Today, we had arrangements to meet our friends in Versailles (Ver-sigh). We decided to take a different train than we took two weeks ago. They call it the “slow train” and it stops at every station between here and there. It actually goes very slow between stations because no sooner do we leave one station than we have to begin braking for the next one! It takes 40 minutes to get there. The train we took last week zooms there, very fast (like 60-70 mph) with only one stop, and gets you there in exactly 12 minutes.
We woke up early this morning about 6am to the sound of pouring rain. Oh Great, its going to be a wet day. We were to meet at 11am, so we had to leave about 9:30 to get there (since we’re taking slow train!). It was only drizzling when we left and that soon stopped. So it turned out to be a cloudy day with a slight breeze. The sun came out for awhile and it turned out to be a pretty nice day!
Ghislaine (Jis-lane) and Bob are so funny to talk with. Bob hardly understands any English and Ghislaine can talk all day long! We talk mostly about life in France and life in the US and compare programs and methods. Its all very interesting. They are our age and Bob is retired from the Police force and Ghislaine must work for a couple more years.
Ghislaine likes to walk and so we always walk around the town somewhere. We decided to walk to Versailles and walk around the gardens. Versailles is very beautiful. It’s funny as we visit other countries and they claim to have their own versions of Versailles—the Versailles of Sweden, the Versailles of Russia, the Versailles of Italy. NOTHING compares with the real thing.
And the gardens! They are just incredible! We didn’t go too far into them, but you can see them go on and on. We were glad we didn’t through all of them! They call the palace “the Chateau”. It is on the highest point and you must hike up to it from the front, which is paved with cobblestones. The gardens are behind it and you go down a lot of steps to get to them. So you can stand at the top, behind the Chateau, and see for miles. There are fountains, lakes, forests, more palaces, and gardens.
So we had a great day—a lot of walking—and a lot of talking!
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2 comments:
WOW! The pictures are just gorgeous! Wish I was there!!
LOVE the gardens!!! I'm glad the weather turned out nice!
When you find yourself in places like that, and you see all those tour groups (kids, adults, students, etc.), can you tell if any of them are American? Are most European?
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