Paris - Day Three

On our third and last full day in Paris we had booked a tour to go see the Palace of Versailles. This is the building that Louis XIV had built to chill out in. After our typical breakfast of orange juice, coffee, and a croissant we headed over for a third and final time to Notre Dame to try to get up to the towers. We arrived to find the line manageable and got in place. However, after waiting for about 30 to 40 minutes we hadn’t moved much at all and realized we would have to leave in order to catch the bus to Versailles on time. Zero for three on attempts to get into the towers of Notre Dame. We struck out.

The ride to Versailles was a quick 30 minutes or so. Soon, we found ourselves in front of its gilded gates. We toured through the palace seeing some really incredible sites, including the hall of mirrors, King Louis XIV bedroom, and the palace’s gardens (in the rain, of course). You can see the golden gates of the palace in the picture and the video below shows the bed chambers of the French queen.

After riding back to Paris, we headed back to the hotel to relax a bit. For a lunch time snack, we ate the cheese that we bought in Holland with some French bread. Very delicious. Next, we headed off for the Eiffel tower – our last sight seeing stop in Paris. I was really struck by the enormous size of the tower. We got tickets to go up to the second stage of the tower. After looking at the sites for a bit, we headed down. While pretty, it was also pretty cold up there. The picture to the right is us at the second stage of the tower - we didn't go all the way to the top because it would take more than an hour. We also didn’t want to wait for the lifts to get down, so we walked down all 43 flights of steps, which didn't take long at all. As we did, we passed some brave souls who were trying to walk up the stairs - something we agreed to never try. We then headed to our final Parisian dinner. I again enjoyed a steak and Emmy was very adventurous by ordering squid. Again, we both enjoyed the dinner but were not overwhelmed.

Full, we dropped into a Piano bar for a few final French beers before retiring to our hotel room. We were entertained by this Frenchie, who was very funny. After the unenthusiastic applause that followed each of his performances he would say, without fail, "Thank you, Paris! I love you, you're beautiful!".