France (13) - Versailles and Eiffel Tower

When we are on vacation, we are always busy, going to places, seeing things. But today we broke a record. We left the hotel 8:30 am, and came back after midnight. Talk about a long day.

First thing in the morning, we went to Versailles, just outside of Paris. We got there around 9:45 am. The palace was supposed to open at 9:00 am, but nobody was allowed inside when we got there. A sign posted by the door said something about delayed opening. Dave asked a staff what's going on. The guy with his limited and broken English told Dave that the place's closed today. We were absolutely shocked. How can it be closed? It's a Tuesday. The palace is supposed to close on Mondays! Later we found a tourist who understood French. He told us that there's a potential strike by the workers inside the palace. They would decide if they were going to strike or not by 11:00 am. Until then, we can visit the palace's massive garden for free. So there's still hope.

1. The garden at Château de Versailles.


2. The garden at Château de Versailles.


3. Swan at the Grand Canal of Versailles.


4.


5. The garden at Château de Versailles.


6. The garden is so huge, it would take forever to walk around it, so we rent two bikes. It was so fun.


7. From the end of the Grand Canal, Château de Versailles looked so small.


8. Château de Versailles looking from the start of the Grand Canal.


After our hour long bike ride, we were happy to find that the palace was open. This place is decorated from floor to ceiling. It's unbelievable.

9. The golden door of Château de Versailles.


10. Château de Versailles.


11. Château de Versailles.


12. Chapel inside Château de Versailles.


13. Hall of Mirrors, the most famous room in Château de Versailles, where Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919.


14. Hall of Mirrors.


After Versailles, we came back to Paris, and decided tonight's the night that we were going to go up the Eiffel Tower. We had checked out Eiffel Tower two days before, both during the day and at night. It seemed that the place was always packed. Even after 9:00 pm the line for taking the elevator to go up was at least an hour long, so we took the stairs (almost no line at the time), which only goes to the second level, not the top. I wouldn't say climbing 600+ stairs was easy, but it was manageable.

15. Eiffel Tower.


16. Eiffel Tower from across River Seine.


17. Eiffel Tower from Trocadéro.


18. At night, every hour on the hour, Eiffel Tower's 20,000 flashing lights will turn on for 5 minutes. It's so beautiful and exciting to see. This was a long exposure, so you can't see the blinking effect.


19. From Eiffel Tower's second level.


20. From Eiffel Tower's second level.


(To be continued)