Versailles, France : Novembre 2012

Closing my Paris trip blog series is my entry about my trip to the nearby city of Versailles.

From Paris Montparnasse Station where we first stopped for coffee at Starbucks, we took a (wild) RER ride (my first!) to Versailles.

For the second time around, I was with Flo and his friend Fakr.

When you get off from the train station, the famous château is just a few meters ahead. You wouldn’t even notice it at first because it is surrounded by modern structures but take a closer look and you will be astonished by the enormous golden gate from the vast entrance.

It was the first Sunday of the month when we came so entrance to the château was free. Unfortunately there was a long line and I had a train at 17h to catch so we just strolled around the garden.

Only a part of it, again, because even the garden was enormous and we arrived there at noon. I needed to be back to Paris at least by three in the afternoon to prepare.

We met Flo’s wonderful family by surprise. We continued with the tour with them and we decided to visit Marie Antoinette’s sanctuary but the map available from the office de tourisme lead us to the wrong direction so we took a break and had lunch in this Italian restaurant.

There was a bookstore nearby and we decided to spend some time looking through some titles. Also, we stopped by the hôtel de ville for some snaps.And by four in the afternoon, we arrived back at Paris Montparnasse to purchase some Starbucks tumblers (10 Euros = 500 Php each) for my cousin, a friend and for myself. Little did we know that we were already running late for my train back to Nice. So from here until Flo’s apartment all the way to Gare du Nord and even down to Gare de Lyon (catering to trains coming from Paris going down south of France), we came running.

On the train at metro line four going back to Flo’s apartment, Flo proposed a few things should I miss my train. Either I stay for another night and he’d drive me back to Nice the following day or I stay for good and we’d travel the world together. But seeing as this is not plausible, I declined and insisted I try making it at 17h25 on my first class TGV ride back to Nice. And I made it after an RER ride to Gare de Lyon and with only 10 minutes to spare. And with that I wrap up my four-day Paris trip.

À toute à l’heure, Paris !