Ash went to the bakery to get more goodies for breakfast. Everyone was up and ready to go for our 8am departure after food and coffee

Our trip to Versailles was about an hour and 10 minutes via one short subway hop and the rest by train.

Ash went with us as an outing for him and Zeus but didn’t join us for the palace because he has been a bunch of times. I almost didn’t go myself as I’d been here twice before but I wanted to be present for everyone’s reactions. And for that, it was worth it.

Generally considered to be maybe the most opulent palace in the world, it started as a hunting lodge of King Louis XIII in 1623. He converted the lodge into a small palace. It was Louis XIV who started expansion in 1663 and made it into much of what it is today, with the 2 kings that followed adding their own parts as well. It has been a national museum since 1832.

I didn’t take too many photos, just a couple to make the point until I got to my favorite parts.

First favorite part: I remember reading about the construction of the Hall of Mirrors as a child and thinking “wow it would be so cool to see that but I can’t imagine I’ll ever get to.”

Yet here I am for my 3rd time. Life beyond my wildest dreams? Absolutely.

The way the exit flowed took us to a section of the garden I had never been to before. The group was suitably impressed but I kept thinking something was off.

I finally used Google maps and realized we were way over to the left of where I wanted us to be so course corrected.

This was more like it!

And yes, the gardens are my 2nd favorite part. One time I’m going to come just for that. The back section is actually a national park and open to the public for free.

We were there a good 2.5 hours and were ready for lunch when we left about Noon.

Directly across from the train station was a row of shops and eateries. We stopped at a place next to a McDonald’s which had an appropriately French name – Madeleine – for sandwiches and did not disappoint.

Sherry got a ham and cheese and the 3 of us all got a spicy chicken, all on baguette of course.

Sherry and Jon split an eclair for dessert. Mark and I shared a madeleine (it’s in the name, right?) and a raspberry and caramel macaron. A variety of great coffee all around and we were ready to go after a restroom stop at McDonald’s.

We got back to the apartment about 2:30 and most of us went down for a nap.

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Ash and I made our way out for a “date night” dinner by ourselves about 6pm.

We went to Bistrot 65 on the left bank, with a view of Notre Dame across the river had we sat outside.

The waitress was super friendly and had met Ash on a previous visit, asking where Zeus was. We left him behind since we were doing a boat ride after this.

We couldn’t decide on starters so got 3 of them. An egg mayo dish that I’ve seen on just about every menu since we’ve been here and don’t remember from prior trips. This was served on toast with beets and bacon and was surprisingly good. Snails with green beans that were excellent. And a cream scallop soup that was amazing.

Ash had chicken tikka masala which of course was not authentic but he still enjoyed it. I had slow cooked pork – which did not require a knife – with mushrooms, carrots, and fried crispy polenta. It was terrific.

Dessert was crème brûlée with tonka bean which gave it an edge Ash liked but I didn’t care for as much.

We met the rest of the gang on Pont Neuf for our cruise. They were coming from the other side of the bridge and we met in the middle where the boat was docked. Pont = bridge.

The guide was fantastic, and did the whole thing in French, English and Spanish.

This is the Louvre – specifically the balconied window that the thieves pulled a truck mounted ladder up to, broke the glass, and made off with $102m in jewels. All in under 8 minutes. This past Sunday in case you missed it. First break in since 1911 when the Mona Lisa was stolen.

It was a great day.

We have nothing scheduled for tomorrow except for dinner. Will see what we come up with.