Mark takes a quick turn...

Hello everyone. I've got the computer for a second so I'll give a quick post on today's excursion. We got up nice and early and took a train over to Versailles. Of course we had to stop at a local pastry shop in our continued mission to find the best pain au chocolat in the neighborhood. The train ride was a lot faster to get there than I remember from the last time in high school, only about 30 minutes from Invalides (ie., me). Unfortunately it was a bit overcast today so we went into the chateau first. Though we ended up getting audio guides with our Versailles Passport, the Rick Steves podcasts were very informative and entertaining. While wandering through the impressive rooms and hallways wondering how a country could ever afford something like this, we were reminded that this cost the GDP of France for a 1/2 year and probably was done on the backs of some very poor workers.

After touring the chateau, we headed outside for the gardens while they had the fountains going. Fortunately the weather had cleared up a bit. We went back and forth through the labyrinth of bushes and fountains and eventually worked our way over towards the "retreat castles." After some quick touring through the areas back there we visited Marie Antoinette's retreat/little peasant village. That was the first time heading back there for both of us so it was a cool new discovery.

We tromped around through that "neighborhood" for a while and headed back to the chateau and out to the streets of Versailles where unfortunately it was that time between lunch and dinner (traditionally called "happy hour" in America but not here) and we tried to find somewhere to eat (we just packed in a baguette and jam). After coming up empty for a while, we gave up and went into a patisserie where we found some quiches and little desserts (had my first meringue in France, so good). We jumped on the train and headed back into Paris. Which leads me up to right now.

And so while I have your attention, I'm going to give the French a piece of my mind about beer. What the hell are you thinking charging $6 for 25 cl of crappy beer? For the love of Jebus beers in Belgium (sliiiightly better) were usually like $5 even for the best stuff. Fricking Westy 12 was only $6 at the cafe. Needless to say, we've been having wine.

Anyhow, tonight if conditions are okay we'll be going out for a night cruise on the Seine (thanks Jamie!) I trust that Emily will upload photos later (I have no idea how she's been doing that). Okay, off to find coffee for the morning.

Mark