Day 5

Day 5:

Wednesday, March 25, 2009: Today we woke up early, showered, ate, and departed for the Palace of Versailles. Melissa could not go because she was meeting her French family (her grandma’s sister and her grandson) for the day.

We went to the Franprix grocery store because we decided to pack a picnic lunch. French grocery stores are so cheap! I spent less than 5E on a huge bottle of water, three apples, and a box of crackers (we skipped the cheese for some reason), and a bottle of wine.

We walked to Place d’Italie to get on the train. We would have to make one transfer for the direct RER train to Versailles. The roundtrip fare was 3E. We didn’t have to worry about which stop to get off at because it was the end of the line.

We bought the all-inclusive ticket for 16E to see the Palace and the Gardens. We had to check our bag so that ruled out having a picnic lunch. We took the tour of the Palace; it is awesome! There were so many tourists (I guess that should be expected) and the Asians are so slow. We had to avoid getting stuck behind them.

I took a ton of pictures. We saw the King’s room, the Queen’s room, the children’s apartment, the Hall of Mirrors, the War Room, etc. After that, we went to play in the Gardens. They were excellent as well. The only problem was that it was a little overcast and cold. And it was very windy!

We walked past the Grand Canals to Le Grand Trianon and Le Petit Trianon which were Marie Antoinette’s getaways. They were excellent to see as well. Watch the movie Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst to get the idea. Then we decided to walk to the Queen’s English-style hamlet and farm where she lived as a pheasant for fun.

Well we walked the wrong way and the normal gates were closed because it is not high tourism season so you have to enter from the back of Le Petit Trianon. Thanks for telling us that. So after walking miles, we decided that we were finished.

We got my bag and ate our apples on the walk back to the RER. We decided that since it was still fairly early, we wanted to try to get one more thing done before finding a place to eat. On our way there, we walked by the model of the Statue of Liberty’s flame. Under this spot is where Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in 1997. We got off the train and walked down Champs Elyeese to L’Arc de Triomphe. It was very cool but it is really hard to actually get to the base of the arch because it is in the middle of a roundabout that connects 12 streets!

We saved 5E by not going to the top. Frommer’s says that this is the best view of Paris but I have to disagree. I will reveal my choice later. The arch is also home to France’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and we were able to watch some type of ceremony. Shawna asked which soldier was chosen as the unknown one; I had to explain that no one was actually buried there.

Here a fun fact: Napoleon ordered the Arc built to celebrate his military victories but never saw it completed because it took 30 years to build. Victor Hugo’s body laid in repose here after his death and most of Paris paid their respects.

We took the metro back to the hostel to meet Melissa for dinner. She went to the Eiffel Tower with her family! We ate at an Italian restaurant at Place d’Italie. I had Ravioli with meat/cheese sauce. It was excellent! For dessert, I had an ice cream sundae.

Since dinner took almost two hours, we did not have a place to buy wine for our pregame. All the stores were closed. So we went out without a buzz. We walked back down Rue Mouffetard to a quaint place creatively named “Student Bar”.

We all had mojitos (costing 8E each!) and decided to continue in search of a less expensive establishment. We found a more casual bar and tried French beers. I’ve only had two – 1664 and Grimsbergen. In my opinion, 1664 is much better (and cheaper). I don’t think I’ll have Grimsbergen again. Shawna and I had two and then we all walked back and went to bed. I did not write in my journal.

(Google any proper noun that you are unfamiliar with)