It was a cold, rainy, gross day. So we popped into this McDonald's outside the train station and check it out! Even Mickey D's have pastry shops right inside of them!!
The gate at Versailles. This is actually not the real gate, the real gate was pillaged during the French Revolution. This replica was installed last year and cost 5 million euros to build!
The view of the palace. So here's the thing, it is beautiful and important in history and all, but... During the French Revolution it was looted, as in, they took everything but the wallpaper and the frescoes. So pretty much everything is a replica and that takes a lot of the fun out of it. Plus it is JAM PACKED with people. You just have to follow the flow because it is IMPOSSIBLE to go against the crowd. I cannot imagine what this place is like during the summer.
The famous Hall of Mirrors. This hall is 250 ft long with 17 arched mirrors to match the 17 arched windows. There are 24 of these chandeliers. And this is where the Treaty of Versailles was signed!
The gardens. Yep, lacks something in the cold, rainy, winter months. Even though I know it would be hellishly crowded in the summer, I did feel like we missed out since the gardens had no flowers and the fountains were turned off. I think half of the reason to go to Versailles is to see the gardens! Oh well, next time!! :)
This is Bobby's Versailles face on the train ride back to the city. We didn't end up staying long, he hates the crowds and since it was yukky out we didn't walk around the gardens. However, the rooms we did see were beautiful and I would still recommend that you go if you can (and if the weather is nice).
Once we got back to the city we decided to check out the Orsay Museum. This museum was very interesting and had some great Impressionist pieces. Even though I truly despise Impressionism, it was very cool to see such pivotal works of art. And after the Louvre, it was nice to be able to navigate a museum! This used to be an old train station (hence the clock and distinct architecture). It was turned into a museum in the 1970s.
This was my favorite place in Paris! It's a store called Le Grande Epicerie and it had specialty foods from EVERYWHERE. It was HUGE!!! I was in HEAVEN! And so was Bobby! Here he is holding a 5kg (that's 11 lbs!) jar of Nutella! We had a lengthy discussion about whether or not to buy that jar. It was about 50 dollars US. We must have debated it for a good 10 minutes or so. Eventually we decided not to buy it since a) we were a 3 mile walk from our hotel and b) that would bring us dangerously close to the limit on our luggage. And it's a good thing we didn't because my suitcase was literally just 1 lb under the limit! Just for a reference point, this jar is equal to 18 regular size jars of Nutella.
This is my other Heaven in Paris - the case of my favorite pastry shop, Maison Auvray. Maison Auvray and I got very close during our time there, it is a special shop because it is pastries AND bread, usually a shop is one or the other. I had nearly everything in this case, no joke. It is my happy place. (Do yourself a favor and click the photo to enlarge it. Then try not to drool!)
Bobby was taking a picture of me outside the shop and a nice old lady offered to take a picture of the both of us! We had such a great time in Paris (and London too)! Now it's back to saving pennies for our next trip to Europe!
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