Approved For Mailing: Gardens of Versailles

    We spent Saturday taking a nice train ride to Versailles ... of course when we got there we had to wait in line another hour and half just to get tickets to go inside and then you had to get in another line to actually get in blah! but despite the line delays we decided to start off at the gardens. When I visited Versailles as a teenager we did not get to spend any time in the gardens. I really only got to peer at them through the windows, so I wanted to really walk around them this time around. The gardens are acres and acres of manicured hedges and large fountains. It felt a little like being in Alice and Wonderland, the queen would be playing croquet just around the corner. There was a little outdoor café towards the front and we stopped there for lunch where we ate what else but baguette sandwiches and pizza. The idea that all the grubby commoners are eating sandwiches and drinking cokes in shorts and tennis shoes where kings and queens used to ramble around with their fellow upper classmen seems almost comical. Can you imagine if they could see it now filled to the brim with "common tourist"?.... the nerve. We walked and walked through mazes with classical music playing in the background, it was delightful.
   After getting our fill of the grounds we went into the palace, I remember it being beautiful and worth the trip but, on this visit it was so crowded you could scarcely see the rooms themselves mostly the only view you had was of the person squished up in front of you....lesson learned do not visit Versailles Palace on a Saturday in August!
    The train ride back into Paris was just about like the inside of Versailles , no room. We wanted to see just one more thing before the day was done so we choose the Moulin Rouge. Mostly just because I loved the movie so much. It is hardly a site to see however , there was a giant grate in front blowing air that provided the kids with a good deal of entertainment for the night.