The day started off early by going to the palace of Versailles. I now have a better understanding of why the people revolted after seeing what the living conditions of the nobles were. This palace was beautiful and extravagant on a level I could never understand. My one regret is not walking around the gardens. On the train ride back from the Palace, my day took a turn for the worse as I had a pretty severe allergic reaction so I had to rush home and take some medicine and lay down for a while. Once I recovered I visited the Pantheon which was an amazing building but I could never figure out the purpose for its construction. Next I caught up with some other students and went shopping downtown and then took a train to the Place du Tetra where I had been the first night in Paris and had an amazing Crepe.
Sunday was full of sitting with some relatively easy plane rides. Much easier than the way to Heathrow.
Quent,
It sounds like you had many “firsts” on this trip. It s hard to estimate just how much seeing something in person means to understanding. Descriptions in books and pictures only go so far.
In traveling around the two cities with you on multiple days, it was really great to see other sides of your personality, besides just what we see as teachers in the classroom.
Serendipity is a big part of travel and it was serendipitous to encounter that crazy couple in Chinatown. Exploring la place du tertre (their suggestion) was definitely one of the funnest (and most exhausting) evenings of the trip for me. Had I not (miraculously) spotted that metro station, we might still be walking. 🙂