Versailles and au revoir Paris

Versailles was the last of the things on our list for Paris. We set the alarm for 7.30 after our big night out the night before to get to Versailles in time for our allotted join-the-queue time of 10.30. We got the Metro to Invalides and then the RER to Versailles and arrived in plenty of time.

As expected (and as we'd prepared for mentally), there was a queue. We were there by 10.00, so we were close to the front of the 10.30 queue (you must get in your pre-booked time queue or the system won't work). The promise is that your ticket will get you in within 30 minutes of your booked time and it seems to have been worked out with precision. Our queue started moving early and so, in fact, we were in and ready to start shuffling through the rooms by 10.30. I know I am going on about the queue, but I couldn't help but admire such a well-organised process (although I did notice that people who were turning up 15 minutes after their time were being rewarded with their queue having already gone in and therefore were avoiding the queue altogether. Tardiness or a strategy? 🤔)

Once inside the Palace, it was a bit of a crush, and after a while, the opulence and the people got a bit overwhelming. We spent about an hour inside and then were glad to get out into the gardens. It was quite cold, so we had a fairly brisk one hour walk around the gardens, which are mind-bogglingly large. We only managed to see one dancing fountain actually dancing. It was well done but it did remind me of running through the sprinkler and playing with the hose as kids in the backyard on a hot day, although without the music (see video).

We wouldn't say we loved our visit but it was historically interesting to see how extravagant their life was and to give context to why the Revolutionaries wanted to chop their heads off.

We got the train back to our apartment, had some lunch and spent the afternoon resting and getting ready for our travel day tomorrow.

We had no plans for dinner on our last night in Paris, so we walked from our apartment in a different direction, hoping to get some inspiration. We found another nearby area with various cafes and picked one on the basis that we liked their illuminated rooster sign (we were quite tired). It was a cosy French bistro (they are all cosy, to be fair) and the food was excellent. We had a lovely evening reflecting on the highlights of our two weeks in France, which we had to split into food and non-food activities. Lyon won as best city (also the most amount of stairs to accommodation category). Notre Dame in Lyon, St Émilion by night and climbing Sacre Cœur as best non-food activities, although arguably Le Calife wins this category based on the experience. 14 Fevrier (Lyon) and Le Zepherine (Bordeaux) best food, although the bouchons in Lyon deserve a special mention.

Sadly, the bar next to our apartment wasn't open so we didn't get to say goodbye to Guillame, at least we saw him the day before and learnt the value of not ordering sparkling wine in France.

And so we say au revoir to Paris. Next stop, Istanbul!Lue lisää