Day 4 (Saturday)

Friday night (Saturday morning) Miss E and Young A woke up around 2 and could not get back to sleep.  Miss S had not yet fallen asleep.  This is not good.  They played quietly for an hour and eventually went back to bed.  We did not get up early on Saturday.

The picture that caused all the trouble.

Saturday we took the train to Versailles.  We did a super quick walk through the rooms (at this point, many of the children were not so interested in fancy buildings filled with paintings.)  (I am so glad I do not have to live a public life like the kings and their families did.)

Afterwards, I went to collect the stroller and two backpacks carrying our lunch and our jackets. Unfortunately, the bag-check ticket was nowhere to be found.  I had put it in my pocket with my phone.  Presumably, it fell out when I took my phone out for a couple of pictures.  A few of the kids and I went to plead for mercy at the bag-check counter.  Fortunately, the attendant that spoke English remembered us.  Unfortunately, the guy in charge, who didn't seem to speak English, was not impressed.  But somebody found the ticket while we were there, our bags were returned, and a crisis was averted.  (The French are really good at "not impressed.")

We continued on to the gardens.  We spent the next few hours wandering the gardens, eating our lunch, getting blocked in by gates and walls and moats, and visiting Marie Antoinette's hamlet and the nearby farm.

The entire area is beautiful.  The snowdrops and daffodils were blooming here and there.  In a couple of weeks, it will be breathtaking.

The small moat between us and the gate out

We exited through the nearby gate and walked a couple of cold miles back to the train station.  Along the way, we passed the partially completed Paris LDS temple.  It will be beautiful.

Bored on the train

We walked home past the Eiffel Tower.  Our feet were worn out, but the kids were patient, and we made it.  We picked up a lemon tart at the grocery store across the street for an evening pi-day celebration.