miLE 6,788 - King's Last Night in Paris Day 5

Okay well I'm not the King but for my last day in Paris I decided to go check out the old Chateau de Versailles.  Originally I was going to go to Chantilly, which is north of Paris, but everyone told me I had to go to Versailles if it's my first time.  I didn't really want to wait in the long queue so I bought a Skip the Line Tour from Paris-Trip that was a half day tour. 

Got up and reached the Paris-Trip office and we left from there at around 8:15am and headed to Versailles.  The girl guides were very good explaining what we had to do, where we had to meet and what likely you could see in the half day we had.  Once you get to the bus drop off point, it really hits you as you see the magnificent estate.  I mean the pictures don't do it justice and you can't help but marvel at the size, glamor and opulence of everything that you see.  Then you sit back and realize that, sure there was a family living here, but it was essentially all built for 1 man - the King.  Why do you need gold tipped bars on the exterior of your house? Well why wouldn't you.  Why do you need gold plating on every of the 1000 doors? Again why wouldn't you.   

Walking through the palace was surreal in a way.  I'm a person that when I travel I like to picture the past if I can.  Knowing that a few hundred years ago there was a King, his family and the court that were walking through the same footsteps that I was.  You look at the apartments for his daughters and think, why do they need 5 rooms that are probably bigger than most people's houses!  Not to mention that this was just their official residence and they had multiple rooms in multiple other chateaus as well.  One of the coolest things at the palace for me was the hall depicting the great French battles from as far back as the 700s.  These paintings are massive and it was really nice have the audio tour so I could listen to what the paintings were depicting.  Again human history and in this case, French history to get France to where it is now.  Imagine if even one of those battles had a different outcome - how would that have changed not just France but the world as we know it. This is what I hope people appreciate about history and not just because it's made of boring facts.

After the palace came, in some ways more extravagant, gardens.  It feels like they stretch out forever. Again all belonging to one estate.  I didn't roam around a lot just because my feet were pretty tired but I did check out some of the gardens and checked out the grand terrace water as well.  I was half tempted to rent a boat to get to the middle of the water but figured I shouldn't do it by myself.  So next I asked these 3 random girls that walked past if they wanted to go in the boat.  I got the rejection, although they were nice about it and said that they were heading to the restaurant to eat.  Ah well. So no I'll save the boat rental in the middle of Versailles for when I bring my significant other to Paris, whomever she may be.

The rest of the day in Paris was pretty chill.  Didn't really have anything I wanted to do or see but I did go and check out some of the other areas of Paris, that are known for being more representative of original Paris - with the small streets and side alleys.  It was nice getting away from the tourist areas. 

Back at the hostel, ran into 4 English speakers - a couple girls from Wisconsin and Minnesota and then a guy from the Bay Area.  For someone who doesn't like beer I ended up having like 3 pints of stella with them.  It's very cool listening to how similar and how different each of our own travel destinations were.  Maybe I'll run into them again.  I even met a guy from South Korea who is spending almost 50 days all around Europe! Wow!

Had a great nice last dinner with some Eggs and Mayonnaise, Lamb and topping it all off with some Chocolate Mousse.  I had a great time in Paris and really enjoyed seeing the amazing sights, eating some great food and meeting some fun people.  This was the first time I spent in a hostel and for the most part it was all I needed.   It was a little tight and since the bathroom didn't have any windows it smelled a little moldy but hey it was a cool experience.  I'm glad I did it and I'm also glad that I'm not doing a hostel for the entire 2 week trip.

Off to Cologne tomorrow! 

See you at the next miLE!