Versailles and Monet's Garden

Versailles

Still lagged out. Up at 4 am blogging! When Deb finally opened her eyes, we set out on a walk. It was pretty cold but we were rugged up. The city was just waking up at 0730 hr. Just road cleaners and dog walkers out and about. I started the photography journey. The buildings were typically french but most of they needed a good high pressure hosing. That goes for the statues as well. That was quite surprising to me as Versailles is the premium tourist destination.

We popped into this little cafe which clearly caters for the workers. All men in there except for Deb. Quaint and cosy.

As they drive on the other side of the road, one must have eyes on the back and sides of your head. instead of looking left first, I needed to look right instead. It will need a fair bit of concentration when we get the car today. It could get ugly.

Had the buffet breakfast at the Waldorf. It costs 29 Euros if you book breakfast the day before but it will cost 38 Euros if you just front up to the breakfast. Go figure. These frenchies are pretty weird. The breakfast was very good and we all tanked up so that we can avoid having lunch.

We got a taxi to the Europcar depot and picked up the car. From an online price of 300 Euros for 2 days hire of a Renault Kangoo, it came to 3000 Euros after adding 2 extra drivers and opting for full insurance! Well you can shove that up your jumper! We removed the 2 extra drivers and with the full insurance, it came back down to 340 Euros. We are all still very puzzled by it.

The Kangoo was a very small SUV/minivan. Very roomy inside and big enough to take all our luggage. Plenty of leg room for Harry. It got a bit stressful driving in the city and on the motorways. We were stung by a couple of toll roads. I hate toll roads! Thank God we do not have them in WA. Debbie drove us to Giverny, the village of Monet. You know, the artist with the cataracts who specialised in blurry paintings.

The gardens were magnificent. Full of colour. Not too many people but there were a few school groups which made getting around a bit of a challenge as little kids do not hear you coming and even if they did, they do not move aside. Come to think of it, the adults didn’t move aside either. That’s the French for you. Arrogant tossers. By the way, I noticed that the French teachers tend to be on the chunky side. Check out the big game. One other thing, the bigger one’s bum, the tighter the leggings.

Walked around the village and found Monet’s tomb. This was a rather nondescript affair but the master was buried amongst all his family. Time to head home. Although we decided to take the scenic route on the B roads, we still had to drive 30 odd km on the motorway. Made it back to Versailles in time to enjoy the rush hour. Crazy traffic.

Then we headed out to a chinese duck restaurant for dinner. We had a bit of bother ordering the dishes until I started conversing with the waitress in mandarin. No idea what I ordered but she seem to have it all in hand. I truly thought that the meal was going to be crap but it was surprising good. I tried to get Harry to compliment the food to the waitress in mandarin, really just to hear him butcher the language in his atrocious Serbian accent, but he managed really well.

Back in our rooms and its bed. We need an early start as we are visiting the palace tomorrow and it is going to take all day.