Blogs from Versailles, Île-de-France, France, Europe

Up early and checked out of the Hotel before 8am, walked the 100 meters to the St Pancras Station where we then check in, exited English Customs and then Entered French Customs. This is so good, no customs in France. Off now to the Business Class Lounge which is packed and we didn't get a seat. The train was lovely with great leg room, no recline, but its only a 2:30h trip. Breakfast for me was Croissant, Yoghurt and Compote, fresh fruit, and tea, and Rose had Croissant, Yoghurt and Compote, Sausage, Spring Onion and Potato Frittata, Bacon, Mushrooms and Baked Beans. Very nice. The surprising part of the trip was that we were only in the tunnel for about 15 minutes and the rest of the time passing lovely countryside. Rose was not sure about ... read more

Tag 119 – Versailles Heute war Françoise den ganzen Tag unterwegs, deshalb hatte sie mir freigegeben und vorgeschlagen, dass ich nach Versailles fuhr; unter der Woche war das ja besser. Heute waren aufgrund der immer noch hohen Luftverschmutzung die öffentlichen Verkehrsmittel der Île de France wieder kostenfrei. So konnte ich auch umsonst dorthin fahren - Versailles war ja eine Weile von Paris entfernt, da lohnte sich das auch. Der Empfehlung meiner App folgend fuhr ich mit meinem J-Zug bis Asnières sur seine, um dort die L-Linie Richtung Versailles zu nehmen. Als ich ankam, waren aber alle Züge der Linie in diese Richtung gecancelt. Es waren jedoch Leute zur Stelle, die einen mit einem anderen Zug weiterschickten; kurz darauf sagten sie diese Alternative auch durch. So fuhr ich nach La Garenne Colombes (da kam ich doch fast ... read more

After packing our few picnic things, it was time to jump on the beautifully decorated train to Versailles for a picnic and a show - "Les Grand Eaux Nocturnes et La Serenade Royale de Louis XIV" . This one of the few things I pre-booked early. I thought watching people dance to live music in period costume in the Hall of Mirrors would really bring history to life. The train was really easy, and we just had a short stroll to the Chateau after the trip. We stopped to load up on caffeine on the way as Isabel was starting to flag after our journey. It was a good opportunity to practice our French - "Un caffe au lait, sil vous plait" is turning into the phrase of the trip so far, as I am downing ... read more

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 ... read more

I slept very well indeed but was up a little earlier than I would like to have been at 0630. Just across the road from Ibis Budget Paris La Villette was a small Tabac / Cafe where we had a cheese and ham baguette for breakfast. The bread in France is always fantastic and we just can't get the same stuff at home so we both enjoyed the basic feed. Jo was keen to check out the Palace of Versailles so we spent at least an hour heading to the South West outskirts of Paris on the Metro. The double decker train filled up with each stop until there was little room to move as we reached our destination. We joined the hoards from the train on the short walk to the Palace, stopping at a ... read more