Food and More Food

I was planning on going to see more museums and more buildings today but part of me really wanted to relax and enjoy the beautiful day Paris had provided..yet again. Nick recommended some outside sightseeing, which I completely agreed with. We made some lunch together, gnocchi with a creamy blue cheese sauce, and took it down to the courtyard to enjoy in the sun with a baguette and a splash of Rose. Absolute bliss I tell you! (Anne if you’re reading- cheese and wine in a French courtyard!!)

Out in the sun with Lunch

Later that afternoon, I headed down to Pere Lechaise, the famous cemetery where many famous people are buried. It's more of a quiet village for the dead, because they look like small houses.

Hundreds and hundreds of these wee houses 

..Some of them have there own stain glass windows 

Tomb of Oscar Wilde..

 Jim Morrison is also burried here but didn't realise that till I got home..

Headed over to Buttes Chaumont, which is a Park not far from the cemetery, decided to walk, lots of food along the way, but this is pretty common in Paris.. 

Meats and cold goods 

Cheese Shop

Fresh food

These are EVERYWHERE, so hard to resist!!

Buttes Chaumont

Lovely park

That evening, we decided we’d go out for Dinner, Nick had a couple ideas in mind and we checked out both, but we settled for one that was a little off the busy main street. The big doors into the restaurant opened out onto the street letting the warm evening air circulate.

We started with an aperitif which was like a sweet peachy wine, and for my entree I had... 

Foie Gras (such a massive portion) with what tasted like a vinegeray sauce thing, probably one of the greatest things I've ever eaten. So dense, so rich and heavy, and with the basket of bread, I couldn't help but smile. (Foie gras is fatty duck or goose liver) 

Duck on potatoes with some other delicious ingredients ( I went  all duck this evening)

Nice big French red wine (Nick had Lamb rack)

Me and my dessert which was fresh berries with some sort of baked whipped topping. Soo good

Topped off with a digestife  - Cognac. Very strong but good

The waiter moved us because we had been there so long and in thanks he gave us another Cognac, which I couldn't bring myself to finish. But what an incredible meal!!

I'm also going to tag the next day (which was Saturday) 

Pretty tired after a late night I headed down to the D'Orsay Museum. It was extremely cold today, yesterday t-shirt weather, today I'm wearing two different animals to keep my warm. When I got to the museum, the line must have been at least a 2 hour wait, I quickly changed my schedule and jumped on the train (which is right under the museum thankfully) and headed out to Versaille. (Which was a village that had the palaces of the French Kind and Queen before the revolution, now it's a suburb about 45 mins southwest of Paris) 

Suburban Paris

Entrance to the Chateau 

I'm pretty grumpy and tired at this point, and I'm feeling the cold whip through my layers. I stand in the line for about 30 minutes, and when I get to the front, it's not the ticket line, just security. So I go across the square to buy my ticket and the man says, "Oh everything is free for you (British passport), just show your passport at security" I then picked up the brochure dispenser and threw it at the man. Just kidding. But certainly felt that frustrated. Another 30 minutes and I was inside the Chateau 

You walk through their apartments and various rooms for various activities, dining, sleeping, playing games, praying etc. 

Hall of mirrors

Marie Antoinette's bedroom

Where the King and Queen ate in public

It's hard to put these gardens into scale, but they are mammoth, and everything is in perfect order and perfectly groomed and trimmed. 

A maze of trees 

Grand Trianon (Almost like a Summer house in their own gardens)

Estate of Marie Antoinette

Me with the Grand Canal in the background. again massive!!

Leaving Versaille

I wasn't expecting a lot from Versaille. But I'm very glad I went. The free audio guides made it very interesting to analyse almost every aspect of the Palace.  The gardens were definitely the highlight, would love to see them in the summer when everything is green. 

I stopped at D'Orsay Museum to see if it was open but just missed closing, so walked around the outside to enjoy the building. Excellent day, even if it was freezing with the occasional shower.