The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
May 2 - Versailles
We
had spent the night in Versailles figuring that we could be at the palace early
enough to beat the day-tripper crowd ... but we slept a little later than we
planned ... and breakfast was leisurely. So of course when we walked over to
the palace, the line to get tickets stretched on forever.
We thought we would be clever and purchase a 3-day museum pass that gets us to the head of the line in most of the major attractions in and around Paris ... but finding out where to buy them was a career in itself. Only booth in the complex seemed to know what we were talking about, but in order to buy them, we also had to buy an afternoon guided tour. At the time, it seemed like a reasonable concession to avoid waiting in line an hour in the Versailles sun ... and to dodge the line at the Louvre.
The tour didn't leave for another two and a half hours, so we thought we would pass the time by taking the general palace tour. After 90 minutes of wandering through room after room (spectacular, of course, but in the crush of the mob), we were "palaced out" and headed across the road for lunch. As the pain in our hips subsided, we decided that the road to Paris was calling more loudly than another hour in the palace ... and so we headed for the big city.
We are staying in the heart of Paris with Sylvie and Pascal who are members of the Affordable Travel Club. We will also be staying with ATC folks in Brittany, the Loire and Languedoc in the next couple of weeks. Sylvie and Pascal had been out of town for the weekend and were not expected back until late afternoon, so since we were a few hours early, we went to the St. Ouen area in the northern part of the city and dropped Margene and Janet into the middle of the largest flea market in Paris. I stayed with the card and finished my first book of the trip while they wandered the antique shops and stalls. No purchases, but a great way to kill time.
Sylvie and Pascal are wonderful hosts who showed us where to stash the car safely for a few days, got us oriented to the neighborhood and gave us the rundown on how to get in and out of the city via bus and Metro. After a quick dinner in this predominantly student area, we collapsed for what proved to be the best night's sleep of the trip.
The Versailles palace and the Paris apartment
© 2004 Restaurant Doctor
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