Hanging out with royalty in Versailles: Day 3

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The third day of our trip brings about a lot of excitement, we're heading out to Versailles to visit the Palace of Versailles. History is excites me a lot so I'm looking forward to this, Versailles was the home to Louis XIV, his great-grandson the XV and finally Louis XVI before the French Revolution where Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were imprisoned. Their lavish spending was the blame for the financial crisis in France and ultimately led to both of them being beheaded and the monarchy being abolished. Enough about those gory details and lets get back to our trip to Versailles, I will skip over the breakfast part cause you already know what we ate, we made our way to the train and Versailles is outside the city so it's about a 30 minute ride to get there. The train was crowded, it was a Sunday and seems like everyone had the same idea, it would be a good time to spend the day at Versailles. Once we made it to our stop which is the last stop of the route, we made our way outside and just followed the mass of people, the palace is about a five minute walk from the train station. We walked down the street then made a left, walked about two blocks and then you see this enormous building with a gold gate in the front with statue of Louis XIV out front, one of the many statues and paintings of himself. After spending the day at Versailles, I am convinced that Louis XIV and Kanye are related, cause he might be the only person that loves himself more than Kanye. Enough about Kanye, we made our way thru the gate and got in the line, unfortunataly this time we had to wait but it wasn't too bad, took us about 10 minutes to get thru and then we made our way inside the grounds. Their was two doors, one led you outside to the Royal Garden and the other door led you inside to the Palace tour. Palace tour it is, we can see the Royal Garden once we finish walking thru the Palace. Their are some places that words can not properly describe and the Palace of Versailles is one of those places. The time, effort, thought, attention to detail all can be seen and fully appreciated walking thru each room. Their wasn't a spot missed from window latches to arch ways that didnt have exquisite detail and beautiful architecture. All the rooms were beautiful but the room that stood out the most was the Hall of Mirrors, this room was full of archways and chandeliers with a giant ceiling painting that is dedicated to Louis XIV military victories. Each archway had 21 mirrors and Louis XIV walked from his apartment to the chapel each day thru this walkway, it was also used for royal and family functions as well. Louis XV had a costume party in the Hall and the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the French Prime Minister in 1919 to end World War I at the request of the Germans to humiliate the French. The next room we went into was the Battle Galleries, this room had all of France's military history in paintings, they had paintings covering hundreds of years. So after a few hours of seeing how the upper crust lives it was time to eat, the resturants were located in the rear of the Palace near the servant's entrance you could tell by the plain stairs and normal archways. We ate and relaxed for a few before we headed outside to get a closer look at the Royal Gardens and many other sites on the grounds of the estate. We walked around the grounds looking at the beautiful and perfectly manicured lawn, the colorful flowers and all the green bushes. I rented a golf cart to see the rest of the estate and also to go to Marie Antoinette's house, from the Palace to the end of the Grand Canal is an estimated 60 minute walk, I know my wife wasn't doing that so the golf cart was the right choice. The golf cart had an audio guide with a programmed route so it told us about all the details and quirks of the estate, after about a 10 minute ride we pulled up the house, now lets get out and see how a queen lives. Marie Antoinette's house was quite modest in comparision to the grand spectacle that is Chateau de Versailles but this was her place of solitude to get away from the madness of the Palace. We walk thru and saw she had a baby stroller in there, a kitchen from the 18th century also a French billards table, looks like the queen enjoyed a good game of pool. We got back in cart to see the rest of the estate, we made our way to the Grand Canal which was buslting with activity, people were out on paddle boats, some were laying out having picnics enjoying the weather, a few bike riders as well, it was just the perfect day to be outside. We made our way back to the golf cart return area after we made our way thru the programmed route looking at the beautiful scenery. It was time to head back to the train but on the way we saw a Tex-Mex, who would have thought in France but it did look empty which wasn't surprising. Get on the RER C train back to the city, it takes about 30 minutes to get out to Bercy Village, my wife is exhausted but I have another stop on my agenda. I go in the room for a while to charge my phone then I head back out to the Champs Elysees, I want to get a Paris St Germain jersey for myself and Alonzo Jr wants a Manchester United jersey, I won't criticize his choice in soccer clubs, I'll save that for another day. The Champs Elysees is if not the most famous shopping strip in world, its one of them, if you have a wife or girlfriend you might want to keep her away from here if you go to Paris, just a friendly warning. Today is game day for PSG and I walk into the PSG store, it's full of people getting stuff for tonight's match, I walk around for a few minutes then I found a jersey in my size or kit as it's called by football purists, I get a ball for my friend's one year daughter, he already has her hooked. I go to checkout and the clerk ask if I want a championship patch and my name on the back, if you insist, yes I do. I take my receipt and jersey head upstairs, I heard Ludacris bumping on the radio, the crew is enjoying themselves, so I hand him my jersey with the receipt, I walk around for about 5 minutes then he says me the finished product, I say merci and head to the my next destination. The Nike store is not far from the PSG store and when I walk in the first floor is all basketball stuff, the ground floor is football, it's not the football you think of in America, it's soccer stuff. The entire ground floor is full of kits (jerseys), socks and boots (cleats), so I find the Manchester United jersey in his size then I text him to see if he wants it personalized even though I know my kid and I know the answer. He says yes put Alonzo on the back and the number 2 which is his football number. I'm sitting at the counter waiting on the guy to finish with the jersey, he asked if I like football? I said yes I like football and American football then he asked where I lived, I told him Texas and he said oh the Dallas Cowboys. Even if France they know a little something about the football we play in America, so I get my jersey and tell him merci. I walk up and down the Champs-Elysees for a few minutes taking in the sites and then I looked for the nearest Metro station. I saw a Metro sign and made my way downstairs to the train and made it back to the hotel in about 20 minutes. I get to the room and the Mrs is in dreamland but I'm starving so I decide to head back down to get something eat, I walk to Factory and Co it's a NYC based resturant that serves sandwiches on a bagel. I get us a both a sandwich, some frites, that's what they call French fries in France and dessert, oh the French love their desserts, so I take her some food, we both eat then watch some of the US Open, and before long it's time for some well deserved sleep cause tomorrow we're going to England to have tea with the queen, until I blog again, au revoir.

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