Day 8 (Wednesday, November 20th, 2024)
What can you really say about Versailles? It's the ultimate display of opulence. The entire time we were there, I couldn't help but think of the amount of manpower it would take to clean and upkeep the palace. How many rooms went mostly unused? The first floor seemed to be dozens of the same sized room one after another. Supposedly some of the rooms were meant for specific delegates and politicians, but why?
The second floor is where the king and queens bedrooms, throne room, and ballroom all were. This at least seemed practical as the rooms had multiple uses.
It was a 15 minute walk through beautiful fountains, manicured wooded areas, and stone paths to the "smaller" second and third palaces.
There's honestly not much else to say. It was extravagant. It's larger than you expect it to be. It's a beautiful building. And again... I understand why the French Revolution happened.
We rode the train back and lost a lot of steam. We needed a pick-me-up, so I found what turned out to be one of the best cocktail bars I've ever been to. Arbane Cocktail bar was cozy and the entire staff was so friendly, and most importantly, the cocktails ruled.
This was one of the few nights we didn't have a reservation to eat somewhere. So we sort of ping ponged around trying find somewhere to eat eventually landing on Le Relais Odéon. It was fine. It was warm. I had some French Onion soup.
Day 9 (Thursday, November 21st, 2024)
Our last day in Paris.
Usually I'm ready to go home. Sleep in my own bed. Be with the cats. But I wasn't ready to leave. I fell in love with the pace of life. I love Café culture. I had a similar feeling in Germany. I think I was meant to be born in Europe.
Just from walking every day, my hips, knees, and back were feeling loose. The normal chronic pain I have was mild or not there at all. I was sleeping better. It was nice to just not be in a rush.
Our last day in Paris couldn't have been more memorable. Bit beautiful snowflakes fell as we wandered the narrow streets under the Christmas decorations.
We had tickets to the Musée d'Orsay, but needed to find a quick bite, so we stopped at Paul, a bakery and got one of those grab and go sandwiches on a French baguette. I'm telling you, these things slapped. I'd eat one every day if I had access.
They had the very famous Van Gogh self portrait. Tons of Rodin sculptures.
To be honest, we were fairly done with museums at this point. We didn't spend nearly as long as we normally would have here. I don't think it was the museum, it's more the tourist.
Yes, ironic again. Me being a tourist complaining about the tourist. But there are different levels of tourist.
You have ones that desperately try to blend in, probably overly cautious and polite, like us.
Then you have the Mad Max, shoving iPads in front of everyone's view, butting lines, complaining that menus aren't in English. You run into that second type a ton when doing the more touristy things.
For our final meal, there was a restaurant across from our hotel that always had dozens of people having a good time in there by 8 pm. We had been wanting to try it out, but it was always so loud we were a little intimidated trying to join the fun. So we went early before the crowd and it was amazing.
Betty Boop lined the walls, they had American Jazz band pictures hanging everywhere, killer soundtrack, wonderful food, and my favorite part, an in house cat named Alice that just would find a spot on the booth and hang out.
The owner was charismatic and working the tables. Snow was still falling outside. Essentially the ultimate end to our Paris vacation. I don't know that I could've picked a better spot.
In the final post, we head to Amsterdam for 36 hours.
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