Sunday 12 May 2013

Day 5: Versailles, Champs-Élysées

Woke up pretty early in the morning cause we have to go to the outskirt of Paris to visit one of the famous tourist spot -- Château de Versailles.

After finishing our brekkie prepared by our host, we walked through the estate to go to the RER station. We are really lucky cause along the way, they have all these stalls selling groceries, it gives us a chance to have a look & feel of how the Parisians goes about their daily lives. 


 Parisian going round their daily lives with their trolley.. 

 Playing with my camera mode.. 

 Fresh chicken with their feathery head..

Wondering what is this? Skinned rabbit..

 Along the way we can feel the vibes of Paris, it is really a very nice walk. It took about 15 mins for us to reach the nearest RER station. RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris & its suburbs. To get to Versailles, we have to go by RER C-train & alight Versailles-Rive Gauche station. The whole journey will take about  30min & cost about 6.20 Euro for round trip. 

 @ the gantry of the RER Station



The train itself is packed with tourists & I got a feeling that we came out abit late. 

After we alight at Versailles-Rive Gauche station, we still have to walk about 5-10min to Versailles itself. Along the way, you can get your tickets at various sales counter. We were totally shocked by the long queue, it was then we realised that we came at a wrong day. Versailles is closed on every Monday, so naturally there will be more visitors visiting it on Tuesday. 

But luckily, the queue to get the Paris Museum Pass is not as long as the one queuing just for the Versailles ticket. We got the 2 day Pass which cost 39 Euro, it can gain us access to quite a number of museums we want to visit, that is why we decide to get this. The sale office for this Paris Museum Pass is on the left of the main road leading in front of Versailles. 

Just a tip to those visiting Versailles. Do not queue at the first ticket sales office you see when you step out of the station cause it tends to be the one with the longest queue. There are still like 1 to 2 sale ticket nearer to Versailles itself with shorter queue. 


The square outside Versailles.. Look at the number of tour bus & the amount of people!!

We were quite prepared by the queue into Versailles after looking at those people at the ticket office.. But still, we were really really shocked when we saw the CRAZILY long queue at the square!!!


This is just part of the queue!!

After looking at the queue, we decide that we should go for our lunch first since its already 11plus & we do not know how long we need to queue to get into Versailles.. We went to the Mac nearby & its all about queuing once again... 


 The queue to buy our lunch.. Seems like today is queuing day for us.. 


We went back to queue after our lunch and we took close to 2 hours before we stepped into the security area.. The sun is out to play and alot of the tourists were take the chance to have a tan while queuing in the early spring.. 


 Back to the queue and seems the same as before..
 Taking a rest from the queue and suntan..
Find the back view familiar?? Yes, that is me hiding under the small brochure.. 

Finally we are inside Versailles!!


Once you went into the building, there will be a counter where you can collect the audio guide FOC.. There are different languages for you to choose so feel free to pick whichever that suits you the most.. 

Palace of Versailles itself is a very huge place.. We only went to The Palace and that already took us more than 1.5hours to explore the place.. The walk to The Queen's Hamlet by foot if I do not rem wrongly will take at least 30min.. After looking at the time, we think we will not have enough time to visit all the sites inside and decide to return back to Central Paris.. 

Below are some of the rooms inside Versailles which I like:


 I cannot rem exactly what is this room but I believe this is the Queen's Chamber..
 The place where the King & Queen have their supper..
 
This is my Favourite -- The Hall of Mirrors
The Coronation of Napoleon
This is just part of the Garden of the Palace of Versailles..

By the time we reached Central Paris, it is already close to 5pm.. After taking a rest, the 4 of us decide to go to the famous Champ Elysees to take a look.. Well, that includes taking a look at the legendary LV flagship store which alot of ladies have been talking about... 


Our wonderful hubby helping us to queue!! :P
WOW!!! That is the only thing I can think of...
That is our damage for stepping into LV!! Opps..

Initially we wanted to have a meal nearby so that we could go and visit Arc de Triomphe after that.. But most restaurants were full and some waitress were staring at our humongous carrier bag & we realised that it might not be a good idea to eat with those bags cause most restaurants are pretty small in the area.. 

So we took a cab back to our B&B and went to eat at a Pizza place nearby.. And it was very sumptuous..

 Hawaiian Pizza
 Some toast with ham and tonnes of cheese
I forgot what is this.. Haha.. 

We bought some chips and drinks from the nearby supermarket so that we can chill at the terrace of our B&B.. But we did not stay out there for very long cause the temperature is 3degrees!! Hahaha.. In the end, we went to my room cause it has the same view!!


 Totally awesome view of the Eiffel Tower from our room.. 

My best travel mates.. :)








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