Paris 2014 - Part IV

Another day,  another late start.  It's getting to be a theme.  I'm on vacation.  That's what I keep telling Kiri.  We started off with a French breakfast.  Cheese and ham on toast.  Mine came with a fried egg.

We decided we'd spend the day at Versaiies.  So we caught a train.  It's about 20 minutes outside of town.

Then a ten minute walk from the train station.

King Louis XIV decided to convert a hunting lodge into what you see today.  He went a bit overboard with the decorations.

This entire bust is made of stone.  The bottom of it looked like it was fabric.

Hall of Mirrors.  You can see the same hall in one of the end scenes of Midnight in Paris.  Great film to watch if you're heading here.

This is where Big Louis slept.  He had the bed placed so the sunrise would fall on him through the windows.

But enough of some gaudy king's pad.  Kiri and I really just wanted to explore the gardens outside.

Supposedly the gardens take up ~2000 acres.  You have the option of renting bicycles or golf carts just to explore it all.

After wandering a bit of the grounds we decided to rent a rowboat and check out the Grand Canal.

Kiri acted like a queen and told me to row faster or I'd be beaten.

Arrgh!  The sea was angry that day!  A viscious storm blew in from the East!  Actually it was just spritizing,  and my 30 minutes with the boat was up so we turned around.

We wandered over to a section of the gardens called Marie-Antoinette's estate.

The Temple of Looove!  

We explored a little hamlet.

Found some asparagus.  Who knew it grew like this?

Met some wildlife.

And pretty much closed down the park.  They were locking up sections of the gardens when we left.

Caught the train back to hotel.

And enjoyed some dinner before calling it a day.  Another one gone, it's slipping by too fast!!

Until tomorrow!