More bicycle madness, with a royal flavour

Six hours sleep again (why we keep doing this to ourselves I do not know…) then up early to grab croissants and cafe creme for breakfast (and not just because that’s all I can order) and navigating the subway to get to our starting location for the cycling tour of Versailles.  Yes, that’s right, more cycling.  I almost managed to suppress the grimace of pain as my ass hit the bike seat for the second day in a row.

The subway was a breeze though, even easier than I remember from last time I was here ten years ago.  Actually, that comment applies equally well to Paris as a whole – I really wasn’t enamoured by the place last time round, it just seemed dirty, difficult and very unfriendly.  Amazing what better weather, more travel experience and an improved attitude will do, I guess.

Anyway … we found the office where the trip started from, grabbed our bikes and joined our guide and maybe another 15 people and hit the streets.  A group that large obviously just dominates the narrow streets, especially when most of its members seemed oblivious to minor details like looking in both (or any) directions before crossing major intersections etc, so there were some fairly comic moments on the way to the train station.  No casualties though, so we took our bikes onto the train and headed out to Versailles.  First stop at the other end was a local market – and you’ll never guess what we bought.  Though there were filled baguettes this time to wash the wine and cheese down with.

On to the Versailles palace and gardens – we took in the outlying  buildings and area first, enjoyed the picnic lunch at one end of the grand canal, then were set loose to explore the palace proper by ourselves.  Because we only had a limited time to explore (always the bane of organised tours in my experience) we headed straight for the Hall of Mirrors and Royal Bedroom which were both mind blowing (would have been better without the hordes of people but until I become a member of the French aristocracy and travel back 250 years that’s probably not going to happen.  Not to mention I quite like having my head attached to my body.)  Afterwards we spent some time in the gardens which were nearly as impressive as the palace itself, with just enough time for another cafe creme (that’s coffee with milk for the uninitiated, pretty much a flat white I guess…) before heading back to the bikes, train etc.  Overall it was definitely a good trip (Marcus the exuberant tour guide from San Francisco was great value) and bikes were (once again) the perfect way of seeing lots of stuff, but I’d probably recommend just hiring some cycles, getting a decent book on Versailles and jumping on the train if you were going to do it yourself.  Allow plenty of time though – like, the entire day.

Back to the apartment via the supermarket for … well, I won’t even tell you what for.  By this stage, you might even be able to guess.  So I’m sitting here with a glass of Pommery champagne, it’s 9.30pm and almost broad daylight outside and really, life is pretty damn good right now.  Long may it last…

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