Musical fountains in the rain

Tomorrow I am hoping to catch a tour to Versailles – the meeting point is at the fountain at St Michel at 11am – it sounds like a lot of fun. It only visits the gardens and includes the musical fountains which I particularly want to see. I started the day with a great coffee and tartine at Cafe Severin and then met up with the group for Versailles in front of St Michel fountain. But it wasn’t quite the trip I had hoped for. There were only five English-speaking tourists in group, which was good – but it was led by young chap who thought he was much smarter than he really was and he was also totally disorganised. Because of our “illustrious” leader, we missed the first train and had to wait half hour for next one. Our train said it was going to Versailles Rive Gauche but in fact went to Chantiers - there are two stations at Versailles, one closer than the other to the palace but due to strikes the train went to Chantiers, the station further away and so we had long walk. It was freezing cold and raining.

Our guide took us on an extremely fast-moving tour of the gardens and then left us at 3.30 to look at fountains on our own. The fountains were quite wonderful and I wandered around to look at them all. If the weather hadn’t been so damp and overcast I think my photos would have been quite good. After the fountains had finished I took the petit train around the gardens. This covered quite a large area that I wouldn’t have seen if I had walked. It was quite confusing trying to work out how to get out of Versailles palace and now I had to find the train station.

Fortunately, I found the station, after calling in to the tourist bureau and getting a mud-map, which they very kindly highlighted for me. I had also somehow lost my ticket and had to buy another one. I raced down to track E to catch the express to Montparnasse, which only took about 20 minutes. When I got off the RER, I reckon I walked about 15 minutes to get to the metro. What a tremendously long and confusing walk. Eventually, I got on the metro and got off at St Germain des Pres, which is close to me. I decided I deserved a nice glass of red but all the places I fancied where totally full so ended up at Cafe Conti. I squeezed myself in and ordered my wine. By then it was 8pm and time to find somewhere to eat. I tried a gorgeous little place but they couldn't fit me in so I ended up at the little restaurant on the corner of my street. It seemed very friendly, crowded and pleasant. I ordered onion soup and cod - both of which were quite good and enjoyed a glass of Brouilly. You don't see too many lonely diners in Paris, not like in Italy where we were two a penny.