Paris

After leaving Versailles, Melanie and I traveled by train to Paris. For our hotel (which I had picked after it was recommended by a couple traveling in Cinque de Terra who I said hi to after seeing they had a Target bag - not my normal hotel choice method - but it turned out really well), all we knew about it was the Metro stop it was on. Even after calling the hotel from Versailles, all they would tell us was that it was by the Metro. So, we arrived existed the Metro and began our search. We worked in a grid pattern and tried not to walk more than 5 minutes in any direction. Finally, after a couple of wrong terms and several stops at buildings with "hotel" on the front, we found it and settled ourselves in. It was perfect - right off the square, right next to the Metro, but quiet and clean and with several thousand steps. Very traditional Paris. We loved Paris - we did the major sites - Notre Dame, the Arc, Sacre Heart Church, and some that are so normal - the Saint Chappelle church which was awesome, a night bike ride with Fat Tire Bikes and Chris the tour guide, with a boat cruise down the River - which was amazing. We found some great places to eat and of course, did some shopping. Melanie was a great navigator of the train system and we did alot of walking. We met some other travelers and for some strange reason, whenever I wore my (meaning borrowed from Derek - in case he reads this) Ernst and Young pullover, people were always asking me for help or a question. It was the weird thing. Our theme for Paris was "How much chocolate can we eat??" because the stuff is everywhere and it is great. The fresh crepes with Nutella on the street (Melanie's plain, mine with banana) were amazing. I could eat them for days. Ah... Paris. So, after 3 days, we were finished and ready to move on to Mont St. Michelle. To do that, we had to catch the train back to Versailles. That was an adventure - we went to the train station, couldn't find the place to buy the tickets, then once we did, we saw a train that was heading to Versailles and we jumped right on it - knowing that the trains come only once an hour. Once on the train, we realized that we were going in the right direction, but not to the train station that we wanted. So, we got off at a station where the 2 trains crossed - thinking we would catch the next train going in the right direction. As soon as we exited the train, another lady came up to us to ask us if we were going to Versailles (yes, I had my EY pullover on) and we explained yes, we were, and what we were planning on doing. Little did we know, the Parisian train employees had declared a strike that morning and only a couple of trains were running. The one we wanted was not. The lady was freaking out because she thought she was at Versailles, but she was not. Relax Melanie and I said, we will figure it out. Walked into the town, found a bar, ordered a cab and said "Onward to Versailles Palace!". Well, turns out we were about 15 minutes away - we could have walked it if we had a map and knew where we were. But safe and sound we arrived back at the Palace, dropped our new friend off, and walked back to the car. Stopped at a market along the way and purchased fresh bread, cheese, tomatoes, strawberries for our picnic during our 3 hr drive to the Mont......