Day 15-16: Paris (Day 3)

**Author’s note: I apologize in advance for this post’s amount of complaining and probably sounding like I did not enjoy myself, on the contrary I did very much enjoy myself and had a great time, but my expectations were set extremely high and were not fully met which come out in this post.**

 As my time in Paris drew to a close, I started my final day early and took the metro to the tourist center from where my tour began. I was early enough that I was able to wander a bit to find breakfast after checking in and found this cafe and got a wonderful hot chocolate, a real 100% squeezed oranges orange juice, and a croissant with almonds (it was supposed to have chocolate to). As I ate, these little birds kept flying on to the table and trying to steal my food so I had to wave them away, one tried to fly at my face as I put the croissant in my mouth! Either these birds were super bold or I'm a Disney princess, I would like to think it is the later. I finished as quickly as possible and headed back to the visitors center.

The bus was very comfortable, much better than the bus to the airport, but then, what bus isn't? It was about an hour out to Vaux le Vicomte, and somehow I managed to stay awake the whole time. Vaux le Vicomte is a beautiful place, and also the chateau that inspired Versailles (pretty cool!). The weather was great that day, perfect for touring the gardens! I received an audio guide, but eventually gave up on it as it gave too much info for each tiny room and I wanted to move on. Most rooms generally small, but they were very elegant but not as much as I would have expected. The gardens were pretty except for the lack of flowers and also the lack of the fountains being on, only the main fountain worked. Not saying that it wasn’t a gorgeous place (it was!), just not as spectacular as I had hoped.

An old fountain off the moat

Look dad! Tapestries!

Where's Pascal? 6: Pascal is hanging out with the sphinx at Vaux le Vicomte 

I guess I missed the "return audio guide here" sign because I walked out into the gardens without returning it. So after I walked through the garden I went backwards through the house until I found where it goes. My next stop was the gift shop, since I had over an hour to shop and eat, I figured I would start with what I thought may take the longest (I’m a hard core gift shopper). I got another hand towel to add to my collection of regal hand towels and washcloths, some day I'm going to have a very regal "throne room". I was disappointed they didn't have any cute teacups, but I already have a ton of souvenirs. After indulging my gift shop addiction, I headed to the café and got a tuna and avocado salad/appetizer and a passion fruit mousse for lunch, all were very tasty! It was a self-service restaurant so you walk up and take what you like, but there were so many choices! Especially of desserts!

no, that is not salmon, it is a passion fruit cake

After lunch and some relaxation, we headed off to our next stop. I slept a bit in the 20 minutes it took to get to Château de Fontainebleau, the home of many French kings. I did not know if I was supposed to get an audio guide, so I didn't, but 90% of people had them. I probably would've gotten more out of my visit if I had. I think I missed a section of rooms because in the gift shop there were postcards of things I hadn't seen, too bad it was too late to go back and see them. After touring the house, I went outside and took some photos of me on the staircase. As I was taking photos, a girl in her wedding dress (and I am guessing her husband) came to take wedding photos on the stairs as well. I then made my way to the gardens. The gardens were less spectacular than the last place I visited. The flower beds looked more like they were growing weeds. There wasn't a map or a sign to tell me where I was, so I was very confused so I sat down to try to relax before moving on.

Everyone seemed to be doing a very triumphant pose with their hands out at the top of the stairs, so I figured I would do one too

This is in the Papal apartment, I believe some pope used this in celebrating mass.

Trinity Chapel from upstairs, I think there was a concert going on below so I didn't get to see the bottom half.

here comes the bride

fountain in the gardens 

Extended gardens

I went back towards the house and got a blueberry sorbet in the courtyard that tasted like a blueberry Outshine® bar! Then I found the English garden, which was much more my style! It had lots of bushes and trees, singing birds, little rivers and ponds, and paths all over the place. It was very easy to get lost in and a get away from the hustle and bustle of the tourists! This was probably the nicest part of the property and made me feel much better about my trip here.

Lake by the English Garden

Where's Pascal? 7: Pascal is pretending to be a statue

A copy of "The Dying Gaul" from the early 200s BC. We learned about this in my Art History class!

I slept on the bus ride back. I was super hungry and couldn't wait to get dinner. I met up with Harley and Olivia at the apartment and then we headed to a restaurant that had great reviews, but found it closed (it was Sunday) so we went to an area near the Louvre and ate there at a restaurant that looked good. I was very cautious after the food experiences of the last few days, so I didn’t order anything with pork (for fear of it being uncooked) and I didn’t order anything involving salad or roast beef. I settled for a tasty beef dish that tasted like pot roast but it wasn't exactly what I was hoping to eat that night as it was a very heavy dish, but it was quite tasty! Olivia and Harley enjoyed their meals too so it was a satisfying last meal. Olivia and I shared a creme brûlée for dessert and Harley ordered a chocolate moose. The crème brûlée was a bit more frozen then it was supposed to be but still very good, AND our waiter looked like Arthur Darvil (Rory Williams from Dr. Who)!

We finally made our way to the Eiffel Tower after the sun had gone down enough. People kept trying to sell us "beer, wine, champagne" almost every few minutes when they walked by with their buckets of alcohol, it got very annoying. As we were leaving, the tower lit up with sparkles, which was a nice surprise indeed!

Gotta love a forced perspective!

We were here during the big Roland Garros tennis tournament

Day 16

The next day I got up early to try to clean up a bit before our hosts came home. As 8:00 rolled around, our hosts had still not arrived for us to give them their keys back. At 8:10 we gave up and I called them to leave a message saying we had left the key under the doormat. As we arrived at the station, we had about 8 minutes before our train left so we stopped to grab breakfast and take it with us. According to the clock we had 2 minutes to get on the train that was 200ft away. As we dashed to the train, my hot chocolate burned when it spilled all over my hand as it splashed out of the cup lid. As we approach the train car we were in, we realize, the train we want is behind us. We turn around in time to find out the doors were closed and we had no way to get on.

We headed back to the station area to see if we could change our tickets to the next train in an hour. We were, so we paid a smallish fee and got new tickets. Once the ordeal was over we sat and ate our breakfasts and then Olivia and I browsed a book store and a Sephora store to kill some time. About 15 minutes before our train was to leave we made sure we boarded. I slept a good portion of the train ride. As we got back into Lyon, I went to the bakery next to our building and bought a fancy baguette to have with my lunch and dinner before retiring to my room for the rest of the day.