Love, true Love

Today I decided to go to Versailles. FYI for future reference - it is not open on Mondays. Nothing in France seems to be open on Mondays because the Musee d'Orsay was not open either. Anyhow, that aside, the gardens were open. I fell in love. I don't think I have ever felt that much at peace. I got there around 9:30 and I wandered aimlessly, entirely undisturbed, for 4 hours. I saw the outside of all the buildings. The flowers were so beautiful, the water so still. I not only loved it, I wanted to move in. It's the first place in France that really spoke to me. It is the first place that made me sigh with relief and want to stay. So...tomorrow, even though I am going to Brussels, I am going to go to the Gare du Nord at the **buttcrack** of dawn and put my stuff in luggage storage (and hope to beat rush hour on the metro which was awful let me tell you - made the London Tube seem sane) and then take the train back out to Versailles. I need to see the inside. I loved it so much, it's worth the return trip. Thus far, this has been my favorite part of France. I could have stayed there forever. I'll go back, see the palace, then hopefully be back here to catch a 4:25 train to Brussels. It's only 1.5 hours. I should be there by dinner.


Observation: What is up with people's kids in France?!?! I recognize how polite the kids in Britain are because I'm noticing now all the screaming and the yelling that kids do around here. I swear, it sounds like someone is torturing a baby right outside my hotel window. When I got back to Paris I went for a long walk in a park and there were these two women screaming at each other and their kids were gladly joining in by crying at the top of their lungs. What is up with that?

Oh - and I finally found the shower. It IS down off the lobby. 4 Euro later and I feel like a new woman. I did, however, manage to flood the bathroom. The shower head went CRAZY when I turned it on and the water pressure hit the bottom of the tub. It flew EVERYWHERE. Hopefully they don't charge me for cleanup. It was crazy.