The next morning I took the long overground train to reach the Château de Versailles on the outskirts of Paris. Here is a photo series showing the former vacation palace of the Sun King:
The Entrance
Inside the main courtyard
Alamedas
Interiors and Ceilings
One of the many fountains (only operational on special days)
This is just one corner of the property!
The world-famous Hall of Mirrors (Grande Galerie) built by Louis XIV
A soldier getting married at the palace.
After seeing Versailles I tried to get back to Paris and discovered a tourist entrapment scheme the French authorities have set up. You can get to Versailles with a metro pass or a metro ticket but to get back they charge you over 3 euros (like 5 bucks at the time) with a special ticket to return that you can't get ahead of time. Consequently, every shmuck visiting Versailles that day was in line at the same station trying to buy one. It took me 2 hours just to get out of the station!
Finally, I made it back to Paris, had dinner with Annie, and got ready for my trip the next morning to Amsterdam . . .
