Day 11: Versailles

Chateau Versailles
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We were off bright and early to go to Versailles, the palace that many of those Louis's ruled from, and of course, Marie Antoinette.  We hopped on the metro station and took it to connect to the RER C line (Paris' train lines).  We took it about half an hour to the end of the route to Versailles Rive Gauche.  With our admission fee, we got a free audio guide.  It was really informative and was great (especially since it was free!).  We walked the halls where Louis XIV walked and Marie Antoinette slept.  We really felt royal.  After about an hour or two walking the castle, we headed for the "back yard".  These royal people sure knew how to have a great back yard.  These gardens, complete with a sort of labyrinth of garden pathways, are incredibly expansive.  It stretches on FOREVER.  There's even a sort of man-made lake in the middle of the garden, that's in the shape of a cross.  They rent out row boats and everything!  We walked and walked the gardens, stopping at one of the many quaint garden cafes that are now set up.  We each got a cheap sandwich to eat along the gardens.  There were statues, gardens, and fountains that met us at each corner.  It never got old.  It started to rain a bit so we headed underneath a tree by the cross-shaped lake to seek refuge.  It was very nice just sitting there and people watching.  We saw many crepe stands along the way and decided to get one - who can resist a French crepe?!  We each had a crepe, with butter and sugar.  It was so amazingly good!  We wanted another one right after!  We restrained ourselves, however, and decided we'd keep our appetites for dinner.  As we were walking to the front of the Chateau, it started to rain incredibly hard.  We got quite soaked.  We had to stand underneath one of the chateau's many archways for protection and each time there was a break in the rain we made a run for it, each time getting closer and closer back to the train station.  By the time we got back to Paris, it had stopped raining (a bit) and we decided to stroll along the Champs Elysee again because TJ had his eye on a French burger joint (that's kind of an oxymoron or something, isn't it?).  It's called Quick Burger.  We stopped in for a burger (Melissa got chicken nuggets) since it was cheaper to eat there than at a cafe.  TJ thought it was ok.. but after all that anticipation, TJ was sorely disappointed.  Melissa thought the nuggets were pretty decent - - especially because they came with a curry sauce to dip in that was crazy yummy!  While strolling on the Champs Elysee, Melissa suggested that TJ should try a French pastry called Macarons.  We passed a patisserie that was selling the large macarons and bought some.  TJ instantly fell in love and Melissa was equally happy.  We then headed back to the hostel since we were both pretty tired from the long walk at Versailles and it was still kind of raining.  When we got back to the hostel, we decided that we weren't sleepy (it was only about 8 or 9 p.m.).  We had noticed that the drunk American boys had come in the first night with their own store-bought bottle of wine and chips.  We decided to follow suit.  TJ went to the local market (pretty much across the street from the hostel) to buy some water, diet Coke, and red wine (what a combo!).  The red wine TJ bought was only 1.95 Euros!!!!  On top of that, that bottle wasn't even the cheapest that was available!  To compare, the diet Coke was 1.50 Euros!  We opened up the bottle of wine and were surprised to find that it was actually a very good wine (for the equivalent of 1.95 euros, you'd get a pretty nasty wine back in the States!).  We chit chatted, watched people from our balcony (we felt oh-so-French!) and fell asleep.  More to come...