Marie Antoinette

Our second day in Versilles was spent on foot, walking around the palaces and gardens of the Loius' (Kings of France), and of course the famous Marie. We thought we'd start with the Petite Trianon and estate of Marie and then move on to the Versailles Chateau. However it turned out to be so immense it took us all day so we never made it to the Chateau. The gardens were amazing, such detail could be seen everywhere and such lavishness it's no wonder the poor people demanded her head. The pretend Austrian farm village was far grander than I had imagined being a whole life-sized working village with lake, rivers, tower, and windmill within a "garden". We walked all day and kept finding water features, fountains, and exquisite gazebo-like buildings everywhere. There was a "musical water fountain" event on for the day so the fields were packed with people relaxing in the park before the show, it seemed like the whole of Paris was there. The evenings here are quite light, so we are often surprised when we realise it's 8:30, and we haven't even thought about dinner. Conversely the sun gets up late (like the French). I wonder if our clocks are just out by an hour, or maybe we've discovered why the continent starts late and finished late. We were quite tired after our two days exploring Versailles (... and driving across Europe) so Sunday was a welcome day of rest. We started and finished one novel each!