Auxxxxx Champs-Elysees!

Sunday morning, Megan and I were up and ready to go by 12:30 or so (we decided to sleep in), and listened to a French music video countdown while getting ready. We met up with Bailey and Aric and grabbed food for lunch in a bakery and market. We walked to the station and said goodbye since they were returning to Angers and we were going to Versailles for the afternoon. We got to Versailles just before the tickets were reduced for the afternoon, good news for us, so we got some and were helped by an attractive French man (Megan liked him more than me, I found him slightly creepy). Versailles was BEAUTIFUL and really BIG! I kept repeating how big the place was, palace and gardens, the whole time we were there, you can ask Megan. She turned it into a that's what she said joke every time I said it lol. The rooms were filled with amazing art-ceilings and walls and tapestries and fabrics, it was all way luxurious. I could never imagine living in that palace. And we only saw certain parts; there were so many rooms we did not even get to go into. The beds were ridiculous, as were the whole rooms where the King, Queen, heirs, sons, daughters, etc slept. The funny thing was that the rooms were set up as to have not very much privacy, with doors on either end leading to waiting rooms, sitting rooms, etc. I can see that from the period books I've read as well..The Hall of Mirrors, one of Versailles claims to fame, is absolutely amazing. It is full of chandeliers and light (and mirrors, obviously) and I could almost imagine kings going about important business and making treaties in the room. Outside, the gardens were just as amazing (and BIG!)! They still had a wintry look, since nothing had bloomed as of yet and the fountains weren't running, but still beautiful. Megan and I explored all around, and then walked to Marie Antoinette's estate on the far end of the gardens. Her estate I found even more beautiful, in a simpler way, than the larger Versailles. We sat and rested for a while, then explored her gardens and found a "temple of Love" and went further to find a farm and summer cottage sort of place she stayed in at times to be away from the etiquette of the court. The farm area was my favorite area. After looking around we attempted to find a way out which the map pointed to near the farm, failed, and walked all the way back to her estate to escape the gardens. We then walked back to Versailles, found some sheep along the way, bought pop as a pick-me-up after all the walking we had done near the train station, and hopped on a train back to Paris. I crashed on the way back (30 minute ride is all) and was exhausted! Our plan was to see the Eiffel tower again and find some dinner and we did. We found a crepe place near to the metro station and I had a DELICIOUS ham and cheese and egg crepe. Wow, it was good. After we got one, we looked at the tower for, oh, 2 or 3 minutes, and then decided we were tired and got back on the metro to go home. This was at 8 pm. We were in bed by nine after having a Mars bar, and asleep by 10. It was glorious!

Sunday morning we got up at a decent hour and checked out of the hotel at 9:30am. We got food for breakfast and lunch at a grocery store and then went to find the Catacombs, a long metro ride away. When we got to the stop, we had no idea where to go, and looked at a map till Megan asked some British-sounding people if they knew where they were. Turns out they were looking for the Catacombs as well! We followed them for a few minutes till they found it (It was right across the street from the metro stop, haha). Turns out as well that the Catacombs close on Mondays! We were SO disappointed! There was nothing we could do, so we took pictures of the entrance and went to find something else to do. I'll come back someday to see them! We went to the Eiffel tower next, which we hadn't seen during the day, then past the Hotel des Invalides and down some strange streets till we made it back to the Luxembourg Garden. We ate lunch, and had pulled some chairs up closer to the duck pond until two police officers told us we couldn't have the chairs there. What a dumb rule. We moved and continued to eat lunch, and some pigeons started coming over, so of course we fed them! They kept coming over, and soon our lunches were gone and the only thing we had left was cheese slices. We kept it up with cheese, and then some sea gull looking birds came over as well. They had really good eyesight and caught the tiny cheese pieces in the air. They would even jump off the ground to catch it and fight each other. Hilarious! Soon, we got them to jump by waving our hand like we threw something with out ever throwing it. Then we got them to hover to wait for cheese and then they started flying to right over our heads and we threw cheese to them. It was great fun, but reminded me a little of the birds off Alfred Hitchcock's movie...creepy! People nearby were having a laugh at us and the birds, especially this older lady who spoke some english sat nearby till the flying happened.
We left and went back towards Notre Dame after the cheese ran out, got a delicious Nutella and Banana crepe on the way, and proceeded to 'chill' in Notre Dame, where it was warm and relaxing with background music, for nearly an hour. We went past the Hotel de Ville next and got on a Carousel right outside the Hotel (Megan's idea, but such a great one!). We went next to the Moulin Rouge area, where we did not expect to find SEX shops everywhere!! I guess we need to actually watch the movie, cause we thought we were going to some antique part of town lol! The only think related to Moulin Rouge that we recognized was the theater itself. We sat down by a fountain at one point and saw what we think was an eyeball! We didn't go closer to find out...At this point we were tired and so we just went back to the hostel, grabbed our bags, and went to meet a bus for the airport, which we had to get on soon anyway. We were home in Barcelona by 10:20 or so and I was in bed by midnight, exhausted! (sorry for not calling, mom!) The end.