Paris Day 3: 6/11/19

We went to Versailles today. It looked like an easy trip. Key words “looked like”. We started well, taking the metro and transferring to the RER train for the 30 minute trip. We met a nice couple from Quebec. Their English was not great. Our French was worse.

All was well until an announcement came over the intercom. I caught enough with my rudimentary French to know something was wrong. It was something about another train being stalled on the track. The couple helped us figure out that we would all need to de-board one stop early. That didn’t sound too bad. We mapped it and it was about a mile walk. No problem!

The problem arose when we, with our new friends the french-speaking Canadians, attempted to leave the train station at the stop (a stop early, remember). We, along with dozens of others, were told that we didn’t have the correct tickets to leave the station. We would have to pay a penalty. Our friends were not happy. The train station agents were telling some people the fine was 50 euros/person. Our friends talked them down to 35 and we were on our way. When we were leaving Paris there was no indication to us (or many others) that we would need a different ticket. Oh well, c’est la vie!

It was a pleasant walk to the palace. We decided to do the gardens first, hoping the line would be shorter at the palace when we returned. We walked all over the gardens, to Marie Antoinette’s Petit Palace, then back to the main palace to find a much shorter line.

We listened to Rick Steve’s guided walking tour through the palace. It was informative and enjoyable.

It started raining on our way to the train station to return to Paris…very glad it held off until then. The train ride back was much less exciting, although it was hot and we were packed like sardines!

Dinner at Les Arlots was delicious. I’m working on a review with more details.

Photos from today: