We get out with the rest of the hordes of tourists and shuffle on out of the station. We walk by a flower clock which I can best describe as looking like something that inspired the big Mickey Mouse planting of flowers that greets you when you enter Disneyland. We cross the street and follow the flow of the tide toward the palace. We turn on our iPod/Nano/iPhone devices and do as the podcast tells us. Or, at least, we try. It's a bit confusing, but we figure it out and make it through the various rooms -- war room, peace room, Hall of Mirrors -- and then head out to the gardens. We pay the extra fee (weekend fountain show and music) and march on down. Just another glorious day of sunshine! We listen to the podcast and stroll along ... fountain with the frog/people ... colonnade ... orange juice vendor ... petit venis (Little Venice) cafe and Grand Canal. We stop for panini (which are on long baguette-like bread but are pressed in the panini grill) and eat our picnic lunch along the Grand Canal, feeding the ducks and getting splashed a bit in the process. I'm glad I wore sunscreen, because it's hot out here! It's good to get something in our stomachs, although that does not do much for our feet. We continue on with the podcast tour ... Petit Trianon ... Grand Trianon ... glimpse of the Temple of Love from a distance ... glimpse of the sheep of the Hamlet (I think) also from a distance ... return to the main gardens to watch the fountains in full-blast mode. The horses-with-Louis XIV fountain is very impressive, as is the frog-people one. More photos in the glorious sunshine. Incroyable!
We trudge our way back out and decide to eat in Versailles. Mika wants to eat at a creperie, so we set out to find one. We go to the square and come across a boulangerie/patisserie called Darras that is very busy, and I decide to get some macarons and a baguette (so we can eat the smelly camembert from our first night). It is quite busy in there, but the lady is very pleasant and helpful, especially with my little "my son is allergic" note.
We find a creperie, although it's not the one in the guidebook, and it works out fine. The waiter suggests we sit outside, so we end up being a bit cold and smoky, but that's okay. It adds to the experience. The food itself was so-so, but the prices were also pretty inexpensive, so that was about what we expected. The kids wanted dessert crepes, too, so we splurged and had those, too. We ordered one for Mika with chocolate and bananas ... but it arrived sans chocolate and I had to go inside and ask for the chocolate ... and the waiter came back with the plate drenched in chocolate sauce, peered under Mika's Paul Frank hat at her smiling face, and even took off her hat and put it on his head and did a little dance. It was very cute.
Walked back towards the station and passed by the creperie that was in the book. Oh well. It didn't look crowded, so who knows if it would have been any better? Got back to the station area and looked at postcards, then checked out (visually) the "McCafe" which seemed to sell only coffee and pastries, and the Starbucks -- the only one I've seen so far, so I was a bit disappointed that they had one here at all! The interior looked just like any other Starbucks, even though the exterior looked more French. They had a huge chocolate cookies & cream ice cream cake and a white donut drizzled in chocolate, which looked quite good, and Miles jokingly said, "Yeah, but do they have Lemon Loaf? What? No Lemon Loaf?!!!" Too funny. I am glad I find my kids' humor so amusing. We left French Starbucks without buying anything and got on the train. Fell asleep on the train ride back. Got to Invalides RER and then used the same ticket to get on the #13 Metro. When we got off, there were four burly official looking guards who checked out tickets -- thank goodness we all still had them on us! Walked back and looked at the Velib bicycle kiosk, since Miles is very interested in those. Did not rent one since it was pretty late already. Walked back past the Pagode on Rue de Babylone, past the many closed businesses, including the one with the cool bathroom sinks. Stopped at the little market and got some milk, ground coffee, and Lu Petit Ecolier with cream inside for take along snacks. Came back "home" and settled in. Got the laundry into the dryer. Boyar made coffee. Mika wrote postcards. Miles read his book. We had our macarons for dessert, as well as some of our baguette and another quarter of the camembert (still half a round to go, and this is only a 3 - 4 inch round!). The kids drank their Geni soda, which they really like. They did not like the milk, which tastes like pure cream -- it's organic whole French milk, not the non-fat American stuff they are used to!
I stay up to finish reading The Little Prince and write down some notes on our trip, and ... here we are. I think I've caught up enough so that I will have some bon memoirs instead of non memoirs by the time we get back. I have no idea what we are doing tomorrow (or I guess it's today, since it is now 1:40 am, French time) except for making breakfast and seeing more sites in Paris. I asked the kids to read The Little Prince, which Mika did, and I think it is a really good book for kids. Hopefully, they take away something from it that grown-ups do not, or something that they will process as they become grown-ups. It made me feel reflective about this trip and my family, who has tamed me, and whom I have tamed. I think about the glorious Parisian sunshine, and how the sunshine of Oakland will now remind me of the sunshine I felt on this trip, and the happiness and warmth I have experienced here. I hope the kids and Boyar will someday feel it, too.
Good night.
Walked back towards the station and passed by the creperie that was in the book. Oh well. It didn't look crowded, so who knows if it would have been any better? Got back to the station area and looked at postcards, then checked out (visually) the "McCafe" which seemed to sell only coffee and pastries, and the Starbucks -- the only one I've seen so far, so I was a bit disappointed that they had one here at all! The interior looked just like any other Starbucks, even though the exterior looked more French. They had a huge chocolate cookies & cream ice cream cake and a white donut drizzled in chocolate, which looked quite good, and Miles jokingly said, "Yeah, but do they have Lemon Loaf? What? No Lemon Loaf?!!!" Too funny. I am glad I find my kids' humor so amusing. We left French Starbucks without buying anything and got on the train. Fell asleep on the train ride back. Got to Invalides RER and then used the same ticket to get on the #13 Metro. When we got off, there were four burly official looking guards who checked out tickets -- thank goodness we all still had them on us! Walked back and looked at the Velib bicycle kiosk, since Miles is very interested in those. Did not rent one since it was pretty late already. Walked back past the Pagode on Rue de Babylone, past the many closed businesses, including the one with the cool bathroom sinks. Stopped at the little market and got some milk, ground coffee, and Lu Petit Ecolier with cream inside for take along snacks. Came back "home" and settled in. Got the laundry into the dryer. Boyar made coffee. Mika wrote postcards. Miles read his book. We had our macarons for dessert, as well as some of our baguette and another quarter of the camembert (still half a round to go, and this is only a 3 - 4 inch round!). The kids drank their Geni soda, which they really like. They did not like the milk, which tastes like pure cream -- it's organic whole French milk, not the non-fat American stuff they are used to!
I stay up to finish reading The Little Prince and write down some notes on our trip, and ... here we are. I think I've caught up enough so that I will have some bon memoirs instead of non memoirs by the time we get back. I have no idea what we are doing tomorrow (or I guess it's today, since it is now 1:40 am, French time) except for making breakfast and seeing more sites in Paris. I asked the kids to read The Little Prince, which Mika did, and I think it is a really good book for kids. Hopefully, they take away something from it that grown-ups do not, or something that they will process as they become grown-ups. It made me feel reflective about this trip and my family, who has tamed me, and whom I have tamed. I think about the glorious Parisian sunshine, and how the sunshine of Oakland will now remind me of the sunshine I felt on this trip, and the happiness and warmth I have experienced here. I hope the kids and Boyar will someday feel it, too.
Good night.
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