Friday morning and we’re on the road again. This was our most intense travel day due to the number of connections and modes of transportation we were relying on: San Sebastian, Spain to Hendaye France, to Paris to Versailles.

And there’s a reason we commuted back to France today…if anything goes wrong with one of our connections, we’d have plenty of time to course correct before our flight on Sunday.

Started the day with a taxi (that I reserved using my high school Spanish) and it arrived on time — phew!

San Sebastián in the early morning was so pretty — the morning light reflecting off the buildings and the sleepiness of the town.

After 2 minutes in the taxi we began seeing signs for “Frantzia Francia” and the scenery changed dramatically. Gone are the palm trees of San Sebastián…taller high rise buildings gave way to greenery. We had no idea how customs would work in a taxi from Spain to France and we were surprised that our passports were never checked. We went from one country to another just like that!

We had a lot of space on the train for our six hour trip to Paris. Four wide comfortable reclining seats with a table in the middle. Our tickets weren’t checked until the trip was almost over.  We saw some people scanning their tickets before they got on the platform, but our Eurorail passes didn’t look like theirs. Oh well.

The scenery on the train was very flat and nondescript going from Hendaye to Bordeaux, but once we passed the Bordeaux train station we saw vineyards, horses and cows.

On the approach to the Paris-Montparnasse station, Miss M saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance and teared up longingly looking at it. Our train arrived late but we made it to our connecting train with six minutes to spare.

After one stop on the connecting train we were in Versailles!

After a short walk to our hotel, which overlooks the palace entrance, we quickly dropped our bags and went to explore the main palace at Versailles. We had bought two day pass tickets before coming to France, but by the time we arrived in Versailles, the palace was closing in an hour. We didn’t pick up the audio tour and instead beelined it through the Kings chamber to the Hall of Mirrors. Snapped some pics and then it was time to leave. Tomorrow will be a full day exploring the palace and grounds, and a surprise for the kids at night.

Back at the hotel, we were anxious to rest and watch some of the Olympics. We’ve now seen the coverage in Spanish and in French!

Versailles at night after the tourists leave is sooo cute. Lots of restaurants and narrow streets just a few blocks away from the palace and our hotel. We had yummy burgers at Big Fernand and then called it a night!