The Endless Drives

Day 1: Destination Versailles
We got up at 10 and tried to go "straight to Versailles". I'd write all that out here if I could distinguish it from the confusion the night before. Though Versailles is all of about 6 miles from Nanterre as the crow flies, we didn't arrive there until 1:30 or 2 p.m. We snarfed some lunch in the car in the parking lot and then headed in, if only to see the Hall of Mirrors, and then onto the gardens. We ended up going through most of the King's and Queen's "apartments" I believe they were called, though there was a whole separate neighborhood practically that was Marie Antoinette's House. The girls got a real kick out of the fact that the Queen and King didn't live in the same house. Because of the rain and a little bit of protest from the girls we took the "train"--a sort of glorified golf cart chain of cars--around the grounds. The "train" made 3 stops and we didn't get out once. It was getting close to closing time around that time anyway.


We went back to the Tourist Information office--whatever it's called in French I don't recall--to ask for a recommendation for dinner. How it happened I'm not sure, but by this time we were committed to finding pizza and/or pasta. The gal recommended the closest place as being the closest, and then a few blocks' walk to an older neighborhood with lots of options. That sounded good at the time, but by the time we looped that 'hood, the kids were pretty miserable. Then we had about half as much trouble finding our way back to Nanterre from Versailles as we'd had getting in. Ultimately we decided to avoid the highways because in taking secondary roads to try to get onto one I ended up making a HUGE loop and having to start back at the palace for a second effort. We never visibly crossed the highway or saw an onramp, but suddenly we were dangerously close to being inside Paris and we determined to try again. When we took surface streets it was pretty straightforward, though literally not straightforward at all. At least this time we had some maps.


The advert for one of the other cafes on the grounds: