Versailles: The Palace of Lines and Tourists

Set out for Versailles at 8am so we could get there by 9 to "beat the crowds."  This is what we were faced with:

All things considered, though, we didn't have to wait too long.  Once we were in there it was practically a madhouse.  Everything was beautiful but I honestly thought it would be bigger (I know, I know).

 

People everywhere

Then it's time to see the Gardens.  NO WAIT!  You need to buy a ticket for that!  Waiting again and then finally in.

What was truly beautiful (aside from the guy selling orange juice in the gardens) was the Queen's Hamlet which Marie Antoinette built as a pastoral retreat.  Since my phone died before I could take pictures of it, I will post ones I found online here:

 Couldn't you just die?!

So after walking around Versailles, the Gardens, and the outbuildings, we've been up and about for 12 hours.  It should be a nice little train ride back to SJU, right?  WRONG!  First, our Metro passes don't work outside of Paris so it's time to buy a ticket back.  Second, there were lines just to buy a ticket with people queued up behind THREE machines and one teller.  So we finally get to a machine--correction--I'm the first one to make it to the machine so I'm buying six return tickets--and IT ONLY TAKES CHANGE.  So everyone is throwing change at me so we can buy the tickets and move the line along.  After that it's relatively smooth sailing--except for two of my compatriots who couldn't make it off the train in time at our station.  All in all, Versailles was beautiful but if you are not into crowds I recommend going during the off season or just tour the Gardens.  Excuse me while I go move into Marie Antoinette's cottage.

Au revoir, Simone!