A Day at Versailles

Musings by Amit:

Today, we started the day fairly early for us and made it out of the hotel by 930AM to tour Versailles. There was a huge crowd at the ticket booth and the entry line. All in all, there was a huge and messy crowd the whole day and it really took away from our enjoyment of the day and the art at the palais because of it. We felt like a herd of cattle being rush through shoulder to shoulder. If we had to do it again, we'd go later in the day to avoid the crowds.
The gardens at Chateau de Versailles are spectacular. The colors of the grass and the trees combined with the shadows provide spectacular photo opportunities. The architecture was fairly monotonous towards the end as it was all in the same style. In contrast, the Louvre, although much bigger, was much more enjoyable because of the variety in the types of art and the styles in the paintings. Also, it was much better organized so, we could take our time to enjoy the art!  

After dropping off the car at Orly airport, we've checked into a hotel for our final night in France. That final night we wanted to eat at a particular restaurant, L'Arbuci (the same jazz restaurant and bar that we wanted to go to last time), but after finding it, we realized that it was closed for remodelling. So, we found another restaurant for dinner. After dinner, I dropped Anjali back at the hotel and made my way to an English pub to watch the end of the UEFA cup final between Manchester United and Chelsea. It was an exciting game, that went back and forth.

Watching the spectators at the bar was almost as interesting as watching the game itself. The game went to penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie at the end of overtime. I never realized how eciting PKs were, especially when there's so much at stake on every pressure filled kick. We're now sitting at Charles De Gaulle waiting for our flight. Our stay in France has been spectacular, but the Guiness and Jameson in Dublin is calling!