Thursday, June 4 - Paris day #1 - Palace of Versailles

We had to wake up Rosa at 10 after the rest of us had slept until 9/9:30.  It was great to have a cool and dark apartment with heavy, snuggly comforters under which to sleep.  Our apartment host had left us each a croissant, granola, and oj for breakfast.

We headed down the street to the circle where we were going to pick up the trains to Versailles and we popped into a little cafe.  The kids each had milkshakes, I had a coffee that was so big it was served in a bowl, and Scott had a banana.  

We hopped on RER train #1.  It was the kids' first time on a double-decker train, and the kids chose to sit upstairs.  Here's Cody.

And Devon, Rosa, and myself.

This is a map of just the yellow line of the RER.  It's very complex.  Each train, depending on its destination, has a girl's name on the front to let you know which one it is.  

We took the train to a stop by the Eiffel Tower.  There we finally figured out which track to get onto to transfer to Versailles.  We had to wait about an hour as there had been a rare accident that morning that put that train line out of commission for quite some time.

More views of the Eiffel Tower.

This was the main reason for visiting Paris.  The Madeline books had planted the seed in the kids that they wanted to go to Paris.  They've been asking to go for years, and it was finally possible now that we're living so close by.

A view from the train along the Seine River.

At last we arrived in Versailles, grabbed a quick lunch to munch on while walking to the Palace of Versailles, and then there it was (past all of the construction).  

And we got closer.

One of the gateways with loads of tourists.  Note, it's a Thursday and the Corpus Christi holiday is not celebrated in France.  I can't imagine the summer weekend crowds.

Through the first set of gates and onto the palace.  Yes, the glowing parts that look like gold are likely gold.  This palace is so ornate.  

And, of course, we stopped at the bathrooms.  Check out how many languages the word toilets is written in on this sign.

Enjoy a bunch of pictures from the palace.  We first toured inside and then the gardens.  There are loads of pictures.  Everywhere we looked there were beautiful things to admire.

Tourists, tourists everywhere (including us of course).

The size of this painting blew us away.  And it was one of loads so grand.

One of many ornate ceilings.

Stunning chandeliers.

The king's bedroom.  A ladder must have been used just to climb up so high to get onto the bed.

Cody loves his maps.  We've nicknamed him "Mr. Map".  This one had a map and pictures of the upstairs of the palace.

This next room with all of the chandeliers blew us away.

Views from one of the windows looking out onto the gardens.

The queen's bedroom.  This was Rosa's favorite room.

I loved this ceiling.

Cody on the move.

Once we'd seen everything inside, we headed outdoors into a beautiful sunny (but hot) day.

We waited in line for at least 30 minutes.  

The Australian family behind us took our family picture.  

At last we got on a train (on wheels) and rode around the stunning gardens.

Cody had fun sitting on Scott's lap part of the time.

Pensive Devon.

A large percentage of the gardens are public property and loads of people were enjoying them on foot, on bike, and on golf cart.

Back to the palace for a few more pictures of the outside.

And then it was back through town for a snack and off to catch the trains back to our apartment.

We stopped for dinner at a restaurant in the circle closest to our apartment and enjoyed yummy food and wine (for me) and German beer (for Scott).

On the way back to the apartment, Rosa and the boys enjoyed playing at the playground that's just a block from the apartment.