Erin arrived on Tuesday of last week!  She was tired from the flight and the train ride to Tours, so we had a pretty quiet evening...
And the next day, her friend - our family friend - Julia arrived!!  Julia in all her glory - she is very dramatic and we love her dearly!!  Out for dinner and then they retired to their futon in the kitchen to sleep!
The next day, I took part of the day off of school so that we could catch the train to Chenonceau.  This is the most famous chateau in the Valley I believe and we spent the afternoon exploring the chateau inside and out.
Thursday, I went to school for the day and the girls took a guided trip out to the chateaux of Chambord & Cheverny.  Apparently it was only the two of them in the mini van - awkward!!  But they had a great time!!  Dinner at a creperie - Julia's favourite!
Friday afternoon we caught the train (the TGV - tres grande vitesse) into Paris and somehow made our way to Versailles...  long story but Erin would be glad to tell it because I messed up!!
We didn't have a hotel reservation, of course, so we wandered the streets with our bags until we found an Ibis - great location but the rooms were very...efficient!!  The size of a walk-in closet back home.
Of course, we watched an episode or two of Downton Abbey and then went to sleep!
Saturday morning, we walked to Versailles and strolled through the gardens until the ticket office opened.
It is amazing how immense the grounds are!!!  We were among the first into the chateau so we raced ahead of the crowds and managed to be basically alone in a lot of the rooms - even the astounding Hall of Mirrors!!
Alas, Julia had to return to Prague, so we sent her off, RER map in hand, to get to the Charles de Gualle airport on her own.
Erin and I had, by chance really, decided to get the tickets that included the Grands Eaux - which turned out to be amazing!!!  They turn on the fountains and play baroque music - we must have walked from fountain to fountain plus a side trip to the Grand Trianon, for a couple of hours!!  We had, unknowingly,
timed it perfectly too.  The show was only for an hour in the morning, and it began just 15 minutes after Julia left.
Once we were tired enough, we walked back to the hotel, picked up our bags and headed into Paris.
We caught the metro from the train station and found our hotel - the Hotel d'Aubusson in the Saint-Germain district.  Erin and I had stayed there once before (she was in grade nine) thanks to a recommendation from Coco.  It is a beautiful, elegant, very Parisian hotel - perfect location and absolute luxury.  The two of us were tired and were in love with our room, so we each had a bath, walked for miles to a bakery we had read about (Poilane??) and bought ham and cheese to go with our bread - ate it in our room and tried to watch Marie Antoinette on a DVD borrowed from the hotel.
Sunday morning, we again hated to leave our room, but eventually managed to pull ourselves together, pack up and leave.
The Paris Marathon was on and there were also some big political rallies at the Concorde, so Paris was very busy!!  We went to the Champs Elysee to shop for clothes (for Erin, of course) and then headed to the Musee d'Orsay where we had lunch and wandered the galleries.
Finally though, it was time for Erin to head to the airport and for me to catch the TGV back to Tours.....
Love you Honey!!