Once we were finished we grabbed the metro and headed back to our hotel to get our car and head to Versailles to see the Palace. The concierge at our hotel gave us a map and highlighted the route and off we went. We only got lost like 3 times! As we're heading down this road, that looks like we're going nowhere, I asked Micah if we should ask for directions or if he thought we were going the right way. He answered, "I don't know, but there's something big right ahead." WOW! we made it and it was impressive!
We parked and strolled up to the Chateau de Versailles, as it's referred to in France, only to learn that it was closed! UGH! It wasn't too bad though, we did get to tour the grounds, we just couldn't go inside. I would have loved to have gotten to see the inside, but we'll save that for another day. The grounds were amazing, the gardens, the ponds (if that's what you want to call them), the perfectly manicured lines of trees, and of course the massive size of the castle itself. There were quite a few men and women dressed in Victorian clothing. I attempted to find out what was going on, there English wasn't great, and neither is my French, but they were either shooting a movie inside or watching a movie. Either way it was pretty cool.
After getting lost for about an hour trying to find our way back to the Peripherique (Autobahn) we finally got there. This time with no map or directions we simply followed the signs to Disney. I couldn't help myself but want to go. Do I feel guilty going with no kids? Absolutely. Guilty enough not to take a peek? Absolutely NOT. I just kept telling myself we needed to see if it was worth taking our kids to this summer for a few days. We have heard mixed feelings towards Euro Disney and wanted to "check" it out. It wasn't as massive as the one in Florida, but it was still Disney. They closed at 8:00 and we got there at 6:00 so we didn't bother paying FULLPRICE for tickets for only 2 hours, so we walked around the boardwalk, at dinner, bought a key chain (Mickey leaning against the Eiffel Tower), grabbed an ice cream cone, and headed back on our way. We finally made it home around 11:00 and I was so glad to finally sleep in my own bed!
Here is a photo inside the Hard Rock Cafe. I probably should have grabbed a photo of the outside, but oops I forgot.
This is a picture of the Chateau de Versailles from the parking area. Pretty impressive right?
You probably don't know this, but the very first picture I have of me and Micah is one he took of the two of us, a little like this one. Now, everywhere we go, Micah or myself takes a picture of us. We have a lot of very close up pictures. We are standing in front of the Palace. You can see over Micah's left shoulder the gold colored gates that are the entrance to the front of the castle. They were closed of course and we had to walk around the side.
Me in front of the gate. Notice the rope that is supposed to keep visitors back in front of me. 
Here are two of the actors I mentioned earlier headed around to the back of the palace. I wish I had gotten some better photos of them.
This view is from the back of the castle of the water fountain and then walk way to the water. It was truly amazing. I can't imagine a view like this out my window every morning when I woke up.
And another self portrait. :)
The back of the castle. It really was ginormous, and I really would have loved to have gone inside.
View from the fountain. Yes, we walked all the way to the water. I would love to be here in the summer. The fountains are always on and in the evenings they do fireworks. 
These statues decorate the outer path all the way to the water. I especially loved this one of a mother holding her baby. Most of them have plaques in front of them telling who made them and what year. Most of them are made between the 1600 to the 1700's, while there are a few that are ancient Greek or Roman dating around 2,000 years old!
We're about have way to the water at this point and we used our zoom lense for this photo. You can see the statues on both side, fountain and just an amazing view of the back of the castle.
This is as far as we made it. We didn't walk to the end of the water, we sat right here. Along both sides was concrete, for sitting I guess, and on the top of the water wood planks, I suppose to rest your feet and not get your shoes wet. There were little cafe's on the side, closed of course, but it would have been an ideal place for a picnic. This Swan came over as if she wanted to be photographed, so we made her happy and took her picture. 
This is how far we walked, we chose not to walk to the very end, mainly because it was a long walk back...slightly uphill. Our feet were pretty tired by this point. 
Euro Disney!! It looks like Disney right? We thought so too.
No comments:
Post a Comment