We again were feeling the effects of our walking so much and with the Museum pass running out we had to go to Chateau Versailles today. We caught the train from St Lazare which is only 10 minutes on the bus from the motel. Trains seemed to run every 15 minutes or so.  We walked straight on to one after we brought our tickets. They are express trains and stopped at 3 major stations then only 4 minor ones on the way to Versailles.  It took about 30 minutes to get there.  We were once again confused by the lack of signage to the Chateau.  But that wasn't unusual.  You get to see the signs initially then they fade away into oblivion. It was very hot and after directions from people on the gate to the gardens we headed up the hill to the Chateau Versailles.  Already having our museum pass saved us one line, but as with most things in Paris the line to enter snaked up and down the forecourt twice.  For anyone who has been to the Chateau will know it is at least 150m, out in the noonday sun with no shade at all. Talk about mad dogs and English Men! BT and Julie waited in any little bit of shade for me to make it to the entrance gates, where they joined me in the line.

Gates of Versailles

Braedon sitting in the shade playing his DS game

Lonely little Parisian

 Of course BT was finding it difficult to understand the significance of such a place.  He did seem to enjoy some of the artifacts but not the crowds or the stairs, but I have to agree with him there.  Julie and I were both taken by the sheer opulence  of the Chateau, and after seeing most of it you can understand why it sent the country broke and the revolution took place.  It was built to house the entire French court of 6000 plus 5000 servants.  The King's and Queen's chambers being the focal point of the tour. You could imagine the servants attending to the King and Queen all those hundreds of years ago, it didn't seem all that distant when you are standing in those surrounds.

Queen's Chamber

 
We viewed some of the expansive gardens with hedges and lakes from the upper floor of the Chateau but it was too hot to go and explore today.  So we brought a few souvenirs and headed out of the Chateau to a restaurant for a well earned bit to eat and drink.  It was good to sit down under the awning but still pretty warm.  The service was 2nd rate to speak in glowing terms. We had almost finished our lunch when Julie finally got her Margarita drink.  They had brought a Pizza Margariette even though I pointed to the cocktail when I originally ordered.

We then headed back along a similar route that we had come towards Gare de Versailles-Rive Droite.   Julie did a little browsing in the clothes shops along the way back, just to allow me to keep up!  I did however venture into the chocolate shop with her just to look, there were some very mouth watering chocolates like chocolate - creme broullie mmmmm! But at 8 Euro $ per 100g we decided to just look.  I think Julie did manage to get snaps of something in the shop.  We trip back to Gare St Lazare was pretty uneventful but we did spy the Eiffel Tower on the way back which we had missed on the way out.

We step off our train and onto the one next to it to go back one station to Pont Cardinet which is opposite the Hotel.  A quick drink at the local watering hole and we went back to the room to freshen up with a shower and then sort out the washing. Yes domestic duties still had to be attended to event in Paris.  We took the washing to the local laundromat and after a game of charades with a local about the machine operating instructions we had an hour to kill before the laundry had to go into the dryers. We made good use of the time, it was Happy Hour at the local bar. We sat and played eye-spy with BT and had a couple of drinks while we waited.