Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Day 2 - Versailles and Such

(Take two of this entry. Within one sentence of finishing, my browser crashed. Damn you, Safari!)

We began our day sleeping a bit later than we wanted, due to a misunderstanding about the alarm. Nonetheless, we departed the hotel a little after 10 to find beautiful wather (I carried my coat almost the whole day) and pains au chocolate (the first of many, I hope).

We caught the RER to Versailles and were soon touring about the opulence. It was just as grand and lovely as I remembered and not nearly as crowded! I tell you what, between the cool-but-not-too-cold weather and the lack of toursists, I'm loving this Paris-in-November thing.

With a certain song from Beach Blanket Babylon running through my head (I'm guessing only my immediate family will know that reference) and visions of Rachel, Andy, and I playing tag in the gardens (oh, what I childhood I led!), we toured the Chateau, ate sandsiches for lunch on a bench near the grand staircase out back, and walked a lot more than we intended (we may have gotten a bit turned about trying to exit).

We visited the Grand et Petit Trianon as well as Marie-Antoinette's Hamlet for the first time (at least I think it was my first time - Parents? Did we go there?). I loved seeing her cottages. It was all so adorable and so very fake. If the Occupy protestors are angry about the wealth distribution nowdays, can you imagine the anger back then? At least Wall Street isn't dressing up as hispters on the weekends and pretending to go to job interviews for fun.

Like many a tourist before us, we both dozed on the train ride home. We ate dinner, as you saw, at a very old (but average-tasting) cafe near our hotel, and miraculously made it through a three-course French dinner in just over an hour -- just in time for our movies-abroad tradition!

Twilight is just about what you'd expect, but I especially enjoyed our audience - they laughed at all the right spots (like when Bella announced the baby names she'd picked out) and several guys "Whoo-hoo!"-ed when Jacob took his shirt off within 5 seconds of appearing on screen.

A quick walk home, dozens of photos uploaded, a blog entry typed, and we're about ready for bed. Things are going so well I don't have any great stories to tell. The best I can offer is how Jason and I commented on the awkwardness of our beds last night, given that they're pushed right up againnst each other. For modesty's sake we pushed them apart as far as we could (about 3 inches), but it still felt strangely matrimonial. I think Jason probably found my nearness handy, though, since he apparently spent half the night waking me up to stop my snoring. He eventually gave up and put in earplugs. Or so he tells me - I, of course, remember nothing. I am my father'ss daughter, after all!

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