Europe

We skipped the royal wake-up this morning, opting to wake up naturally! We got down to breakfast a little before 9 am. We had a very nice breakfast, although we consumed far too many pastries!

But we did manage to down a couple of extra macarons on offer as we left breakfast!

After breakfast we headed off for a private tour of the Petit Trianon. The Petit Trianon was built on the site of a botanical garden developed around a decade earlier by Louis XV, within the grounds of the Grand Trianon, Louis XIV’s retreat from the Palace of Versailles. It was originally intended for Louis XV’s long-term mistress, Madame de Pompadour. However, Madame de Pompadour died aged just 42 in 1764, four years before its completion. The Petit Trianon was subsequently occupied by Madame de Pompadour’s successor, Madame du Barry. Upon his accession to the throne in 1774, 20-year-old Louis XVI gave the château and its surrounding park to his 19-year-old queen, Marie Antoinette, for her exclusive use and enjoyment.

We really enjoyed the tour of the Petit Trianon. Again, touring these incredible places privately and having access to areas not available to the public, makes it far more enjoyable.

After we finished at the Petit Trianon we headed back across the palace grounds to our hotel, Le Grand Contrôle. Unfortunately, today was our last day in Versailles so the next task of the day was to check out of the hotel. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. Being so small – the hotel sleeps just 28 people – and located inside the palace grounds, makes this a very special experience. The attention to the period details is very impressive and really makes the stay. We agreed that this is already one of our favourite hotels, an experience that only a few get to enjoy.

After checking out, we had a drive of around an hour to Paris, where we will spend the next four nights.

We got into Paris mid-afternoon and decided that we’d go for a walk to work off some of the incredibly rich food we’ve had over the last few days. We are staying at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, located on Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement, near the Champs-Élysées. La Tour Eiffel is only a short walk away but it looked very gloomy today, since the weather in Paris is quite overcast. We decided to cross the Pont de l’Alma and walk along the Seine, which was very pleasant. We crossed back to the left bank over the Pont du Carrousel and walked past Musée du Louvre (for which the entry lines were extremely long!).

We then proceeded through the Opera area and decided to head into Galeries Lafayette to have a look around. By the time we emerged, it was raining. We walked a little in the rain before stopping for a salad and coffee. By this point we were hungry, weary from walking, and not enjoying the rain!

By the time we finished our salads and coffee, the rain had abated a little. We ventured back outside and headed for the hotel. Once back at the hotel we polished off the macarons left in our room (which we subsequenrty regretted as we came down from a pretty severe sugar high!).

We then had a rest, before debating what we’d do about dinner. We decided that room service would be a good choice so we opted for soupe à l’oignon and spaghetti bolognaise, which was very nice.

Luckily, we still had some macarons for dessert!

It’s now nearly time for bed. We have no specific plans for tomorrow so we’ll just see what the day brings.