Today is the final stage of the Tour de France, and the riders came flying into Paris late this afternoon. Dad and I both thought it would be fun to see, by I was told we'd have to get a spot 4 or 5 hours ahead of time if we wanted to actually see anything when they came through. Pshh. Forget that! Our backup plan was to head to Versailles early this morning and watch as they came through on their way to the finish line. Unfortunately, we slept until 10:30AM and blew any shot of that actually happening. I didn't get home until 4AM this morning from my 5 hour blogging spree, and everyone else was pretty worn out form all the walking and long days.

My walk home last night was surprisingly eventful. The metro was shut down and I wasn't exactly close to the apartment. It took me about 45 minutes to walk back, much of which was on backstreets. Even so, plenty of people were out. One thing I couldn't believe was the number of women walking (alone in super short skirts and high heels) through the streets. How dumb are you? I accidentally stumbled onto Maxim's, which was partying the night away with loud, thumping music. One more thing I can cross off from Midnight in Paris. I even received a warm "Bonsoir!" from some of the clubgoers as I walked by. You are greeted everywhere here; another strike against the "French people are jerks" stereotype.

I had never been to Versailles before and it isn't in the city center, so finding our way there was a little daunting at first. I wasn't positive of what I needed to do, but one quick stop at a ticket booth took care of that and off we went on the RER. This was the largest train we have been on so far. It was two stories, and excruciatingly packed. Not a good sign, ever. The ride was probably only thirty or forty minutes, but we did get to see the French Statue of Liberty en route. I don't know why but I always just assumed that it was the same size as ours in New York. It's actually WAY smaller. Brittany also spotted a big air balloon hovering in the sky with a basket full of tourists. She's wanted to do that for a long time, so I have a feeling we'll be back soon. It's definitely not something I would do on my own, but hey, it's her trip too.

From the moment we arrived at the Versailles train station, we got the distinct feeling of being cattle, herded along from one place to another. Unfortunately that feeling lasted almost the entire day. I know it's July, and I know I should expect crowds. But what we saw in front of that palace was totally beyond my comprehension. The line was over two hundred feet long and snaked up and down six times. It was insane! We walked to the head of the line and asked if there was a special entrance for people with the Museum Pass. Nope, this is it. I wonder how many hundreds of times that security guard was asked that question? We stood in line for about three minutes and decided we'd rather get lunch and pray the line went down before we got back.

With killing time being the name of the game, we walked through the surprisingly pleasant town of Versailles, away from the hoardes, and found a nice terrace under the trees to eat at. It turns out that we couldn't have picked a more perfect spot for a long meal. From start to finish, we were at that table for three hours. That's gotta be some kind of record for me. The actual restaurant was across the street from the terrace, and there was only one waiter. Dad like him because he looked and acted a lot like Linguini from Pixar's Ratatouille. I have to admit, there was a striking resemblance. We felt terrible for the guy because he had to constantly run between the empty restaurant to the packed terrace with plates, drinks, and bottles of wine. Apparently they haven't discovered trays in this part of France, because he could only carry a couple of dishes at a time and each trip was a balancing act. The wine was the best part of the meal, and the best bottle we've had so far. I even wrote down the label info so I could track it down back home. Things came out very slowly, which would normally have been a bit annoying. But considering the circumstances, everything worked out perfectly, and the food was excellent.

We finally rolled from the terrace to the gates of Versailles, and again saw a massive crowd in line. The line had been cut in half though, and now it only snaked around three times. We didn't have much of a choice, so we got in line and shuffled through it, inch by inch. It took 45 minutes to get in, but at the end of the day it was much less time than I had expected. I've waited that long to ride something at Epcot...I can wait that long to see Versailles. Just before we walked in, we saw four or five brothers in full suits with their lapel badges surveying the line. It was pretty obvious that they were trying to figure out if they, too, had to stand in it. They seemed a little confused (and I have no idea how they were wearing suits; I was covered in sweat just wearing a dress shirt) and passed literally hundreds of people to walk up to me. They asked me if I spoke English. "I sure do, Brother!" He had absolutely no way of knowing that I was a Witness. What are the chances that, in that gigantic crowd, they would approach me??? He must have had a little extra holy spirit that day :) It turns out that they are on their way to the International Convention in Sweden. I guess Paris was a pre-convention trip. He had the same look I did when he realized that, yes, you must wait in that line. His group went to buy tickets, and we walked in past the surprisingly tight security.

The interior was just as packed as the outside. The rooms were beautiful and the palace was absolutely spectacular, but there's something about being in constant contact with sweaty, smelly strangers that sucks some of the fun out of it. I snapped a few pictures here and there but ulitmately tried to rush through it to get to the gradens, which was what I was most interested in seeing.

I wasn't disappopinted. The palace itself is gigantic, but is on a tiny spit of land compared to the space the gardens take up. They are absolutely massive. So massive, in fact, that you can actually rent golf carts to drive around them to save your feet. If I had figured that out at the beginning, I think even fifty bucks would have been well spent on it! There were some places I wanted to see that I just couldn't get myself to go to, simply because it was such a far walk. Fortunately we didn't need to go far to find beauty. The incredible volume and diversity of flowers on the grounds was staggering, and the sun was high in the sky with few clouds. Classical music played from hidden speakers, giving the gardens an old-world feeling of romanticism.

We had lost track of Mom and Dad, and they walked into the gardens just when we were about to walk out. They offered to turn around and leave, but I really wanted them to see and enjoy it so we soldiered on in spite of how tired we were. The fountains are incredibly gorgeous, and the entire reason we chose Sunday for our visit was becasue the ywould be on that day. Unfortunately I simply assumed that meant they would be on ALL day. Wrong! They were on for about an hour and a half. Mom and Dad never got to see them running, and Brittany and I had only caught about five minutes. I so wish that I had known because I would have skipped the palace entirely. If I ever get to go back, it will be solely for the gardens. Palace-wise I think the Louvre beats Versailles hands-down, but the grounds are out of this world.

We wandered through the gardens (well, everyone else did while I sat in the shade) until closing time and then walked back to the train station with ten billion other people. We were supposed to get back on the RER for the ride home, but one look at the crowded, steamy station and Dad walked right back out. Taxi! It cost about five times as much to take a taxe, but if Dad wants to pay for it I'm game :) It was a much more comfortable ride than the train would've been, that's for sure. We were so incredibly tired of walking by the time we got home that we just wanted to sit around in the apartment. The grocery stores were closed so we caved and picked up some Pizza Hut from across the street. It was actually really good and the entire family ate for less than 30 euro. As much as I hate seeing our fast food chains taking over other countries, they've got a good thing going here. Tomorrow will be a very, very long day. We wake up at 5AM to take the chunnel train to London and won't get home until around midnight. We'll be visiting the Bethel branch office and then doing some sight-seeing. I wonder what it will be like, considering the upcoming Olympics?