Thanks to some invaluable pre-trip hints from my college roommate & friend Jaci (who has been a two-time visitor to Paris) we learned learned how to navigate the Paris Metro & RER rail system.. The system is somewhat of a challenge....especially because of my limited French but we took our time and managed to negotiate both a journey outside the city to the Palace of Versailles as well as a trip downtown Paris to see The Paris-Story, a short one-hour movie gives one a basic historic view of how Paris came to be the present day city.
Versailles was nothing short of opulent and over the top. Gold gilding was everywhere, buildings were massive, as were the crowds, but what we loved the most was the sweet town of Versailles. So charmed by its beauty we took our time walking from the train station to the palace; passing both modern amenities like Starbucks and (mon dieu!) McDonald's, and ENSAV, a French school of architecture which is housed in the former stables of the palace.
That leisurely stroll was a mistake in one respect because it meant that we ultimately got caught up in a two-hour line snaking through the enormous cobblestone courtyard outside of the palace gates. Literally there were thousands of people...so many that you couldn't see or appreciate the massive and numerous oil paintings, sculptures, and architecture. (Sad face..)
But we were lucky to have had a couple of very pleasant conversations...one of them us as we were walking to the palace...she's a traveling employee of some world-wide church denomination & annually comes to Paris for four months out of every year for her work. Although she hails from Philadelphia, her sister teaches dance at UNC Greensboro! Small world! She overheard us speaking English and couldn't wait to chat with someone from the states....the other with a very self-assertive young lady from Australia. She's already earned her undergraduate degree as well as her master's but now is taking a year and one half off from her PhD studies to travel around the world ALONE on 50 Euros a day! Twenty-three years old and ALONE! Amazing!
With Versailles behind us, and feeling more comfortable with the network of trains, we decided to head to downtown Paris to see the short film "Paris Story". The trip back to the apartment was happening right in the middle of rush hour commuter traffic, and the train station platform was packed. The train arrived...that too was already full but Dickle and I, and maybe four others were still able to get on. As the doors were about to close this other group of maybe 5 college age kids pushed, shoved and forced their way into car. Were it not for the fact that we were standing like sardines we all would have been on the floor! In the fray, hubbie and I were separated, and he looks over at me with this huge smile.
What I didn't know was that at least two of these kids were professional pickpockets. They had intentionally put themselves between Dick & myself so that they could surround him from all sides; one gal in front gave him a shove to the rear, seemingly losing her balance with the motion of the train. At the same time Dick felt two hands on his rear checking out his buns! Technically they didn't care about his buns...they just were hoping to find his wallet. Knowing what they we doing he just almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of it.
As the group exited at the next stop a very nice Parisian business man told us just what was going down and told us to be careful. These thieves target the busiest trains and are on the hunt for unsuspecting tourists. Luckily we were wearing these trusty vests with zippered inside pockets and carrying these lockable cross-the-body tote bags. Can't beat Magellan's for their products that hinder these thugs and their efforts to rob you blind! We've laughed more than a few times today that this the best thrill Dick's had since we left home!
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