paris day 2
After debating about how to best utilise our second day in France, we ultimately decided to go to Versailles rather than downtown Paris for a second day. Again, it was still slightly cheaper and much faster to take a cab, so we took a taxi to the town of Versailles to see the famous Palace of Versailles.
We got to Versailles just minutes before it opened at 9. There was a long line of people already waiting to get in. I overheard a Spanish tour guide telling her group (and acting it out) that if they went in now, they'd be shuffling through the palace having to stand on tip toes to see because of the crowds of people! She recommended they start in the gardens, so we did that too.
The Gardens of Versailles cover almost 2000 acres of land. When they say "gardens," it's really more like a larger city park! The gardens are really beautiful, but we noticed that none of the varieties or types of flowers were extra special. We spotted geraniums and lots of other very simple annuals. The highlight of the gardens was the musical fountains! This is something special that happens only on particular days and times. Before wandering around the gardens, we charted out on the map which fountains would start at which times and planned what we would like to see. The musical fountains were much more elaborate than we expected, but it was fun to see the water shows and listen to the time-period music. While in the gardens we got a quick snack and enjoyed reading info online about King Louis and the history of Versailles.
One of our favourite things in the gardens was the canal and the more public area. You could tell some people had just come out to the gardens to go for their Sunday run or to rent a boat to paddle up and down the canal. There were bikes for rent too. It looked like a great way to spend the day!
Around 12, we decided to head into the palace. We saw lots of people walking into the gardens, so we figured we had done it perfectly and that now the palace would be less crowded. In actuality, we walked around the corner of the palace and saw a line that snaked up and down the courtyard at the entrance of the palace. Once again we questioned why we'd bothered to get our tickets in advance, because it seemed that everyone had done that and it didn't speed our process up at all! We waited in line for at least an hour, and of course it was the hottest part of the day. At one point we used our umbrellas as a source of shade. We had fun, as usual, people watching while we waited.
When we finally got into the palace, we mapped out the areas that we wanted to see. There was a natural traffic flow, given the masses of people in the palace, so we somewhat just went with the crowds. Just walking through the palace was somewhat entertaining; we concluded that many cultures have very, very different understandings of personal space and what is and is not polite (ex: don't push us when we can't move forward because people are stopped in front of us!)! My favourite part in the palace was the Mesdames apartments, where King Louis' daughters would have lived. The Hall of Mirrors was also beautiful!
We knew there was a chance of rain and thunderstorms later in the afternoon, and just as we were walking out of the palace, it started to rain. There are a few other areas to see on the property besides the gardens and palace, but honestly we were pretty worn out from the past week, so we decided to just head back to our hotel.
Since we were parting ways that afternoon, we hung out in the hotel lobby until we went to the airport. We had different flights and airlines, since Abby and Mom were going on to Scotland and I was headed back to Madrid, so we were actually in separate terminals and had to say goodbye earlier than expected. Even though we'll be together in less than 2 weeks, it was still hard to say goodbye, especially after such an amazing week and a half!
The Orly airport was probably one of the ickiest airports I've been in, and I'd say it definitely felt the most crowded. Also, interestingly, we had no passport control on the way into Paris from Spain- they didn't even look- and I didn't have it when I re-entered Spain, either.
After 10 days of going non-stop, this week has been much more normal! I'm caught up on sleep, but I've still taken time to explore, go to the gym, go to church, etc. This weekend is my next to last weekend in Spain. I'm going to Valencia, which is Spain's third largest city and a place that I've never been! It was another "Summer in Madrid checklist" item so I'm glad to say I'm going. Plus, I'll get some beach time. Next weekend I move out of my apartment and will stay with Pilar for a few days until my flight on Monday. The time has flown by, as usual- or even faster than usual, and I have mixed feelings. I'm not sad to leave my internship behind, but Spain in general and "my life" here are always hard to leave.
We got to Versailles just minutes before it opened at 9. There was a long line of people already waiting to get in. I overheard a Spanish tour guide telling her group (and acting it out) that if they went in now, they'd be shuffling through the palace having to stand on tip toes to see because of the crowds of people! She recommended they start in the gardens, so we did that too.
The Gardens of Versailles cover almost 2000 acres of land. When they say "gardens," it's really more like a larger city park! The gardens are really beautiful, but we noticed that none of the varieties or types of flowers were extra special. We spotted geraniums and lots of other very simple annuals. The highlight of the gardens was the musical fountains! This is something special that happens only on particular days and times. Before wandering around the gardens, we charted out on the map which fountains would start at which times and planned what we would like to see. The musical fountains were much more elaborate than we expected, but it was fun to see the water shows and listen to the time-period music. While in the gardens we got a quick snack and enjoyed reading info online about King Louis and the history of Versailles.
One of our favourite things in the gardens was the canal and the more public area. You could tell some people had just come out to the gardens to go for their Sunday run or to rent a boat to paddle up and down the canal. There were bikes for rent too. It looked like a great way to spend the day!
Around 12, we decided to head into the palace. We saw lots of people walking into the gardens, so we figured we had done it perfectly and that now the palace would be less crowded. In actuality, we walked around the corner of the palace and saw a line that snaked up and down the courtyard at the entrance of the palace. Once again we questioned why we'd bothered to get our tickets in advance, because it seemed that everyone had done that and it didn't speed our process up at all! We waited in line for at least an hour, and of course it was the hottest part of the day. At one point we used our umbrellas as a source of shade. We had fun, as usual, people watching while we waited.
When we finally got into the palace, we mapped out the areas that we wanted to see. There was a natural traffic flow, given the masses of people in the palace, so we somewhat just went with the crowds. Just walking through the palace was somewhat entertaining; we concluded that many cultures have very, very different understandings of personal space and what is and is not polite (ex: don't push us when we can't move forward because people are stopped in front of us!)! My favourite part in the palace was the Mesdames apartments, where King Louis' daughters would have lived. The Hall of Mirrors was also beautiful!
We knew there was a chance of rain and thunderstorms later in the afternoon, and just as we were walking out of the palace, it started to rain. There are a few other areas to see on the property besides the gardens and palace, but honestly we were pretty worn out from the past week, so we decided to just head back to our hotel.
Since we were parting ways that afternoon, we hung out in the hotel lobby until we went to the airport. We had different flights and airlines, since Abby and Mom were going on to Scotland and I was headed back to Madrid, so we were actually in separate terminals and had to say goodbye earlier than expected. Even though we'll be together in less than 2 weeks, it was still hard to say goodbye, especially after such an amazing week and a half!
The Orly airport was probably one of the ickiest airports I've been in, and I'd say it definitely felt the most crowded. Also, interestingly, we had no passport control on the way into Paris from Spain- they didn't even look- and I didn't have it when I re-entered Spain, either.
After 10 days of going non-stop, this week has been much more normal! I'm caught up on sleep, but I've still taken time to explore, go to the gym, go to church, etc. This weekend is my next to last weekend in Spain. I'm going to Valencia, which is Spain's third largest city and a place that I've never been! It was another "Summer in Madrid checklist" item so I'm glad to say I'm going. Plus, I'll get some beach time. Next weekend I move out of my apartment and will stay with Pilar for a few days until my flight on Monday. The time has flown by, as usual- or even faster than usual, and I have mixed feelings. I'm not sad to leave my internship behind, but Spain in general and "my life" here are always hard to leave.
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