Deux Days
July 18th-19th, 2015
Versailles
We had another early morning to try to get to Versailles early. The first sight of the palace is truly astonishing for a couple reasons: 1. The fact that people actually used to live here and built this and 2. The incredible number of tourists coming to see it today. We walked through the rooms of the palace learning how each was used before moving onto the gardens. We could have easily spent the entire day just walking through the gardens! We found an ice cream stand and sat by the canal for a bit, enjoying the music they were playing throughout the garden. We walked down to the other palaces, including Trianon, the one where Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI decided to call their main home instead of the larger palace.
The gardens of Versailles
Once back in Paris, we found a place close to our hotel that had prepared meals (like Real Kitchen) at pretty good prices. We realized that eating all three meals a day out is starting to add up, so we tried this for dinner and were really happy with our meal so we may be making a few more trips there while in Paris! Anna also had a co-worker who was coming into Paris this night so we met up with her and caught up on the past three weeks of travel together.
July, 19th
St. Sulpice
It was a Sunday morning and after hearing that the organ in St. Sulpice was the best (according to Sander) we were intrigued enough to get out of bed and head to church. Chuck may have had to promise Anna some macaroons to make this happen. Shortly after we walked in, the organ began the prelude and we knew we would enjoy it. It was a little difficult sitting through a service entirely in French, even though they tried to help by giving us the readings in English, but it was an interesting experience to be in such an old building with such beautiful music. It was also very different, as neither of us is used to having tourists walk around during church services back home.
That organ, wow.
Promised macaroons
As promised, we stopped at Pierre Hermes after the service for macaroons to see what all the fuss was about. We ordered caramel, chocolate, citrus with olive oil, and yogurt and rose (we still have no idea what that is but it was delicious). We headed back to the fountain at St. Sulpice to enjoy them and they were incredible!
We made our way to the Rodin Museum to see the sculptures in the garden. The mansion was closed for renovation, but we were still able to walk the grounds and see the sculptures there. We may have also played out scenes from Midnight in Paris as we walked through as well.
Rodin Museum
We wanted to continue the relaxing theme for the day, so we headed to Luxembourg Gardens. Like everything else in Paris, they were stunning! At the large pond in front of the Palace, kids were playing with wooden boats that they were pushing in the water with wooden sticks, and then chasing around the pond until it came to them. It was amusing to watch how entertained kids were with such simple toys that were around when the palace and gardens were first built.
We then opened a couple beers, and enjoyed some time in the gardens watching the world go by.
Children keeping theirs boats moving
