We were warned: Tuesdays (when most of the museums are closed) the crowds at Versailles are at their worst. Go early if possible. So here's your insider's guide to Tuesdays at Versailles: Sleep in, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, go smack in the middle of the day, go straight into the gardens (which are free, with no lines, and cover many squares miles), stay there for as many perfect hours as you like, then about an hour before closing time go into the main castle and pretty much have the run of the place to yourself. And we were both a whole lot less interested in Louis XIV ("the Sun King")'s public waking-up ritual room than we were in the entire fake peasant village that Marie Antoinette built for herself so she could pretend to be one of the simple people. Complete with embroidered garden tools.

(One of the houses in Marie-Antoinette's play village, versus...

the real joint where she was supposed to be living and acting like queen and stuff.)

So after a lot of back-slapping over conquering Versailles so easily we came back to a dinner we'd been looking forward to since before we left--L'Ardoise (thanks to my aunt and uncle, who were here over the summer). You were exactly right. Escargot, L'angostino on petit toasts, rice pudding...I'll be tasting that in my heart for years to come. And yes, we took pictures of the food.

Wednesday was rainy and therefore Impressionist day--Musee d'Orsay and Musee L'Orangerie. Yup, Monet is better live than in a poster.

Thursday we'd hoped to take a train to the Loire valley to see chateaux, but there was a train strike that made departures and returns iffy. We were up early on the chance that they'd run, so we took another walking tour, this time of the St. Germain des Pres neighborhood. Delightful in so many respects, including the most beautiful gelato presentation I've ever seen:

From there we crossed the river to see St. Chapelle and go inside Notre Dame, where we'd only taken outside pictures before. We got out too late to climb the tower, so instead of going up we went down, to the archeological relics of the Roman and medieval remains under the Notre Dame square.

That night we explored Ile St. Louis, straight across from Notre Dame. Dinner at a creperie--what could be more French?--where I proceeded to have not a single crepe. That spinach tart was awfully good, though. And we got some great nighttime pictures walking home along the Seine.

Today (Friday) we had a slow morning, took time to do computer business (that's why you can see pictures on the posts now), and then spent the afternoon exploring the Marais neighborhood. And with just a few minutes between the end of dinner and the end of computer access, here I sit probably signing off until we get home. We'll get up whatever pictures we can tonight, and then update anything we missed after we get home on Tuesday.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we'll do more neighborhood exploring, try to scrounge up some shopping (sorry, anybody who's waiting for souvenirs--surely you know by now that shopping just isn't my special gift), and then Sunday we'll take our trip to the Loire. Monday another (shorter) day trip to Chartres, then Tuesday another (longer) trip across the Atlantic! We'll see you soon!