Versailles, Why Sheep were the Highlight of my Day and Why the French Police May be on the Lookout for Me

Well today was a fiasco!
And I mean fiasco in the sense of greater than an expected number of things to go wrong. Things started out with a guy waking up entirely too early in my hostel room (ie around 6:15am) followed by another and so I went ahead and got up around 7:15 figuring I'd get a head start on things. Fast forward to buying a ticket to Versailles, no problem. I did it in person rather than a machine because I wante to make sure there was nothing unusual about the trip...the teller told me it was fine: definitely not the case. When I go on a train with many stops I typically stay by the map so I can follow the progress to ensure I don't miss my stop. Unfortunately for me, the route I was on is apparently under construction so only specific trains were continuing on the scheduled route, the remainder stop about 5 stops before the final destination. I was alerted to the fact my train was no longer in service by a helpful Parisian signaling to me after the train had emptied and started moving again. You would have thought one of the many people sitting near me could have pointed that out. The train had not been all that full so I had not noticed an unusual number of people exiting.

So off goes the empty train with me stuck on it. Cue a single obscenity and some mild freaking out, but luckily the train stopped maybe 300 yards later (which of course felt like forever to me) and I was able to get the door open. Cut to me, bundled up in a rain jacket, sprinting back towards the station as the train conductor honks at me on the train (as I am undoubtably not allowed on the tracks). Then I had a dilemma, I could jump a fence near the train station where I knew where I'd be, but was also clearly observed by three cameras or walk a little ways and see what the options are down the line. I chose the later not wanting to (obviously) break the law infront of many people in a foreign country. Two fence jumped later with my only battle wound a scratch from a bush I was able to make my way back to the station entrance quite quickly...roughly 2 minutes so quite reasonable. Problem number two: the turnstiles to enter the direction I need only were accepting monthly passes, not the single pass I had bought. Using my stunning diplomatic skills of "Aaaah! What do I do?!?!" a nice French business man took pity on me upon seeing my conundrum and held the entrance door open while I jumped the turnstile. After that I found a nice Italian couple who were also going to Versailles and we all took the train there together.

Two lines later (the first of which the same Italian couple let me jump in line with them when they saw my line close) and a couple hundred school children ahead of me I made it into the chateaux versailles (the palace) with the unlimited ticket granting access to the main palace, gardens, a fountain show in the gardens and the two smaller palaces north where Marie Antoinette resided.

The tour of the palace was lovely and it didn't rain the entire time I had been there so far which was a nice change. Of course the rain picked up once I grabbed some lunch and headed into the gardens for a picnic, but at that point it was ok... The view was great, the food was... Well museum food, but filling and I was excited to start exploring. The neat thing about the gardens is their scale! Think secret garden on steroids... Everything rising twice your height above you with street sized prommenades weaving throughout leading towards artfully placed statues an hidden fountains. I walked the entire length of the gardens on one side with the intention to see the smaller palaces and then to return to see the other side of the gardens and the orangerie (Louis XIV had special green houses built for them) before returning to Paris.

All that of course had been dependent on the fact that my ticket would not be blown away in the rain and wind while I was enjoying my picnic. So stranded on the furthest-most point from the train station I at least walked by the two smaller palaces so I could see them from the outside. It would have been quite expensive to buy all the tickets again so once I took quick glances I started my long truck back around the palace grounds back to town and the train station. As I'm sure you can imagine I was quite discouraged at this point when I stumbled upon some sheep huddling in the rain. That is when the following question struck me "If wool shrinks I'm water, do sheep shrink in the rain like a real life Despicable Me shrink ray??"

A few minutes and a good laugh later I was at least in better spirits on the rest of my walk back. I picked up a Twix to cheer myself up as well and I realized why at least the French are in such better shape comparatively to Americans: their candy us really expensive!!

The train back to Paris was without any mishaps and since I got back early I decide to go to the Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmarte (Sacre-Coeur) which is a church on a huge hill in Paris. It was actually a church that I went to with Andrew, Jesse and Dan over fall break, but we were unable to go inside then. After touring the basilica and lighting a candle I was feeling quite refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the day.

Of course the street vendors outside that yelled obscenities at me on my way out was a slight downer, but getting back to the hostel around 5 was much needed and relaxing. It gave me enough time to take a shower before anyone else in my room got back and rearrange my bag. I also got the chance to respond to some emails and grab some light dinner at a bakery close by. A picnic in my room was not as nice as my picnic in front of Notre Dame yesterday, but tomorrow I will be able to see the last of the sights in Paris on my list.

I have decided for sure to go to Brussels on Thursday, which I am looking forward to. Also got some great news! Karl was able to get a transport over to Germany so I'll (hopefully) get in touch with him soon and also it looks like Brendan will have time to join Julie and I in Rome! That definitely gives me something nice to look forward to.