Paris Day One (Versailles and more)

The choice to go to Versailles was not an easy one. We only had 3 days in Paris. Was it worth it to spend a whole day outside of the city? Answer: Yes. Thankfully, friends had recommended we go and we were thankful we did. 

We chose not to eat breakfast at the hotel. Too expensive. We bundled up and walked to the Invalides RER station. There, we bought our tickets to and from Versailles. We got down into the train station and had plenty of time before the next train arrived. We decided we better eat and found a little take-away counter in the dirty train station. We ordered two bottles of water (still dehydrated) and a maxi pain au chocolat. We remembered the chocolate croissants from our French Club days and decided to try one out...yes, inside the train station. Let me tell you, BEST PASTRY EVER. We tried the pain au chocolat at several other places and Paris and no lie, this was the best one...

YUM!!!

45 minute train ride. It was crowded but we found two seats together upstairs. Versailles is the last stop, so we didn't have to stress over where to get off. When you get off the train, you simply follow the crowds past a few restaurants and souvenir shops. About a 10 minute walk. Turn right and there it is! INCREDIBLE! 

I cannot even begin to describe how big Versailles is. I had no idea. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. Honestly, I wish I had done more research before we went. I know I learned a lot of it in school but how quickly we forget. Well let me tell you it's a lot more interesting when you're standing in the middle of it than when you are sitting in a classroom.

I would definitely recommend the free audioguide they give you. We had our headphones from the big bus tour in our backpacks so we didn't have to hold the audioguides up to our ears the whole time. 

Here I am in the amazing and famous Hall of Mirrors reading Rick Steves. We couldn't go anywhere without Rick and I can't sing his praises enough!

I could go on and on (and on and on and on) about the Chateau, but I will spare you. I would definitely recommend going, definitely recommend studying up ahead of time and definitely grab the audiotour as you go. 

Just when you think you cannot be any more impressed (or overwhelmed) you step out behind the house into the gardens. 

To attempt to describe them would be an injustice. I'll just say this, I was blown away in the winter weather and the gardens had zero flowers and the fountains weren't even running. If (when...fingers crossed) we ever go back, I want to go in the spring. I'm sure it is magnificent. 

Despite the dreary weather (it was a trend for our whole trip), we spent a few hours exploring the gardens as well as the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon, and the Hamlet. 

Between the palace and the gardens, we stopped at a sandwich shop for lunch. After taking in the gardens from the top of the stairs, go down past the fountain and toward the grand canal. One of the the first rights you can take off of the main path will lead you to bathroom and a food bar. We had water, soda,  and ham and cheese baguettes, yum! The french cat with the "mustache" killed me! 

  

The gardens themselves may not have been full of color but the fall leaves were BREATHTAKING! 

We didn't stop until we had seen it all. It took almost a full day, a good 6 hours to see it all. Again, worth it! We took the train back to Paris and walked back to the hotel.

After a quick shower and change of clothes. We headed to the Rue Cler for dinner. It is a very touristy area, a few short blocks from the hotel. There are street vendors there on the weekends, but they were packing up as we were arriving for dinner. We walked up and down the Rue Cler looking for Cafe Constant. Friends had recommended it and it has superb reviews online. As it turns out, I had misread her message. It wasn't on the Rue Cler but on Rue St. Dominique nearby. Oh well! We'll hit that up next time. We finally gave up our search for Cafe Constant and got a table at Cafe Central on the Rue Cler. We were greeted by the host and were promptly sat at a table on the heated patio right next to the street. Perfect! I think it was probably a very touristy restaurant, but it was GOOD. We sat next to a grandma, dad, and daughter from upstate New York. Our waiter (Stefan, I think) was easily the friendliest we had on our whole trip. He was great. We started with a carafe des vin rouge, and gratinee a l'oignon (aka french onion soup.) It was DELICIOUS and did not disappoint. For dinner I had a creamy risotto with chicken and hubby had Duck Confit with fries. It was a lovely meal. 

We left dinner and headed for our first real glimpse of La Tour Eiffel. It was beautiful all lit up at night, I felt like we were in a movie. We dodged our way through the men selling roses and by selling, I mean sticking them in your face hoping you'll grab one and be forced to pay a ton of money for it. We just stood there and basked in the towers glory and then found a bench and sat for a while. We made the informed decision not to climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was not included in our museum pass. The line is long at all hours of the day (and this in the off season). Sitting at the base and marveling was enough for me.

We thought about our friend whose husband surprised her on a a vacation she took with her sister. He came out of the crowd at the Eiffel Tower and proposed. I bet those stories are ten fold. I can't explain to you why it is romantic, it just is.

After walking around Versailles all day and to dinner and to the tower, my feet were KILLING me. So, we took a cab up to the Arc de Triomphe. It was huge and exquisite. We stood at the eternal flame before going up the stairs (did I mention my feet were killing me?) and up and up and up. One of my favorite statues of the trip was inside the arc just before you got up to the viewing deck...

The view from the top was wonderful, and I'm so glad we went at night. The fog was heavy most days and after all it is the city of lights. Photos were hard to get without a tripod, but I'll never forget standing up there with my hubby taking it all in. 

We found a 2nd (or 10th) wind and walked back to the hotel via the Champs Elysees. There are shops for miles, but it was quite late and we kept walking. After the shops and restaurants, and before you get to the Place de la Concorde, there is a cute little market with vendors set up all along both sides of the road, everything was already decked out for Christmas. They were playing Bing Crosby Christmas music and serving vin chaud (hot wine). It was another perfect moment that I'll never forget. 

We made it back to the hotel. Marveled at our view, emailed family, and crashed. 

Arriving in Paris

Paris was a life-long dream come true. It was everything I imagined it would be. 

We had heard horror stories and after reading the Trip Advisor Forums, I was terrified that somebody would be trying to swindle us around every corner. I'd also heard that the city was dirty and the people were rude. We found this to be completely false. Here are some things I learned about being an American tourist in Paris:

1. Attempt to speak the language. Our high school French carried us much further than I could have dreamed. 9 times out of 10, they would smile at our attempt and then switch to English.
2. Educate yourself. Although my research overly-terrified me, I was glad I was prepared. Had I not read about the Gold Ring Trick and other things like it, I would have easily been distracted by it. Just be smart! Hubby kept his wallet in his front pocket and kept his hands in his pockets when we were in crowded areas. I carried a messenger bag the whole trip and kept it full zipped and in front of me at all times. If we were in a crowded-touristy area, I kept my hand over my bag. We had zero problems.
3. Learn to use the Metro and RER (depending on how far you are going).
4. Buy a current Rick Steves guide. "Rick" was our 3rd travel partner, we didn't go anywhere without him! 
5. If you have a small time period to enjoy the city-- plan ahead. People say that Paris is best taken in slowly strolling the streets and people watching from cafes. I completely agree! HOWEVER, when you have 2 days and are unsure if you'll ever be back you have to take advantage of every second. That means, no slow waking up and enjoying cafe au lait while people watching for hours. It means GO GO GO! 
6. Get the Paris Museum Pass. It was worth every bit of the 54€ we paid. I think we ended up saving money. Even if we didn't, it was worth it to skip lines and not have to stress over buying and keeping up with tickets everywhere we went. We ordered ours about 10 days out and had it shipped to our hotel. The hotel held it and had it ready for us upon check in. 
7. COMFY SHOES ARE EVERYTHING! I had extremely comfortable shoes and my feet still hurt after all the walking we did (see #3...we didn't do a good job of this)
8. It's worth the money to stay in a more central location. Also important to choose one near a Metro station. More about our hotel choice below. 

Eurostar Train

The Eurostar experience was painless. Arrive a little early, go through airport like security and customs. Wait for your train. The only stressful part was making sure we got on the right train, it wasn't difficult as much as it was us doubting ourselves because we hadn't done it before. The people on the London and Paris side were helpful in reassuring us we were doing the right thing. There is a food cart, but we chose to buy our food and drinks at the train station and carry them on. The only stress we had was over our luggage. Our smaller bags were able to fit over our seat but our large bag had to be stored on the shelves near the door. It would have been very easy for someone to walk off with it before we got to it once the train stopped. Again, we had no problems but that was our only concern. I guess it's really no different than picking up a checked bag at the airport...

We arrived into Paris Nord trainstation around 10pm. We went straight for the taxi queue and hopped in. I had written our hotel information on a piece of paper before we got in the cab, that way all we had to do was hand the driver the piece of paper and not stress over the language barrier. Worked like a charm.

The driver pointed out landmarks on our 15 minute ride to the hotel. I for sure teared up at the first glance of the Eiffel Tower. I had been dreaming of seeing it since I was a small child. We arrived at Hotel de l'Empereur. I would recommend it in a heartbeat! It was recommended to me by a French teacher in my Zumba class. The front desk staff speak English. They were polite but not overly friendly. There is a very small elevator or a spiral stair case to get to your room. 

Our room was #53 and it must be the best room at the hotel. It was small for American but not European standards, well decorated, a newly renovated bathroom, a small balcony and the view speaks for itself... 

The dome at Napoleans Tomb was absolutely breathtaking at night. Every night when we would finally arrive at the hotel, we would open the doors (even though it was cold) and soak it all in. 

Horsley Park

Hubby's conference was outside of London, in Surrey at the BEAUTIFUL Horsley Park Hotel and Meeting Rooms, a little history here. It was less of a conference center and more straight out of a Jane Austen novel... 

Our room wasn't in the castle but in the conference center just next door. Expectedly, our room wasn't ready when we arrived (around 9am). However, there was a luggage room for us to store our things. The hotel called us a courtesy car to the train station. We bought our to and from Waterloo Station tickets and nervously waited for the train. No big deal. We were in the heart of London about 40 minutes later. 

We walked around the immediate area to orient ourselves and take a few pictures of parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye. Then, we found our Big Bus Tours stop. We saved $ by booking the tickets online and presenting our voucher at the stop. We hopped on the bus and went straight up to the top. We had no problems with crowds. However, it was COLD and windy. Determined to stay on the top level, we moved up to the front and it helped a little. The tour was great. When you get on, you receive a pair of headphones. You plug them into a jack at your seat and it gives you information about the landmarks as you pass them.

We both agreed we were so glad we decided to do this rather than spend the day resting in Surrey. I'm sure that would have been lovely too, but we were trying to see as many sights as possible in a few short days. Taking this tour allowed us to see an overview of the whole city. We were so thankful for that later when we came back to London and found we didn't have the time to do everything we wanted. 

At this point, we hadn't slept in 36+ hours. We had been told to stay awake as long as possible that first day to acclimate to the time change as quickly as possible. Hubby did very well. I succumbed to the lovely classical music that played between landmarks on the bus tour. I got 2-3 minute naps here and there until the hubby would elbow me to wake up, haha. We stayed on the bus for the whole loop which took several hours. It wasn't a great photo opportunity as it was a dreary day, but it was a wonderful overview of the city. 

We got off where we got on and headed back to Waterloo Station. Unsure what the food situation would be at Horsley, we decided to grab a quick meal at the train station. We ate at Yo! Sushi. Concept = A, Food= C-. You have a water tap at your table to refill your own glasses...which was great because we needed that water and would have driven a waiter nuts. Food comes around on this conveyor belt. You grab what you want off of the belt. The color of the bowl corresponds to the price. 

You could also order hot food. Uncomfortable eating sushi in a strange city, hubby had chicken terriyaki and friend rice. I opted for a chicken noodle bowl. 

We nervously found our way to the correct platform and made it safely back to Horsley Station. It was very odd to not have a working cell phone. When we stepped off the train, the station was closed. We were praying for a taxi to be nearby so we didn't have to walk through an unfamiliar area in the dark. 

Our prayers were more than answered when we caught the courtesy car about to pull out of the parking lot. We chased him down and arrived back at the hotel to check in. 

We got settled, showered, caught up on emails (they had excellent wireless), skyped my sister, and I kept my eyes open for as long as I could. Hubby went to the bar to see if any other conference attendees had arrived. He said he didn't care whether or not I went... I took that as a sign to begin counting sheep. I don't think I counted one before I was fast asleep.

The advice worked, we woke up early the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to go. At the breakfast buffet at the hotel, hubby introduced me to a coworker he knew from Canada. His wife had made the trip also. We became fast friends and agreed to meet in the lobby after getting ready.

We went next door to the castle for a little history and a little tour. The castle's most notable resident was Ada Lovelace (daughter of Lord Byron). We explored tunnels and a beautiful chapel, but never made it to the "tower."

The brickwork was unusual and exquisite. We thanked our gracious hostess and headed out to explore the grounds. We got to know each other walking beautiful paths next to horse fields. We walked though a beautiful neighborhood and down the only main road in Horsley. We stopped at the only shopping area where we explored a thrift shop and drug store. Then we finished our walking loop back to the conference center. Hoping we had wasted the whole day, we made it back to the front desk at 11am. We made friends with the receptionist, Fran,  and asked her suggestion for the remainder of the day. She suggested taking a taxi to Guildford. It sounded better than sitting at the hotel for hours so we did. Our "taxi" was a Mercedes though we both agreed it seemed more appropriate to be picked up in a horse and carriage from the castle. 

After the 25 minute car ride, we were greeted by a bustling little town with a TGIFridays and this... 

Yes, my dear southern friends-- Hot doughnuts now, across the pond. We didn't go in but I had to snag the pic. We went to a mall and both found some things at Mango. Then we did a little browsing on some side streets. There were cute little stands set up on the side of the road. 

We decided to warm up and grab lunch at All Bar One. We had a lovely time getting to know one another, laughing, eating and drinking good wine. It was so nice to have a meal with no distractions and no worries. Neither of us had working cell phones so it was really just the two of us stranded in Guildford. It kind of made me long for simpler times. Don't get my wrong, I'm as dependent on my cellphone as your average American, but it was kind of lovely to be "off the grid." 

Chandelier made from wine glasses

Wine from lunch 

Thank goodness we had bothered to get a card from the driver. We borrowed a phone from a waiter and called our ride to come pick us up. We made it back to the conference center in time to greet the boys and freshen up for their formal dinner.

Dinner was very nice and in the castle's Great Hall. It was fun to watch my hubby in action, shmoozing and networking. He is so good at what he does. I ate, drank wine, and tried to throw in a halfway intelligent comment here and there. 

Later the party moved to the castle bar, which moved to a search for the tower, which moved to climbing ladders, and out windows on to balconies that were not meant to be balconies. We met some great people and had a wonderful time. 

The next morning was a little hazy but not too bad. We had breakfast at the hotel bar again. Then I went to the room to repack us. 

We traveled with a large (checked) suitcase, a carry-on size suitcase, and a Baggallini messenger bag that went with us everywhere. We also had packing cubes which we found helpful for the long trip with many different stops. 

We had packed light and decided to do laundry in the sink as we went. I was very prepared with a flat sink stopper (which none of the hotels we stayed at required) and cut up Purex laundry sheets. The laundry I had done the day before wasn't dry so I spent some of the morning drying our clothes with a blow-dryer in order to pack them. 

My new friend and I had lunch at the hotel bar and then went back to Fran to find another adventure assignment. Fran sent us in the car to Bocketts Farm. This time we arranged for the car to meet us in a couple of hours.

It was very cute! It's main draw is the petting zoo. We saw all kinds of animals and even got to pet a few. The highlight was a donkey that had been born the day before. It was very well set up for a day with kids. It had a train ride, awesome park, bouncy thingy, pig racing, pony rides, and lots of animals to feed. 

One day old donkey

There is no frame of reference but trust me this pig was GINORMOUS

Cute little goat

Horse that wasn't too happy with my friend

Friend at petting zoo

We had just enough time to split "tea for two" at the little restaurant before meeting our car to go to Horsley for the last time. 

The only tea I had in England-- this is probably terrible to say but I prefer it iced! 

The boys were about finished with their conference when we returned. We said our goodbyes and took a car the loonnnggg and expensive ride to the St. Pancras Train Station where we caught the Eurostar to PARIS!!!

Flying to Europe

What a blessing this trip was! My super smart hubby won an essay contest at work and his prize was to attend a graduate retreat for his company's parent company in the UK. The company paid for his ticket and some of our hotel nights. We had enough skymiles to cover my ticket. The puzzle pieces fell in just right and we were able to take our dream vacation to Europe.

We flew overnight which is definitely the way to go. We had very little trouble adjusting to the time change. 

We flew out of ATL's new international terminal. Very nice! We had a glass of wine and split a trio of tacos (very yummy--shrimp was the best) from Jekyll Island Seafood before boarding.

One of my student's mom is a flight attendant. She gave some very valuable advice that I will share with you. Thanks "Monica" ;)

1. Carry an empty water bottle through security. Fill it up at a water fountain (or ask a vendor) on the other side. Much cheaper than the $5 bottle of water. Hubby got us these Brita Water Bottles that automatically filter water. They proved useful throughout the trip.
2. DRINK A LOT OF WATER. This cannot be emphasized enough. I felt like I was drinking like a fish and I still ended up slightly dehydrated the next day.
3. There is pretty much no free way to get upgraded to first class. However, your best bet is with the gate agent. 
4. Flight attendants love free goodies.
5. Planes are full of cooties. 
6. Don't use the pillow or blanket they provide. Even if they're wrapped, you don't know the last time they were washed. 
7. Inflatable pillows are good, they take up less space and won't pick up germs as much. (Side note: we brought inflatable pillow but found them uncomfortable in the airline seats-- the plane we were on had head rests that you could partially "close" to cradle your head, it made the flight slight more comfortable)
8. Bring a toothbrush (or those little wispies), floss, and makeup remover wipes. Do a quick clean up after meal service. It really does make you feel better.
9. Apply lotion and chapstick constantly. 
10. Bring snacks from home. You never know what the meal service will be or if they'll run out of something. (I had no idea you could bring food through TSA--turns out you can)

 We had two meals on our flight. My expectations were VERY LOW for airplane food. The food was actually quite good. I had a cheese tortellini with spinach and black olives, salad, cheese, bread, and brownie. Hubby had some kid of chicken pesto dish. 

We didn't sleep on the flight as planned. I think it was a combination of uncomfortable airplane and too much excitement. 

Before we landed, we were given breakfast: Omelette sandwiches and fruit. Also, way better than I expected. 

We landed at Heathrow, made it through customs and collected our luggage. We were told our driver (hired in advance) would be waiting for us at arrivals with a sign with our name. (Cool, right?) We came out of the terminal to no less than 200 people with arrival signs. We FINALLY found our guy and began our journey...