It’s so hard to believe that it was six months ago that we were in Paris.  We had enough time while we were there to be tourists but also have some down time.  We’d had a whirlwind of an engagement (four months!) and we were tired!  Not to mention that Ben had spent the last year implementing new software at work and the month before we were married I had more sessions than I’d ever had in a 4 week time span on top of working at my full time job.  To say we’d been busy would have been a drastic understatement :-)

Versailles was one of the must-see stops on our list.  It was part of our museum pass too, so that was way helpful that it was included!  So, on our third day in Paris, we got up, stopped by the shop below our apartment for some sandwiches and walked to the metro.  After switching over to the RER and we were headed to the outskirts of the city, we opened our sandwiches and coke and enjoyed our little picnic.  Turns out they’d misunderstood which sandwich I wanted, but it was still yummy!

40 minutes later we pulled into the station outside of the 17th century castle and made our way through the adorable town to come upon the grandeur that is Versailles.  Louis XIV (14th) built this monstrosity up from a modest hunting lodge…

It’s a bit over the top for my tastes, but I still love it!

 

You can’t go into the chapel, but this might be the best pictures I’ve been able to get of it over the years.

 

The Hall of Mirrors is my favorite!

 

Trying a different kind of self portrait.

 

Isn’t it just beautiful??

 

It’s rooms like these that I refer to as “beautiful in their own way”. Maybe my tastes would have been different in 1692
but I just can’t imagine my bedroom being covered in so much gold and so many flowers!

 

The grounds and the gardens are just immaculate.

 

These are our “we’re so excited to be at Versailles!” faces.

 

If you walk behind the palace into the gardens and keep walking and then walk some more, they actually have a snack bar.
Where, to my delight, they had Belgium waffles and Nutella :-)

 

This was my “I’m so excited we just had a Belgium waffle!” jump.
(I wish I could show you ALL of the pictures it took before we got to this one…)

 

And once you have your snack and continue walking, you get to this little hut where you can rent a row boat.  A ROW BOAT!!

 

Looking back from “Louis’ Lagoon”.

 

This guy lapped us… several times.

 

ha! We were having so much fun!

 

Oh my heavens… he’s so handsome.

 

When I see this picture, that song “I Love Your Smile” from the 90’s pops into my head :-)

 

By the time the sun went down, it was freezing!  So, we stopped at the small Starbucks on our way back to the RER station.
I almost forgot it was getting close to Christmas when we were there!  But in case you’re wondering, a chai tea latte is the same in Paris as it is at home :-)