We started the day with a quiet breakfast at our cute little boutique hotel, then made our way across the river to one of the most famous places in France. After Courtney won me over to the elevator instead of climbing the stairs, we stood in line for tickets to get a lift up the Eiffel Tower for spectacular views of Paris.
There was a moment I thought I had lost my adult daughter when she wandered to the other side to take more pictures while I walked down from the second level to the first and didn’t notice we’d gotten separated! We realized we were short on time to get to our afternoon bus, so we grabbed a quick lunch and walked as fast as we could to check in for our trip to Versailles. The ride out to the palace was about 45 minutes, passing beautiful river views, charming town streets, and Stade Roland Garros along the way!
Versailles is just as opulent as one would expect. We toured the palace with our delightful guide Valerie, who shared entertaining tales of Kings Louis XIV, XV, and XVI. Walking through the king’s quarters, we saw many images of Louis XIV, a ballet dancer with beautiful legs which he insisted be on display in all his portraits and statues! His great-grandson Louis XV and his very nice wife, Marie Leszczynska, are mostly overlooked, compared to their more exciting family. We made our way through the palace to the Hall of Mirrors, which connected the king's and queen's quarters. The hall has one wall of windows, and one wall of mirrors, with candelabras hung every few meters. Of course we took photos in the mirrors that are over 300 years old! Valerie told us about how the Hall of Mirrors is designed to hold as much light as possible, and about how all the parties at Versailles lasted four hours, because that’s how long the candles took to burn out. As she said: “No more light, no more party. Bye bye!” The tour continued through the queen’s quarters, and we saw the rooms once used by Marie Antoinette for sleeping and receiving guests, and Valerie pointed out the door Marie used to take her children and flee before she and Louis XVI were guillotined. Once our tour was complete, we had some free time and decided to have cake in the Tea Room and then walk the gardens. The gardens are huge, so we didn’t have time to walk all through them after our tea and pastries, but we got some beautiful photos and still made it back to our bus with a few minutes to spare.
Versailles
Royal Chapel
Royal Portraits
Ceiling Paintings
Crown Room
King's Bedroom
Hall Of Mirrors
Queen's Bedroom
Secret Door From King's Bedroom
Marie Antoinette
Tea Room
Gardens of Versailles
When we got back to Paris, we found a place to get dinner where the staff was wonderful and our waiter took the time to help us with the parts of the menu we were having trouble translating. And this place finally had a tarte au citron that wasn’t sold out yet! It was delicious and since we weren’t very far away, we revisited the Eiffel Towel for more pictures. It turned out our timing was perfect to catch the tower lit up for its hourly sparkling show!
End of Bus Ride
Wine and Dinner
Goodbye Beautiful Eiffel Tower!