Rain, rain go away!

To help pass the time (while waiting in the 1.5 hour long line to Versailles) we started brainstorming songs that referred to rain...

• Rain drops keep fallin' on my head...
• And I wonder, who'll stop the rain?
• Cold rain running down the front of my shirt, I'm flat on my back, wheels in the dirt...
• I'm only happy when it rains
• All I can say is that my life is pretty plain, but I like watching the puddles gather rain...
• She only sleeps when it's raining, and she screams, and her voice is straining, and she says "Baby, it's 3am I must be lonely"
• I wanna seek shelter from the poison rain, where the streets have no name

We did eventually make it inside. Magnificent! It's truly amazing to see all the splendor: the ceiling murals, the tapestry-covered walls, the marble, gilded bronze everywhere. And then the gardens. *Sigh* Oh what I wouldn't give to have that backyard!!

Overall, the weather today was miserable. It was cold and rainy all day! We had to buy umbrellas and a scarf. We were seriously disappointed with the umbrellas! After just one day of use, mine popped backwards (which bent the wire 'spokes' underneath), two of B's wires separated from the fabric (so now they stick out dangerously, just waiting to poke out my eyes!), and the handle to mine fell off while I was crossing a busy street. Of course. B was kind enough to take this photo of me in front of the gilded gate. As you can imagine, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I walked over there to pose!

After Versailles, we took the train back into town and then walked several blocks back towards our hotel. On the way, we passed by the site of Napoleon's tomb and noticed a lot of pomp and circumstance. Later, we realized that France's president was inside attending a funeral to honor seven soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Being so close to the most newsworthy thing of the day made me realize that our hotel really is in the heart of the city.

We went back to the same cafe that we had already stopped at on our first day. The cafe is just around the corner from our hotel, and they have this ham, cheese, and egg sandwhich that is just so good! It's called the "croquet madame." B ordered it the other day, and today I just had to have my own.

At some point, the rain finally stopped. We decided to go out for a hot chocolate and were shocked by how light the sky still was. Look at the sun -- still shining on the very tops of the buildings at 9:25pm.

At 9:40pm, while we sipped our hot chocolate outside at the Cafe Comedie, we watched as the sun finally set. Gorgeous!

(Total steps: 13,625)