
Our experience with the metro system so far has been great (except for setting off the alarm a few night's ago and the one time that everyone had to get off and wait for five minutes before getting back on again). One thing we are impressed and a bit frightened by is the speed of the metro here. I would hate to see what would happen if they slammed on the brakes. I'm pretty confident that we would not be coming home from France for some time.
Today was our first day taking the RER, Paris' commuter rail. It's about a 30 minute ride out to the city of Versailles where the grandest palace in Europe is located. We expected to run into crowds at the Palace even though we were going late in the day. Thanks to our trusty guide of Paris we knew to get the Paris Museum Pass to avoid those killer lines. Once again, it felt great to see the LONG line for tickets and to be able to walk right into the palace. If you do plan to visit Paris and will got to a number of Museums, you will want to get this pass!

Louis XIV was a "poor little rich kid." As the story goes, his father died when he was a very young boy and he and his mother were treated very poorly. When he got his turn on the throne, he didn't forget this ill treatment, but instead of saying "off with their heads" he instead built Versailles to show his, and France's, power. He invited all the royalty to stay there and distracted them with wealth while he ran the country as he liked.



One thing that was funny about the cart we rented is that you had to stay on a specific path that was not marked. You only had a map to go on (once again a map -- our favorite). And if you did go the wrong the way, the cart would stop and a (loud) announcement would go off telling you were not going the right way. We happened to make our mistake in a very crowded area which resulted in a lots of staring eyes and we put the cart in reverse and turned around. All this while the classical music that the cart plays is blaring out.
When were were done with Versailles the palace, we went back into town to find a creperie we had eaten at 10 years ago. It feels like much of this vacation has been focused on looking at maps, getting confused, wondering around and then finally finding what we were looking for. That's what happened with the creperie tonight. Of course, it's all about the maps. Our maps stink. : )


On the ride home we got to listen to an American couple fight. The woman seemed to be the worst, but of course we don't know the story. At one point she told her partner to stop talking and not to say another word or she would move. It went on for a while until they both were silent looking out opposite sides of the train. They were sitting across from each other. A little while into the ride, Ryan tapped my arm and I looked up to see that they were now sitting together and she was smiling at him and trying to get him to come around. Wow, that was quick. I guess no one can fight for too long in the city of love!
Our last adventure was a walk back through the still busy village of Montmartre. We each grabbed a little snack to take home with us and made our way back to the apartment.
Tomorrow we are doing something different. It's our last day in Paris and we will each spend some time on our own. We will split up in the morning and go our own ways. We will each be responsible for picking up some lunch and finding our way to the Eiffel Tower, where we will meet for lunch and share our adventures with each other (and with you!).
Time for bed. It's an early night for me. Only 1 a.m.! It's hard to go to bed too much earlier in a place where the sun doesn't go down until close to 10 p.m.
Au revoir!