Today was an exhausting day, to say the least. Exhausting, but exhilarating! Our plan was to see Versailles Palace and Arc de Triomphe. I thought it might be a little ambitious since it would just be Abhinav and me against all of Paris' major tourists on a Sunday, but we did it - and had time to do more, surprisingly!

The line for the entrance to Château de Versaille

The day started out pretty well. We had a delicious FREE breakfast at Le Montclaire, our hostel, and then headed off via the metro & RER (line C) to get to Versailles. For those of you who want to visit Versailles, DO NOT VISIT IT ON SUNDAY! The lines are atrocious, even if you already have a ticket or a Paris Museum Pass!

Here's the skinny on Versailles: There are two lines at Versailles: one to buy tickets (if you didn't buy them ahead of time or have a Paris Museum Pass) and the other to get into the palace after you purchase a ticket. The worst days to go are Tuesdays and Sundays. If you do have to go on a Sunday (like we had to do because they're closed on Mondays), be the first one in line. We made the mistake of arriving at 10 am and had to wait in line for 2 hours before we got into the palace. This was actually a short wait time! There was a stupid guard who merged two lines (which snake around the entire plaza, by the way) so we actually lucked out and moved up about two rows in 15 minutes, screwing over about 200 people who should have been ahead of us in line. At least the weather was nice outside and not sweltering hot, so we were thankful for that.

Hall of Mirrors!

Once we got inside, we got the free audio guides in English and went through all the wonderfully decorated rooms with amazing architecture that Abhinav loved :) I've been wanting to see the Hall of Mirrors ever since I learned about it in the 10th grade and it didn't disappoint. The only thing that surprised me was that the mirrors were pretty old so the reflections weren't as clear as you would expect from a modern mirror. Other than that, the entire palace and the gardens were gorgeous!

After our 2 hour visit to Versailles, we decided to grab a bite to eat on a little side street next to Versailles. We had some French sandwiches and 2 "Coca-Colas" that quenched our thirst. But frankly, I'm getting tired of eating sandwiches for every meal in THE city of wonderful cuisine. I made it a point to try something different later today for dinner, as you will soon find out. It was interesting, to say the least.

Arc de Triomphe from the Metro entrance

So, after our lunch at Versailles, we decided it was time to head back to Paris and finish up everything else that we wanted to do today. On our way back on the RER, we found out that you need the RER entry ticket in order to exit the station too! Luckily, Abhinav had his ticket in his pocket (where everything he gets inevitably ends up), so we may or may not have left the station on the same ticket...

We then took the metro to Ave des Champs-Élysées and then went through an underground tunnel to get to the Arc. Our AMAZING museum passes covered our ticket fare and allowed us to bypass the huge ticket line to start the 284-step climb up to the top. The climb up was not bad at all. There were two breaks in between so you barely felt out of breath on your way up. The view at the top is well worth the trip up. The Arc de Triomphe is the center of where 9 streets (1 of them being Ave des Champs-Élysées) merge, so when you go to the top, it's a pretty view. We also got to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time!

Whoa...

The climb down the top was not fun for me at all. I felt supper dizzy on my down because of the winding staircase and the narrow spaces. I clutched that tiny metal railing shamelessly and I did not let it go the entire way down, much to the amusement of Abhinav. I almost had a heart attack when Abhinav dropped my Paris Museum Pass down the middle of the winding staircase too... It was not a good feeling. But, he ran down the stairs and found that the ticket officer had picked it up, so we got lucky and  didn't waste our 35€! When we got down, there was some type of boy scout ceremony going on, but we weren't allowed to see it :(

Toyota concept at the showroom on Ave des Champs-Élysées

We were pretty tired at this point... But, we decided to push ourselves a little more and take a walk down Ave des Champ-Élysées and I'm glad we did! The stroll down the street from the Arc was fun and relaxing. We stopped to see a lot of concept cars and I took some pictures next to famous designer stores, the biggest I've ever seen (which isn't a surprise since Paris is the fashion capital of the world!). I'm a huge dessert fan and I almost passed out when I saw a HUGE Häagen Dazs with INCREDIBLE looking desserts on their menu. We didn't get a chance to sit down and enjoy one because our wallets were feeling pretty light that day already, but if you go there, try to take advantage of it!

We got back to the hostel and had a good Parisian meal. I had a Steak Tartare (which is something that you apparently have to try in Paris) while Abhinav had chicken and mashed potatoes (it tasted pretty American too lol). The Steak Tartare tasted like potato salad to me, which I don't particularly like. Hopefully, I'll have better luck with trying new foods in Paris throughout the rest of the time that we're here in this city...

After our adventures today, we had no trouble falling asleep and getting over our slight jet-lag. It was an incredible day and I can't wait to see all the things we have planned for tomorrow!