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Published: January 7th 2010
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Day 31: Sunday, December 27th, 2009
Paris, France.
Susan and I take off in the morning to head over to
Fat Tire Bikes which is a bike touring company who also sells Paris day passes. Until the previous day, I had forgotten that I had purchased a four day Paris pass. The crappy part is that I have pretty much done all the things I wanted to do when I was in Paris last time, so this pass is now a waste of money for me (and Susan is all set and doesn't need it.) Oh well, it means free metro rides while I'm there, so that's good.
Today we head to
Versailles. We find the metro that will take us there and some french announcement keeps replaying and a bunch of people are looking lost. Susan is able to translate enough to figure out that there's been an accident with the train we need so we're to take another train that will drop us off nearby Versailles where we can then take a shuttle to Versailles. So, we get on that train and hop off at what we thought was the right exit, but we don't see a shuttle. We're
in a tiny little town. I vote that we just continue to follow the tracks since we know they do go to Versailles so we start walking. We cross a bridge and see a sign that has a map of the town and it looks like we're on the outskirts of the town of Versailles. According to the map, w should be going the other direction. So, we start walking the other direction and as we cross the bridge, this time we look down and see the train tracks going a totally different direction than what we thought. It's a good thing we found that map because we were 100% not "following the tracks". Needless to say, neither of us would survive very long in the wild.
So we have a nice walk thru the outskirts of Versailles and about 30 minutes later, we get to the Palace of Versailles. There is a long, winding line to get tickets and we hop in line. I'd like to point out that Susan told me numerous times to go ahead without her (sounds like a war movie) since I had the Paris Pass that would get me in. I refused numerous
times, choosing to stay and hang/talk with her, something that still baffles her. I pull out my iPhone and we play
"Price is Right" for a while but an hour later, we're still about 30 minutes (at least) from the front of the line. So, I finally listen to Susan's logic and head to the line for those of us with tickets and she heads to the gardens (which are free and what she wanted to see anyway). I walk in and show them my Paris Pass and am promptly told, "That's a Paris Pass, you're not in Paris." I say that I'm aware of that, and that I thought this pass would get me into museums and what not. They say no. So, I head out to the gardens as well. Later on, it dawns on me I received another pass with my Paris Pass, the Museum Pass. Yup, that's the one I should have shown.
I don't see Susan so I wander around on my own. There is a lot acreage! I wander thru various gardens and see many fountains (that are shut down for the winter) and wonder what all the statues look like 'cause they are also
covered up with tarps for the winter. At one point, I find a pretty fountain and garden and do another P.O.N. Then I head back up to the palace to meet up with Susan. We catch the train (station is about 5 minutes away this time) and grab dinner at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel. I ordered "Four Cheese Penne" and one of the cheeses was Bleu Cheese. It's just not right. We head back to the hotel and get our fix of CNN before calling it a night.
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Chris
non-member comment
They wouldn't let you into the palace, so you knocked it down with a trebuchet?
You were just on the wrong side of the tracks. Next time you're lost, dip one end of a baguette in some red wine, and then let it float in water, and it'll point north.