On Day 3 we decided to tackle both Notre Dame and then Versailles. Well, since the day started at about 10:30am (rather than our original 8am- this was NOT my fault) we made the decision to go to Versailles and later return in the afternoon and go to Notre Dame. This seems like a very uncomplicated itinerary except we never factored in transportation meltdown! Now, we'd taken the local train (metro) the day before with no problems and figured that getting to Versailles would be a piece of cake. This would be true if not for the fact that you had a monkey leading a monkey.
We took the metro by our hotel (Rue du Bac) and got off at the Assemblee Nationale to then walk a short distance and catch the RER(kind of like the LIRR) Line C to Versailles. We found the RER with no difficulty and then as luck would have it, our train pulls in right at our arrival. We are about three stops into our journey when yours truly, Navigator Extraordinare decides we are going in the wrong direction and we jump off the train at Champ de Mars ( I want you all to start keeping count at this point). Justin looks at the map and determines that we were indeed on the correct train. I don't know people- I was having a rough morning, complete exhaustion after two non-stop days (did I mention that I was working 13-15 hour days leading up to the vacation), lost of perspective and direction could happen to anyone under these circumstances. Luckily, we didn't wait long for the next train. We boarded this train and determined that the stop we should get off is "Versailles Rive Gauche". Well, we had a pleasant ride and along the way, we see what appears to be Versailles while we were about to pull into the station "Versailles Chantiers". I wanted to get off but Justin says we should stay on and wait till we see the station that reads "Versailles Rive Gauche"(like I said, one monkey leading the other).
Anyway, we continue on our train and go from beautiful clearings and country-like homes, to industrial businesses and shabby residential homes until finally we pull into the last stop Saint-Quentin En Yvelines (if you are counting, we have now been on two trains). We asked a cute old man how to get to Versailles and he exclaims in true Parisian fashion that we should have gotten off the train two stops before (that's right, right where I thought we should have gotten off). In addition, the old man told us it was about a twenty minute walk to the Chateau. No fear we thought, we will simply catch the next train (since they come fairly quickly) and still get there by 1:30ish pm. Well, we got on the train and got off at Versailles Chantiers(Train number three); during this time, it began to rain and we didn't want to walk for 20 minutes. We looked at the train map and realize we could take another line that appeared to be an offshoot of the Line C to "Versailles Rive Gauche". We asked the token booth person which train track should we catch the train to Versailles and he told us Track E. The train would be pulling in about 8 minutes. We go downstairs at about the five minute mark and right then a train pulls in and we jump on like total idiots without doublechecking. What is worse, I looked up and saw that the train read Line L but I thought that like NYC subways, another train was being used on this line. Well, this train was actually Line U(so I was partially correct) and it hauled for about 15 minutes in an unknown direction and finally pulled in at Saint-Cloud(this would be our fourth train).
Now, we are completely confused and exhausted. We again consulted with our train map and found that we would have to go back to "Versailles Chantiers" to then get the correct train. We looked up the train on the board and couldn't find the station name we were looking for-thankfully two women confirmed the next train we would board(go figure, it was "La Verriere"-don't ask because it was all too confusing now).
This was the train that would take us back to Versailles Chantiers and it was coming in about 30 minutes!(Train number five). The train finally came and we took it back to Versailles Chantiers. Trying this again, we took Line C to "Viroflay Rive Gauche"(Train number six) to then get off and catch a train for "Versailles Rive Gauche (Train number seven). That's right, SEVEN trains before we even got to Versailles, which by then was close to 3:00pm. We spent almost three hours lost in the Parisian train system. All I could say was "Thank God, we finally made it"! The best part was that the rain seemed to be passing and the day would not be a total wash.
Well, I will rush through the rest of the blog since I've written a book on our travels to Versailles alone. I wasn't able to go to Versailles on my first trip to Paris so I was dying to see this opulent over the top palace that King Louis XIV built to commemorate.......himself of course!
We could have spent hours alone exploring every vein of the gardens which must be absolutely F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S in the latter part of the spring into the summer. By the time we made it into the chateau itself, we had exactly one and a half hour to closing.
We sprinted gingerly through the King's and Queen's apartments, the various State rooms and the Hall of Mirrors(dedicated to the monarchy's complete dominance and wealth. It was just sickening, I tell you when I think of how well the rich lived and the poor continued to suffer in Paris and all of France during this era-vive la revolution!).
The day ended with us seeing all the rooms available for viewing by the public, we had an uneventful ride home (yes, we finally mastered the metro and RER-Yeah, Team Reyes, hip-hip!).
Suffice to say, we did not make it to Notre Dame- since it was too late to see any other sites for the evening, we came back to our hotel and had a nice quiet dinner at the St.Germains (I think that is the correct spelling of the brasserie. I will never have anybody else's lamb anything except my mother's!) and ended our day on a high note except for the indigestion we both suffered through during the night into the next day(J will give more details of this on Day 4). Well, Meercat's out-stay tuned as J recounts Paris Day 4's many adventures.
