Paris Day 2 - Versailles & Montmartre

The first day in Paris was great. I was completely fascinated with the City. Our feet were still hurting in the morning. The plan for the day was to take the train to Versailles to see the famous Château de Versailles. The train took about 40 minutes and after you get off at the station it is a short walk to the Palace entrance. The line to buy the tickets was at least 1.5 hours. There is a way to buy them in advance using the official website. I highly recommend doing this to avoid the line. We got the Passport ticket that included admission to all the Palace, the grounds, the Trianon Palaces and, Marie-Antoinette's Estate. It took us about 2 hours to walk inside the palace. There were so many people that it was impossible to walk any faster.

The ceilings

The hall of mirrors - listening to the audio tour

The gardens are the most beautiful gardens that I have seen in my  life. My feet and legs were so tired that when I saw how big the gardens were I wanted to cry. There was no place to rest. The motivation of taking pictures made it a lot easier.  By the time we got to the Trianon Palaces, I was exhausted. We didn't walk to Marie-Antoinette's Hamlet. There is a train that takes you around the gardens and back to the palace. We waited in line for at least half-hour or even longer. We were the last 2 to get on the train. We had to sit separate but at least we didn't have to walk back. My boyfriend got the seat next to the driver. He had the travel guide book with him and started using the phrases in the back of the book. Basic phrases but, he had a 5 minute conversation in french! I couldn't believe that he made a friend. It was nice to see the driver being friendly with a tourist who didn't speak any french. Completely the opposite of what everyone expects of people in France.

at the beginning of the walk... a long way to go

Latona Fountain

Apollo Fountain

Trianon Palace

At the end of the afternoon we were tired but, we didn't want to waste any time in Paris. We returned to the City and decided to go see the Sacre Coeur Church. We got of the Metro station at Montmartre and instead of walking up the stairs we walked down stairs. When we realized that we were in the wrong place we asked for directions at a bakery. I asked in french but I didn't understand the response. We gave up and stopped at an Italian restaurant to have lunch. We asked again where we needed to go. Finally after a LONG walk UPHILL we made it to the Sacre Coeur. We bought a bottle of Bordeaux to drink at the stairs watching the City. We walked towards the artists square, had a Nutella crepe for dessert, watched the painters do portraits on tourist, and shopped for souvenirs.

Go upstairs for Montmartre

Sacre Coeur

Eiffel Tower from Montmartre

Artist in action