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We had a nice 8 hours sleep last night that we really needed. Are bodies and especially our legs and feet are very sore. We woke, had cheese on toast & headed to the station for the 45 mins train ride to the Palace of Versailles. The train was pretty full but we grabbed a seat & off we went. Today's overcast but still warm so it will be another great day outdoors. At Versailles we grabbed some baguettes then made our way into the palace beginning with the royal apartments. As with all palaces it was spectacular but ridiculously crowded. We shuffled along taking plenty of photos. One of the great things here is that the French couldn't care less if you take snaps of their centuries old paintings or not. In fact we have found the Parisian's great people. We were expecting the customary rudeness but nearly everyone has been warm, friendly & helpful. I guess a smile and friendly demeanor do make a big difference. So after the palace we made our way into the humungous gardens for lunch & a great big stroll. We wandered down through the parkland and headed to the palaces of Trianon which was where Marie-Antoinette & Napoleon spent a great deal of time. Then we headed back up to the Versailles Palace through the greenery. That's one thing about the Europeans, they know how to create amazing parks & gardens. We saw the last of the palace before jumping a train back to Paris. We decided to head up to the arty district of Montmartre with our first stop being the Salvador Dali exhibition. We got to see his famous Mae West lips sofa & the melting clocks. After being cultured we wandered through the lanes & marketplaces before settling down to a nice dinner accompanied by live music. Being in France we had to try their signature dish so as an entree we order Escargot. They came out sizzling hot & after many tries with the tongs we managed to fish out our first slugs. All they tasted like was garlic & herbs so once you had your head around the fact you were eating snails they were fine. So that is now ticked off the life's to do list. Would we try them again? Well probably not, but we can say we now have & the tiny little creatures have been conquered. After our main course we took the short stroll up to Sacre Coeur Basilica to experience some divine power. It was another beautiful place & after a touch of holy water & a few prayers we made our way out onto the steps to have a rest. The basilica is on the highest hill in France so we sat for the next few hours looking out over the city, sun shining, chatting away & drinking beers, surrounded by people from all over the world. This was one of the special moments in our life that we will always remember. We were drinking beers because guys were walking around with boxes of Heineken selling them to everyone. We had about 6 beers before nature called so we caught the funicular back down the hill & lined up at the toilet. Seems like one toilet to service the whole area, but at least it was free I guess. Following that we made our way up the red light district to get some photos of Moulin Rouge. We can't afford to go to a show there but we had to check out the building. After wandering past all the sex shops we found the venue & took our snaps. It looks pretty tacky from the outside but I guess all the actions indoors. If we ever get back here, & we hope to one day, it will be top of our to do list. It was getting late now so with a lot more sites covered we headed back home to rest up before our final day tomorrow. All the things we have wanted to see & more are done. Tomorrow is just like a bonus so we will go check out a few more museums, see Napolean's tomb & just generally bask in the glory of our now favorite European city.
- comments
ads sounds like you're having a great time there. napoleans tomb is fantastic and you have seen the best part of the Moulin Rouge.