Our plan for day three in Paris was for a visit to Versailles and a night time bus tour. I had trouble staying asleep last night so I was really dragging during Versailles. Had to nap before our Paris Christmas lights tour on an open air bus.
Big takeaways from Versailles – the sheer narcissistic bankrupting of a nation to solely feed the egos of three generations of French kings. At one point, the building, gilding and maintaining of Versailles alone was half the French GDP.
Here are some reasons why …
See what I mean? A lot of gold.
It’s interesting that for decades after the revolution, France’s rulers didn’t want to use Versailles given the bad vibes. The furniture had all been pillaged of course. In 1837 when the monarchy was reinstated, the new king made it into a museum. Restorations have been ongoing ever since.
There was also a long hall of nothing but paintings of French battles.
That’s enough of Versailles for this blog. We spent most of the day traveling there and back (an hour each way), touring (several hours), and took lots of photos. But you get a good flavor of it.
Once back in Paris, we walked back to the apartment via the Pont Neuf.
After a short nap, we took our Paris Christmas Lights tour. It was an open air bus on the coldest night since we’ve been here, around 38 degrees Fahrenheit.
Louvre at night
After that cold open air bus ride, we were all ready for some touristy French food in someplace very warm. We went into the first café we saw after leaving the metro. While the place was touristy, it was good and fun.
Ok. Now I’m ready to try sleeping tonight. Wish me luck!
Travel Buddies 
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