Cary and Char Plus One!

Went to Versailles today. Long train ride, quiet on a Saturday. It rained last night, streets smell better that way, i think. The train ride out was quiet, and I was pretty amazed about how quiet the ride was. I'm used to train sounds rattling and chugging along. but this is amazingly quiet. Fitting though; Cary went to sleep late, and I woke up early to the sounds of loud French people outside our apartment. Did I mention already that we live above a few restaurants/bars? Read this: no sleep. If I was a different girl, I'd be out all night with these people, chatting, getting toasty and rubbing elbows with my peoples. But that's not me, and I'm perfectly okay with sitting behind hanging out with the Husbandido.

On our way to the metro station (Mabillon), we stop and get our breakfast: We had a croque monsieur each and then go on our way. We notice that the streets are not as crowded, and the people quietly mind their own business. We walk into another cafe to get the AM perk (hot chocolate for me, cappuchino for him) and watch the interactions of the staff with a woman who was clearly out of her gourd. She had a dog in a bag (not a dog carrier bag, mind you, but it was a sports bag) and was running in and out of the store to chastize it for trying to get out (I'd try to get out too if I was that dog, or at the very least chew off my leg in the attempt). She holds up the cashier as she's ready to take off to yell at her dog yet pay at the same time. Pretty lame, but funny to watch.

We arrive in Versailles and catch a huge parade that we promptly cut through; it's a celebration for their version of Veteran's day (Armistice Day to be exact), and it's pretty cool. Laying of wreaths, a band. Old people. We head up to the chateau and guess what. it's closed. Holy mackarel, kids, it's freakin' CLOSED. It's not like I just rolled out of bed to get here. It's a major to-do. Oh well, I must not have paid attention to the signs, but yes it's closed and no I had no idea today was Armistice day. But not to let this moment slide by, some attractions are open, and the park is actually free to everyone to enter. The only think you can't get into is the big house - the chateau - which is truly a treat in and of itself. The Hall of Mirrors alone makes me giddy. But we debate a minute over taking a tour train around the grounds (you can get on and off) or rent one of the golf carts so you can tool around the grounds yourself. I'm down to cart it, but I'm not down for the price. It's about 30 something dollars just for an hour. So we take the tour train and get to mingle with the other touristas who thought this joint was open. Italian, Spanish, German, curiously mute people, we're all there to peep the fabulous grounds.

After Versailles, we head into down, try to decipher the trains to get back and find ourselves hungry (again) and get down to eating yummy pizza and checking email again. We are now back in the apartment (stealing internet) and listening to our next door neighbor belt out Silent Night. It's a little early for me to hear that, but hell, knock yourselves out. She's pretty good too.

We're packing now for our flight off to Italy, and it should be, god willing, warmer than it is here. It's pretty cold, warrants a long sleeved shirt, a thick sweater, a jacket and my cashmere shawl and wooly mittens. I had to wear my crocs today because I knew today was going to be all about walking, and my feet were pretty beat up from my Keen's. Damn you new shoe pain. I know, I know, I've heard it before so spare me.

Here's a note about packing for this trip: i did good this time, making sure that everything is being used. There are no "what the hell did i bring this for" clothes laying around. I only brought one pair of shoes: my Keen's and I wore my crocs on the plane. This was a good thing because I can see how easy it is to get bogged down with too many shoes. I don't regret my choice of shoes, but I think I needed to get better arch support (let's hear it, Carolyn) because my plantar ligament thingy is hating me right now. Best thing to do for this trip was to look at overlapping clothes, and doing laundry to at the very least get that crappy smoke smell out of my clothes. God that smell makes me wretch.

 We also made a conscious decision to not get this kind of apartment for our next visit (Cary's chosen next year to return, apparently). We definitely need internet, we need elevators (esp. when you have big luggage), and it helps to be away from all this noise. Rome's hotel is again an apartment, but we don't have to do laundry, which is pretty freakin' cool if you ask me.

November is not necessarily the best time of the year to come weather-wise. It's cold, there's rain overnight, and you'll have either dressed too warm or too cool. There's no medium in this situation. But I tell you, there are no lines to get into any museums, the buses/metro isn't hellishly crowded, Versailles was AWESOME (shut up). You could walk up to the Mona Lisa, you could have alone time in Notre Dame, you can stroll through the streets with minimal effort instead of dodging people left and right. I'd come again, but probably in October instead.

So we've got a cab coming at 5:30 tomorrow AM, and Cary hasn't finished packing yet, but we're making headway, kids. I hope your day went well, and  next time I update, we should be in Rome. Fabulous.

Char/Cary