Sat 10 Dec Packed up, ready to leave by 10 am. Walked to the car rental 1.2km plus a bit due to a wrong turn. The sun was shining and it was much warmer than the previous days. Our car is a Renault Scenic – very spacious with all our luggage easily fitting. Took a while to figure out all the electronics – keyless start, digital park brake etc. Made a wrong turn early on – straight into a road toll as we were still setting up the GPS. Arrived at Versailles at lunch time and after lunch did the palace tours with audio guide. Versailles is enormous and the state rooms were very impressive.
The gardens were manicured and vast. We walked 25 minutes through them to Antoinette’s “smaller” residence and a “guest house”, then 25 minutes back. All up – very tiring, but impressive.
Left at 4:30 and arrived at our apartment at 6 pm – along small country lanes. It was chateau-style on the river. Unfortunately we arrived in the dark and intended leaving at 8 (before sunrise) so we didn’t really get to enjoy it. Drove to the nearest town (10 min) to go to a pizza restaurant, but found it didn’t open till 7:30! Bought some things at a bakery and then discovered a supermarket. While filling up our basket, they turned out the lights, so we figured they were closing! Had to pay €7 for hotel wi fi.