Day 3: Thriller Crepes

Route: Paris to Versailles
Distance: 30km
Ride Quality: hilly with some traffic and hints of scenery
Lodging: Hotel Royale,  Versailles

When I planned this trip, I didn't expect to be listening  to Michael Jackson's Thriller while eating Crepes in Versailles, but that's what was playing for dinner tonight. Many Michael Jackson albums actually - seems like the owner was a fan. But dinner was delightful, especially after looking for two other crepe places that were closed Mondays.

Although I should rewind to dinner last night, where it was even harder to find a restaurant that was open on Sunday. I know a lot of things are closed his France on the weekend, but I didn't expect so few restaurants to be open. When we asked our hotel concierge for suggestions for a place to eat, he looked at us like we were crazy. But tourists have to eat somewhere, even on Sundays! The place we found after many extra miles of walking was a tasty Italian cafe, but it really wasn't how we wanted to spend our last dinner in Paris.

Back to today. We slept in a bit from the exhaustion of the night before, picked up a baguette for lunch and headed off. The bike ride through Paris was a bit harrowing again, but I was getting used to it. We were following a GPS route that lead from Versailles to Paris, but since we were doing it backwards we had to be careful of one way streets, which proved troublesome at times. The hardest part was going up through "terraced Paris" with the BOB trailer.... So much up-ness! My legs got a workout. We were rewarded with a nice ride along a forest path and road afterwards before heading into Versailles.

The campsite we had planned to stay at was closed for this year due to construction work, so we found a reasonable hotel and then wandered through the Palace gardens. I had not idea they were so vast!!! Very impressive. And while there were no flowers,  I loved the 'topiary' the most.

Penguin was very impressed with Versailles! 

The Orangerie at Versailles... Just a very small part of the gardens. But a delicious part, for sure! 

And that brings us back to dinner! Tomorrow we head out into the countryside for our first day of big miles. And the first chance of rain. I'll be thinking dry thoughts...

-Penguin