Read about Day 2 here.

May 6^th, aka Day 3 or our 2017 Eurotrip found us having a free day in Paris. A and I decided (against the advice from our tour leader Lana) to book a tour of the gardens of Versaiiles (33Euros + 8Euros extra charge as because it was a Saturday). Fortunately we got the same guide from the free walking tour, Onno, and he was just as good in Versailles – if not even better because he actually took photos this time, LOL. I have lots of profile pictures now.

The only problem I was having during this time was that I kept on waking up at 2 in the morning. It’s annoying because it’s only a six-hour time difference, hardly worthy of a jet lag if you ask me. Breakfast at the hostel was pretty much the same (ham, baguette, eggs and coffee) but it was already included in the fare of the Topdeck Europe Express.

We started our tour at the 9 in the morning at the Place de St. Michel, took the RER C to Versailles and got shown around the different little basquets. The weather was kind of crappy and there were a lot of sporadic rain showers; I was very thankful that I got to spend my birthday rain-free the day before and felt kind of bad for my Topdeck tour mates that the one-day they had in Paris was rainy.

Still though, the gardens of Versailles were still stunning and because we went pretty early on a Saturday, we got to catch to see the fountains doing their thing with the water. I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense because don’t fountains usually just do their water thing?   Apparently not in Versailles because they’re still using the original plumbing system and that meant that the water flows down by gravity so the different basquests can’t get watered up all at the same time. We actually caught the lady who was tasked to go around basquet after basquet to manually turn off the water. There was also a fountain show because it was a weekend and that’s the reason why we had to pay an extra 8Euros.

Our Versailles tour group consisted of fewer people this time, probably eight) and because we had a little bit more time, Ono really did go full nerd on the history lesson. It was very fun to watch somebody that passionate about Marie Antoinette and Louis the XVI go full nerd on the topic. Needless to say, the tour was very educational and Onno even shared some gossipy parts about the fabulous royals.

The tour ended at around 1:30 in the afternoon but A and I decided not to go into the museum anymore; rain was pouring pretty hard that afternoon and the people who were lined up for the tickets were all out in the rain. No fun. We just had lunch at the café in the Versailles compound (I think it was for students and teachers because the food was actually pretty cheap).

We then went back to the city (the return ticket was included in the tour price) and checked out Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. Thankfully the rain had stopped but it was a pretty muddy walk around the city. Thank goodness for my water resistant Palladium boots, they were a lifesaver.  We didn’t go up the tower itself because we heard from Onno and other various sources that the view at the top wasn’t actually the best view one could get of the city.

We went back to the hostel because A was tired (I think it was the jetlag). We both decided to check out the grocery next door for dinner options. I actually bought a quinoa salad for like 2Euros, which was pretty good. A decided to get a huge plate of nachos back at the hostel where we hung out and talked about anime for a good couple of hours.

BUT because the sun didn’t go down until way late into the evening in that part of the world, I decided to make my way to the Arc de Triomphe as I read that it was actually the one of best spots to view the entire city. It was exactly one train ride away from Generator Hostel so I wasn’t too worried. The entrance up the memorial was around 12Euros and I was not aware that one had to climb up 600 plus steps to get to the top! I’m never in the best shape so I was pretty much huffing and puffing when I got to the top; I can’t imagine how the elderly couple behind me fared. It was worth it though, because I got to see this view:

I stayed there for an hour just enjoying the view and the quiet but decided that it was time for me to go back to the hostel because it was getting too cold already. The train ride back to the hostel was interesting; there were a couple of winos who got onto the cart I was in and people mostly ignored them but they kept on engaging the locals, LOL.

When I got back to the hostel, I just took a shower and packed up my stuff because the following day was a travel day for the Topdeck Europe Express: Paris, France to Interlaken, Switzerland.

Stay tuned for Day 4.