Paris, France, Day eight
Our last full day in France, and for our trip! We had planned to go to Versaille today, so we made our way to the train station and caught the regional train for the 25-minute ride. It was nice to get out of the city center for a little while, and we really noticed the change in smog levels!
We must have timed our trip badly, because the queue for tickets took forever, even though we were buying them away from the palace itself. Then the queue to actually enter was enormous as well. As we were leaving, neither of these queues were anything like what we waited in, but we’d already had plenty of practice waiting in line, so it wasn’t too bad - at least it was a nice sunny day.
The palace was great, with lots of history about Louis XIV, XV and XVI to learn about, as well as a bit about the revolution and Napoleon too. The Hall of Mirrors was a particular favourite. However, it was so crowded inside the palace that it wasn’t much fun, so we headed out into the gardens, which were just amazing. Louis XIV designed the palace and grounds to ensure that the court did everything but worry about politics (pretty much so he could do it all his way), and you could just imagine hundreds of courtiers and their retinues wandering the grounds, sitting by the canals and basically doing not much at all; all very politely mind you. The gardens stretch for kilometers and include smaller palaces where the kings and queens could retire to if things got too hectic at the big palace. Tough life.
We caught the train back into Paris and started packing our bags, sadly realising that the trip was nearly over. Despite my concerns, all of Katie’s shopping actually fitted easily into her pack!
Afterwards, we went out for a drink to do some people watching and to let Katie soak up the last of the European sun. Later, we had a nice dinner, then made our way one last time to the Eiffel Tower, sitting on the grass of the Champs du Mars and watching the tower sparkle, a fitting way to end our time in Paris. Simon
