Advertisement
Published: July 20th 2008
James and I
On the train to VersaillesWell, after an entire month (give or take a couple of days) my journy has come to an end. Not only was today my last day in Paris, but its my last night in London. This does not mean, however, that I actually get to do anything else in London. No, in many ways my last 'night/day' in Londonw as Thursday the 17th, as it was my last chance to do a few things before Paris, and now before coming home.
Yesterday was probably the single best day I've had on this entire trip, which is odd because though Paris was fun and I would not trade it for any experience, and I enjoyed it better than Ireland, I cannot say that I prefered France, the french people, or the sights of France over London and the English. I can say, conversley, that I do prefer the majority of the French food over the English food. Though this really had little to do with anything and in hindsight food means nothing when none of it is half as good as the food back home. I'm so over the food that I've lost 20 pounds from the lack of eating and
The Palace
from the front, before the crowd the excess of walking. The first thing I wish to do when we land is eat real food. Mexican food.
To elaborate on why yesterday was the best day, I must give details of our journey. We ventured out early, 8 am, and set off to the Palace of Versailles. We all wanted to see it - Clara and I have watched the movie, I've read the history books, and James had 'seen it somewhere'. Everyone told us to go, too. The oddity was of course that the Paris metro was either designed in the 70's (judging solely by the decorum) or it was designed by a rather dense person with little creativity or forethought.
Our tickets were 3 days unlimted rail passes, though they were only for Zones 1, 2 and 3 of Paris. The interesting part is, unlike London, the Paris system has no way of knowing where you are getting off, and thusly no way of knowing if it should allow you through or not. The tickets are paper, also unlike london, and are therefoer less effective and more complicated to deal with. We boarded the rails in Zone 1, but naturally the Palace is
in Zone 6, which is not covered by our tickets. So, once we got off the train, we could not get through the gates. Luckily, no one else could, and everyone was walking through this handicapped stall that was just open. We ran into problems getting back on of course after the visit (which lasted 6 hours) so we had to climb over and 'sneak' onto the train. Everyone around us was doing it as well, which just goes to show you that not only is it inefficient, there's no eforcement of the system.
Anyway, the Palace was quite amazing. We spent around 6 hours there. I'm glad we arrived at around 10 am, because the line only grew as the day progressed. We got our tickets (full access) and set off for the staterooms. They allowed pictures! (See Enclosed). The gradiosity of the Palace far outweighed anything we saw while in England or Ireland. Then of course there were the Gardens, and then Marie Antionette's Hamlet and her private palace off behind it. This place is beauty beyond measure, and I just really enjoyed it.
Today, our last day in Paris, we woke very early (7) to
get to the Eiffel Tower. Luckily when we arrived there was next to no line, and we walked up the stairs! It was so much fun walking it. However, we ran into tons of people on the 2nd deck (who had shown up and taken the elevator) and the line downstairs to just get in was MASSIVE. At least 200 people in line. Some people remarked it took them 2 hours to get through the line to go up. We then found that you cannot climb the 'last leg' of the tower. You are required to take the elevator. This put us off, but we did it and quite enjoyed the view from the top (see the pictures in tomorrow's Blog).
Next we hit up the famous shopping areas of Paris, visited the Louis Vuitton store, and walked all around the Arc de Triomphe. It was a good day!
We are back in London now, at 10:48 pm London time (4:48 CST for those back home). Our flight leaves at 11:30 in the morning (London time) and lands at like 3:45 pm (CST) in Houston. I will be back in Lubbock by 8:30 or so.
Enjoy the
Room
The paintings on the ceilings were just unbelievable pictures, and thank you all for reading my travel blog. This brings us to a close, though, I will do one more when I get home, with my favorite pictures and a bit more information, including pictures of the Arc de Triomphe and from the top of the Eiffel Tower. I love you all, and most of you will see very soon!
-Ry
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.045s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Nama
non-member comment
WOW!
I have so enjoyed reading about your amazing trip. I am agog of all the beautiful pictures and places you have been in the short time you have been there. However, Welcome HOME!! Love you bunches, Nama