Sunday has marked our first rainy day in Europe. We got a bit of a shock when we stepped outside, after yesterday's hot summery weather!It was cold, wet and windy and I really wasn't dressed appropriately (I might need to go jacket/shoe shopping in Paris, what a pity) and our little overpriced Kathmandu umbrella really wasn't a match for the wind. Undeterred (we will need to get used to this after all), we set of for the Palace of Versailles.

We left a little later today, about 8am, but it seems the Parisians like their sleep ins on Sundays as the streets were deserted. That is, except for part of our street which had been blocked off by a policeman, while on the corner about 30 men in uniform (police or security, not sure) were gathered in a huddle, gearing up in high vis. Not too sure what that was all about, and didn't stick around to find out...shame as the curiosity still lingers...

Might note here that we are feeling mostly recovered now from our jetlag, with the only remaining symptom being our manic outbursts of song whenever any of us say something remotely close to a familiar lyric. Otherwise, all good.

We transferred to the RER line and travelled about 30 minutes to reach Versailles. There are often buskers on the train, and this morning it was two men with an accordion and a sax who played wonderfully - it really set a French mood and had me grinning ear to ear as I gazed out the train window at little French houses and green countryside. I was too tight/lazy to give a tip and I'm actually really regretting that now. We arrived in Versailles and stopped for Starbucks to warm us up, then walked around the corner and our jaws dropped.

This has been one of the things I was most looking forward to in Paris - the history is fascinating and in particular I wanted to see Marie Antoinette's estate. Ben, Gem and Mark hadn't known much about Versailles and I felt that little bit of pressure about taking their whole day to see it, but I shouldn't have worried - the Palace didn't disappoint and we had an amazing day!

As we walked up to the golden gates shivering with rain blustering around us, a happy looking Englishman walked past and chirped "hello kids, have fun - do the palace first and then the gardens, it will clear up by then don't worry!" And it's not just the foreigners who are friendly here. We've been told time and time again how rude people are in Paris, but we've not experienced this once. Ive found everyone we've approached to be friendly and helpful, and very patient with my terrible French. It probably helps that we are attempting the language, anyway.

We entered the first gates feeling smug that our museum passes would shoot us to the front of the ridiculously long line ("haha, Mark look- take a panorama shot of all those suckers!") but soon realised that we had no privileges here and had to join said suckers at the end of the now even longer queue. Doh. Ben disappeared and of course we spotted him grinning and waving inside the entrance barrier a few minutes later. Luckily for the rest of us the line moved quickly and we were inside the Palace and out of the cold within 10 minutes.

Versailles is massive. They hire out golf buggies to get around the estate. You'd really need one to see it all and even then it would be a rush. Being the poor backpackers that we are, we walked. And walked, and walked. The palace itself was beautiful and extravagant, but horribly crowded. We were crammed into a mosh pit of slow moving Chinese tour groups and performed a collective penguin shuffle through the whole building, with everyone's heads whipping side to side and arms occassionally raised up high to snap a photo or two.

This took about an hour and a half, and we finally got out into the fresh air (and as promised by the Englishman, much clearer skies) only to find that the gardens weren't free for pass holders today because of a "musical fountain' show - this would be 8 euro each. Boo! Instead, we walked the whole perimeter of the Palace grounds (with a nice view of the cute little town on the way) to reach Marie Antoinette's estate, which was my main interest anyway, and vowed to find a hole in a hedge somewhere to reach the Palace gardens!!

This building was much simpler and very pretty - light and airy, and surrounded by magical little gardens lined with trees and filled with flowers which just went on and on, and led to more beautiful buildings, fountains and the canal. The photos really cannot do this justice. So peaceful and relaxing, and practically empty of other tourists at this stage.

We staked out the hedges for an entry to the palace gardens but the place was pretty tight. We eventually struck gold and found a pathway which got us to the back of the palace and afforded me the view I'd been hoping for, at the back of the palace looking up the canal, lawns and fountains toward the Palace. Lovely! And free! A very successful visit.

We caught the RER back towards the city and hopped off at St Michel Notre Dame station. Up the stairs, and hello Notre Dame! I said, "Oh, is that it?" I think I was expecting it to be larger, considering it took 200 years to build. However as we got closer I realised why - the level of detail is breathtaking. A million figures carved into the stone, all unique and telling their own story. When we got inside I took a few minutes to put the camera down, sit silently in the pews and just take it all in. So serene and beautiful, and hundreds of years old. It's amazing to think of all the people throughout the last 900 years or so, who would have walked through these doors and maybe found some comfort here.

Our passes would have allowed us free entry to climb to the top and see inside the bell tower but the line was long and unmoving and we were tired, hungry and stair-wary as the last couple of days have ravaged our calf muscles! I hope to get back there and have a look someday, but today it just wasn't going to happen.We went in search of beer and a feed instead. Ben had suggested a pub called 'the Great Canadian' that he'd seen online and which was in the area. Problem being, we had no address and couldn't find wifi.

We searched, and searched, and whinged, and searched, and wondered why we were even going to this place anyway. Chicken wings and the principle of it, was the general consensus and reasoning for continuing this epic journey. We stopped in a dingy pub with 3 euro pints, then recommenced our search in a much happier and determined state of mind. So determined in fact, that we stopped at an American diner, to ask the American waitresses to point the way to the Canadian bar which we would eat at instead of their diner. It worked. We found the bar, sat down, picked up the menu, gawked at the prices and promptly left.

Instead, we ended up at an Irish pub with Aussie staff, watching the tennis, drinking Galway beer and eating blessed chicken wings. We left at about 8pm with the sun still high in the sky, a belly full of chicken wings and a backpack full of free ketchup and mayonnaise sachets.

A very good day.

Liss xox