On the advice of our friendly Dutch tour guide, we signed up for a bike tour of Versailles. We chose Bike about Paris. We woke up bright and early and headed to Charlemagne's statue by Notre Dame. We met up with the tour guides and the others who signed up. It was a pretty good sized group which they split into two smaller groups. The tour included our train fare to Versailles. We got out tickets and walked to the station. After a short train ride, we were at Versailles. The one good thing which we later learned is that we took the commuter train and not the normal tourist train. I couldn't tell so I'll take their word.
It was a little early for the hubster. I had to stay awake so we wouldn't get left behind.
Once we got off the train, we exited the station and got our bikes. Someone from the company was already there, so the bikes were all set up. I also got to use a public pay restroom for the first time. These restrooms are sterilized in between customers! It was a little weird at first, but at least it was clean. Everyone was getting situated with their bikes and that's when the cold hit us. Holy shit, we were not prepared for the drop in temperature that came with the rain. Poor hubster only had a t-shirt and his thin jacket.
Brrrrr. He borrowed my black scarf.
I had on a long sleeve shirt, scarf, and a jacket, but was also still freezing.
But in good spirits
I'm getting good at selfies on a bike
The French are not as hospitable to bikers like the Dutch
At our first stoplight
Cold won't stop me
Our first stop was in front of the chateau where we got a little history lesson on Versailles. Since the hubster answered the tour guides question correctly, he got to play King Louis IVX.
The Sun King!
We then hopped on our bikes and headed to the market to pick up lunch! We got a mini tour of the market and suggestions for good picks. We had an hour to shop. For €20, we got a whole small chicken, a fresh baguette (which didn't make it out of the store whole), oodles of cheese, fresh strawberries, ham, water, and a banana and nutella crepe. Everything looked so good and I wanted to eat lunch there and then.
Once we all finished shopping for lunch, we got back onto our bikes and went through the Queen's gate to visit the gardens. We saw a good portion of the grounds including the canals. It was starting to warm up, but only when the sun was out from behind the clouds.
Canals
Ta-da
Thanks, Sun King
Fountain
Tall hedges
Cheese!
Fountain show
There was only one fountain on during our visit and we got to watch it. The grounds are so large that if we weren't on this tour, I don't think we would have known which fountain to visit. It was quite an elaborate show, but I think Bellagio is better, but probably due to the size. After the show, we visited another area of the garden which was a large courtyard make of pink marble. Supposedly pink marble is super pricey, but I think it's kinda ugly. They can keep it!
After watching the water fountain show, we got back onto out bikes and headed over to Le Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette's hamlet. This was by far one of my favorite parts of the tour. I would totally have made myself a fake village if I had the means. It was really cute.
Petit Trianon
Temple on the path to the hamlet
View of the light house from across the "lake"
View of the hamlet from the entrance
One of the structures in the hamlet
Mill
In front of "my" hamlet abode
Brrrrr
Another view of the lighthouse
The hubster and his abode, of course, he picks the one with the fancy stairs
Each house had a garden which the gardeners actually tend to and eat from
Roof detail
Me on the bridge
So many pictures of the light house, I must have really liked it
More pictures of me and flowers, the hubster's favorite way to frame a picture
Tunnel! Seriously what is not to love about this place?
More gardens
Hubster and me in the tunnel
Pumpkins
Another view of the hamlet
Our next stop, Grand Trianon
The hubster and I biking on the grounds on the way to the picnic lunch
Our delicious finds from the market - chicken, cheese, baguette, water, strawberries, ham
See how excited is, also not the piece missing from the baguette!
Enjoying out lunch. The sun finally came out warmed us up a bit, but it didn't last long.
Walking up to the Chateau
One of the first rooms
View of the garden from inside the Chateau
Brrrr... really wished this was lit while we were there.
Hall of mirrors - Beautiful if crowded!
Me and all these mirrors
The hubster taking a selfie in the hall of mirrors
Me again
Selfies!
My selfie in the hall of mirrors
Apparently, they choose an artist to have an exhibition on the grounds. This was the one inside the Chateau, a room filled with leaves... The hubster is hypnotized!
Outside heading towards the gardens again
Garden view from the Chateau
Look how immense the grounds are. See how far the canals go...
You can even rent canoes to row around in those!
Blue Steel
We finished up walking the grounds and we met up with the rest of the tour group. We rode back to the station to return the bikes and catch our train back into Paris.
Bike ride back and more selfies
Lots more, never really gets old until I eat it on a bike
We arrived back at Notre Dame where we started and we had one more thing to take care of - the LOVE lock bridge! We had forgotten the lock when we came here the other day, so I made sure to remember the lock today. We walked over to bridge and locked our love in place!
Look at all those locks!
Where we can find space for our unique love lock?
Oh, there's a spot.
Love LOCKED!
The only bad thing about is that you're supposed to toss the key into the river like the one in Cologne. We felt bad littering and since I had tossed the one in Cologne, the hubster had to do it here. We tried to do it secretly.
View of Notre Dame from the bridge
We got some recommendation for dinner from the tour guide, so we didn't have to do anything when we got back to the hotel. I really wanted some French onion soup (do you call it French onion soup in France? Like waffles in Belgium?)
The hubster and I at our last dinner in Paris. I finally ordered some wine!
Escargot for me, pepperoni for him
Duck breast for me, cheeseburger for him
Wine soaked pear for me, ice cream sundae for him
Can you tell that the hubster was yearning for some American food and I wasn't done with French cuisine? Dinner was tasty and the service was very good. It was a perfect dinner for our last night. We finished pretty late and went back to the hotel. I still needed to pack. It was a wonderful day even though we froze our asses off.
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