Friday morning brought overcast skies and cooler temperatures. Susan and I were scheduled to switch hotels to somewhere we chose ourselves, but that was in the opposite corner of the city. After a leisurely morning with breakfast in the room (cereal…we’re classy after all) and accessing the internet in the lobby, we departed for the Metro. The Paris metro is right up there with London and NYC for having close access to nearly everything but being very crowded. Our hotel move involved moving from the northeast portion of the city to pretty much the Southwest corner so it took some time. After metros and walking, we were checked in to the new hotel (Timotel in Boulogne-Billancourt) which was in a much quieter, residential area just outside the hubbub of Paris.
From there we walked back to the metro (which is a little longer walk) and stopped at a café for some salads that were delicious. Then we continued on to Montparnasse, the modern area of downtown Paris with an enormous high rise office building and a train station just beneath. At the Gare (station) we caught a suburban line to Versailles. Around 2:40 we were in the Versailles residential district and walking to the palace. Upon arrival we caught some signs saying Marie Antoinette’s chambers would close at 4. Since that’s not what I came to see I didn’t think much of it and we continued on and grabbed tickets for the palace.
Lunch 
View of the palace and gates 
Us with the palace
The palace interior was a beehive of activity…maybe closer to a zoo. However it lives up to the hype so is worth the cost of admission. The hall of mirrors, a room I’ve seen in photographs hundreds of times, is much more spectacular in person since you just can’t imagine the true size of the room (look at the height of the ceilings) from a picture. Also, many of the royal chambers that are still in the restored state are incredible. Some areas were displaying modern art incorporated with the historic palace. I was torn on this since I do like to see such a vast space put to use, but at the same time the historical beauty was more than enough to stand alone.
Jeff in the Hall of Mirrors 
The Queen’s Bedroom (the door just to the left of her bed is how she escaped during the revolution) 
Modern art hanging with classic art
Once we left the palace it was time to check out the gardens and it appeared the sun was going to make an appearance just in time. Unfortunately (the word of the last few days) there was a Friday night festival/gathering in the gardens so they kicked everyone out at 4pm. This was the area of the palace I was much more interested in so I wish I had known in advance to prioritize the gardens.
The only picture we have of the gardens.. Taken from a window in the palace..
A hard lesson learned, Susan and I made our way back to the train station, stopping only at the most charming secondhand book and antique store I’ve ever seen. If I could have understood a single book there I’d have bought 20 at least. Finally back on the train we immediately fell asleep in the laps of the locals across the aisle from us (it was a full train).
The store had this record so clearly it was an awesome place 
Antiques and books
Back at Montparnasse we realized we didn’t want too much more of Paris, so returned to our quiet nook of the city to the Hotel. After some planning and a couple hours downtime, we wandered back out for dinner at a small bar/café where the bartender didn’t know much English at all. He was very friendly, and with a lot of teamwork we made our way through dinner. The only missteps were my ordering of curry chicken with macaroni and cheese (instead of rice) and Susan attempting to get the check and instead ordering another round of drinks. If you’re wondering…curry chicken + mac n cheese is delicious and may just be the next big thing in the States. Despite being a little off the grid of the metro network, Boulogne-Billancourt is a much more relaxing area to take Paris in from. After dinner we took a night stroll over to the river and sat on a bridge for a little bit before wandering home.
Dinnertime 
The Seine 
Jeff taking in the views
Today we realized we are getting worn down by big cities and that Paris is a tough city to be a backpacker in…too many tourists and high prices. For that reason we are moving on tomorrow to give ourselves somewhat of a vacation from our vacation…
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