#HurnEuroVacay -- Day 2 - Paris & Versailles

When planning our trip, we couldn't decide if we wanted to visit Versailles or not. I had already been to Versailles the summer that I studied abroad, and Jeff was not dying to see a palace. Also,the chateau is a little ways out of the city and kind of an all-day thing. Because we knocked so much out on our first day, we decided to take the train out to Versailles and visit the chateau. And we were so glad that we did!

I had read horror stories about the lines to get into the chateau, so we made a plan. Jeff waited in the super long entrance/security line, while I got in the short line to buy the actual tickets. I waited in the ticket line for about 30 minutes, and then found Jeff in the entrance line where we waited another 30 minutes. One hour in line really didn’t seem that bad to me, as I thought we would be there for 2-3 hours.

Waiting in line

Lines, lines, and more lines.

Made it through the gates! We're in!

Jeff loves audio guides!

The chapel inside the chateau.

The Hall of Mirrors - sorry, don't know why I am not looking at the camera.

We walked through the palace semi-quickly, and got to everyone’s favorite part – the gardens!

I love the Queen’s Hamlet and all the irony that it entails. [Marie Antoinette had it built to escape palace life and to live more like a commoner in the country.] We decided to rent a tandem bike to get out to the hamlet. Once Jeff realized he could adjust the seat height, we were cruising around Versailles.

We hurried back to the gardens for the afternoon fountain show, wandering around all the gardens to find the tucked away fountains and statues.

Apollo Fountain

Enceladus Fountain

Flora Fountain

The Latona Fountain 

Statue of Louis XIV - can't talk about a trip to Versailles without mentioning the Sun King.

After making our way back to the city, we decided to eat at Le Relais L’Entrecote for dinner. I had eaten at a similar restaurant on my last visit to France and really wanted Jeff to experience it. This restaurant has a set menu – steak and fries. You just tell the server how you want your steak cooked, and they bring a platter to your table. The steak was phenomenal with a great sauce. It was definitely one of our favorite meals on our whole trip.

After dinner, I really wanted some ice cream. We made our way back to our part of the city and finally found some ice cream, after two days of wandering around Paris. And they made it look like a cute little flower for me.