossible to ignore, and our good friend, the Sacré-Cœur stood majestically on its hill in Montmartre- lighted for all to see.

After a while, we descended to the gift shop museum level. Megan took a look around the shop for potential gift souvenirs while I examined the interesting interactive display that offered detailed information about all the great arches of Western Europe. At the bottom of the stairs, we stopped to admire the beautiful lighting under the Arc de Triomphe. I would have never thought to find beauty UNDER a grand Arch, but it was unmistakably there.

We took the Metro back the way we came- Line 2 to Line 3 to Europe. It was only about 10pm when we arrived at the hotel, but that was plenty late for us! It was yet another exhausting but enthralling day, and we had yet another early wake-up awaiting us in the morning. We had saved our most ambitious day trip for last- tomorrow we would be saying a temporary goodbye not only to Paris and Île-de France, but to the entire country of France as well!