After spending a day in Paris, we decided to snag a last-minute hotel in Versailles, just outside the city. We found an awesome deal at the Waldorf-Astoria (!!!) right off the actual grounds of the stunning palace of Versailles and planned spending Saturday night and Sunday morning there. Before dinner, we worked up an appetite by walking around the charming city streets-- bike rentals had just closed for the day when we arrived :( . We loved exploring the streets of this city and seeing the gorgeous architecture and lovely restaurants. We enjoyed a delicious pizza dinner and then for the piece de resistance, we wandered over to the most delicious bakery ever, the Boulangerie Guinon. Seriously, this place is incredible-- best pastries and bread of my life. We had been here once before when we did a bike tour of Versailles with some of our best friends, the Dardanos, a couple of years ago. But, this time we invested in more sugary fare, specifically the eclairs and tarts. Amazing. Before we even finished satiating our appetites, we were planning a trip back tomorrow before we left Versailles.
The next morning we woke up, worked out together, showered, and then went to indulge again in the hotel's breakfast for Mother's Day! Per expectation when traveling in France, it was incredible. The croissants, cheese, yogurt and fruit were top-rate. Almost as good was the beautiful setting as we dined outside under a tent on a gorgeous morning. Such a happy memory! After finishing up, we rented bikes and started our self-guided tour of the grounds of Versailles. We rode all around the Grand Canal, stopping to go down less-traveled roads as well as soaking it all in as we went along.
Here are those less-traveled roads...so so so beautiful.
After parking our bikes and wandering the gardens for a bit, we decided to go into the Palace and see what all of the fuss is about. ;) I'm sure its incredibly busy in the summer, during high tourist season, but it still felt a general crowded push at all times to see the most popular things. We visited the bedrooms and the Hall of Mirrors, where we tried to wrap our heads around the kind of lives the French royalty lived back then. Nuts.
One of my favorite parts was this room full of important French portraits and events in French history. I recognized a lot of scenes and people from our favorite broadway, "Alexander Hamilton", which was really fun.
We biked back out of the grounds and continued our tour of the actual city. After discovering our favorite bakery was closed today (so sad!!), we found a disappointing replacement and sat on these church steps to eat.
We rode around the market and surrounding areas and then rode to the Paris LDS temple, which is actually right in Versailles. It was so cool to walk around and learn a little about the construction and the LDS history in the region. The temple and grounds were immaculate and beautiful and it was so fun to see in real life. We LOVED every second of our time in Versailles and were so glad we decided to get out of the big city for just one night. Totally and completely worth it.
