It was a cold and rainy day - and the rain picked up as we approached Versailles via the Metro. The palace is a 10 minute walk from the train station, so, on the very last day of our 15 days in Europe, Candice succumbed and we bought a 5 Euro umbrella from a guy at the station (who was making a fortune as he was selling them as fast as he could reach into his bag!)
Luckily, we read Rick Steves' book before leaving and bought a Versailles day pass at the train station (which included the cost of the train). When we arrived at the palace, there were two lines - one to buy tickets - and was about 3 hours long and stretched the full length of the courtyard - and one to gain entry for those with tickets (about 20 minutes).
We had the same strategy as the day before at the Louvre - take the basic tour, see the gardens, and escape!
The place, of course was magnificent.
Our first stop was the chapel:
And then, after a walk down a hall of statues, the Opera Theater:
Then through the Hall of Mirrors:
Too bad, they were refurbishing the Hall - and the whole left side, by the windows, was torn up.
Then onto the King's Chambers:
And then out to the gardens:
We were a little too early for the fountain show they put on - it was scheduled for about 2 hours later, so we decided to leave.
Looking back at the palace from the gardens:
and back the other way:
The pictures don't do justice to the immense footprint of these gardens!
30 minutes by train back to Paris found us both hungry! We decided to have lunch at a place on the same street as our hotel:
The owner was very nice - but didn't speak any english as he tried to explain the brunch items he had out on tables. There were porcine mushrooms, eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, bread, orange juice, and coffee! It was all very good. Time to pay, and we find out it was 25 Euro per person, and we didn't have anough cash. He tried to run our AMEX, but it wouldn't go through - he said because it was Sunday. I ran down the street to a cash machine and ran back so we could pay the man. Candice was nice enough to wait there. We walked down to our hotel, and the desk attendant must have recognized me from running back and forth and asked if every thing was ok - he must have been puzzled!
After a short nap, time for dinner. We decided to eat at the place next door called Aux Marmites d'Agnes (or Chez Agnes):
We opened the door, but it was stuck on the carpet, so I had to kind of push a little harder - making quite a noise. The people at the two tables looked at us and laughed - and the owner, Agnes, gave us a look as well. I asked if she had a table for 2 and she kind of gave us a look, but then invited us in and to a table. The couples at the other tables said we were lucky - that Agnes had turned away several others earlier that evening - we must have had a desparate look or something!
The room is very small - just 16 seats at 8 tables - and it opens up into her kitchen, which looks like a kitchen you would see in someone's home, not a restaurant! The dining room was a little dark, had a large mirror on one wall, and was decorated with many little knick-knacks and photos:
Agnes brought over the menus and we asked for a bottle of Burgundy - she brought over a half liter of house wine. Here's the menu:
and Candice enjoying the wine:
At first, Agnes didn't pay much attention to us. But, we started talking with the other tables and at one of them was an American who spoke French - and he relayed to Agnes that we were on our honeymoon and all of the sudden, it was as if we were visiting at grandma's and hadn't been there in a very long time. She played with Candice's hair:
Showed us her scrapbook of emails people had written her:
and showed us the Christmas card sent to her from Rick Steves:
In the mean time, she took our orders - I had Escargot for an appetizer and Lamb chops seasoned with thyme and Candice had a salad and a beef filet in a roquefort sauce - cooked the dinner - and served us. We each had apple pie with ice cream for desert. Both meals were fantastic - just like a little French home cooking! Of Course, it's not like eating at a 3 Michelin Star French restaurant, that would be a completely different experience. This was more down to earth - very comfortable and relaxed - just the way we like it.
Agnes was kind enough to take a picture with the both of us:
and then she chatted us and the table next to us up for about 45 minutes. Then she poured us each a glass of a special home-made drink (sound familiar?) to celebrate our honeymoon.
The funny thing was it tasted exactly like one of the drinks Achille gave us from his private collection - except that he gave us a small sample in a little plastic cup - hers was in a glass and was a bit more to drink.
The couple next to us were French (and the gentleman spoke English), so we started a conversation with them and found out he travels to the U.S. every so often on business to Huntsville, AL. They own an apartment in Paris, but they have their home in southern France and it was their first time to Chez Agnes too. Very nice people.
Well - that's it for Paris. Too bad we were so tired from our travels that we couldn't muster up the energy to see more museums or sites. Candice says we have to come back! I don't disagree.
Next day we took a crazy cab ride to the airport - with the driver speeding in and out of rush hour traffic in between zooming motorcycles, smart cars, and vespas. He got us there on time and in one piece.
At the airport, we learned our plane was delayed two hours. Long day ahead of us!
The flight was good, except for a little turbulence over the ocean and a rough landing.
Customs in Atlanta was about a 1.5 hour process - even without any lines - check the passport, waiting to get our bags, a nod from the customs agent, putting our bags on another conveyor belt to be picked up in the main terminal - train to the main terminal - and waiting again for our bags - which ended up being two carousels over from the one indicating our flight.
Leslie came to pick us up and after a quick stop to get Gretzky and Madeira at her house we made it home to Alpharetta!
What a great honeymoon!
1 comment:
Candice & Reed:
From start to finish your blog has been delightful. We are so grateful for your generosity of words and photographs. Welcome home, and we could not be happier that your honeymoon was such an amazing time.
Love,
Shannon
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