Saturday (SFO to Versailles)…

Man should not leave his wanderlust unquenched for too long. Time to fill’er up.

An early afternoon departure left us time for a leisurely breakfast at home and final packing. By the time our Uber driver picked us up, we could tell it was going to be a hot weekend in SF. No fog in sight today…a perfect day for an on-time flight. United non-stop to Paris CDG. Ten-ish hours. Why don’t we do this more often?

We pulled into CDG Terminal 1, with its signature stucco-lined tunnels and glass-enclosed, inter-twining escalators. Breezed through passport control and luggage with relative ease. Less straight-forward was the process to locate our Uber driver–the very precise Uber-mandated instruction “Arrivals Door 2” seemed utterly foreign to the driver–but soon we were skirting Paris. Frustration turned to quiet anticipation. Quick glimpses of the Eiffel Tower in the distance confirmed our route.

Uber+GPS delivered us to our apartment in the Saint-Louis quarter of Versailles. We felt immediately welcome and ready to explore. We hadn’t really slept in more than 24 hours, but we discovered a new energy and headed out.

The jewel of Versailles is–of course–it’s grand Chateau. Our general plan: thwart the normal crowds by buying a simple annual pass. Let’s just say that great planning doesn’t stand a chance pitted against French tourism logic. (Apparently, a while- you’re- standing- in- line banner advertising the annual pass does NOT mean you can buy that pass at the end of the line. No, no, that annual pass is sold elsewhere, behind a door that does NOT say ‘annual passes sold here’.)

Fast forward an hour.

Under a warm Sunday afternoon sun, we headed into the palace gardens. The grounds were teeming with visitors, all anxious to see the famous fountains. And what fountains they are. A normal garden is fortunate to display one impressive fountain…maybe a second, lesser fountain gurgling in a shady corner. Versailles is no ordinary chateau, and it has dozens of breathtaking fountains.

Due to the ingenious (and old) gravity-fed plumbing system that feeds the fountains, they cannot run continuously, nor can they run all at once. But today, all of the fountains were running in a seemingly random pattern, which led to a great deal of crisis-crossing the gardens in search of the next running fountain. Notable favorites included a modern fountain with snaking glass balls, and the enormous Neptune Fountain.

We were also fortunate to catch a temporary exhibit of modern installation pieces by the artist Anish Kapoor, including a prominent, controversial piece that was recently vandalized. 

As the sun faded, so did our energy. We had a nice simple meal at a brasserie on the way back to the apartment. Steak frites and pizza. Plus a chilled wine and chilly beer to accompany. A fantastic way to end our first day.