Paris - Palace of Versailles

Friday was our last day in Paris and we decided to take the train to the Palace of Versailles. I was not going to miss our super uncomfortable pullout bed but I was going to miss our window and the view!

to get to Versailles we first had to get on the subway then transfer to the train. it was early in the morning and packed with Parisians on their way to work. I felt so under dressed as everyone was so fashionable. also they smelled amazing! 
we made it to Versailles but we had a little mishap on the train. we paid for a subway ticket but when we transferred from the subway to the train there was no turnstile or anything to suggest that you would need to buy another ticket. we should have known but we just got on the train and didn't pay for it. while on the train for a little while they had the guys coming around checking tickets and since we didn't have one he fined us. it was a little terrifying at first getting in trouble with the law in another country but luckily he spoke English and was pretty nice. it was clearly a way that they trap tourists out of their money because they were fining two other groups by us as well. 

the Palace of Versailles was so insanely beautiful.

Jason already had his headphones in for the palace tour and forgot to take them out for pic.

 the audio tour was really nice because we could go at our own pace and not have to be in a huge group the whole time. there were a lot of people there but I know nothing compared to peak season in the summer. 

as it turns out a king sized bed isn't really king sized :)

we left the palace to explore outside and the gardens. it was winter so everything was dead but it was still beautiful. I would love to see it in the spring though when everything is in full bloom. 

we took the train then the subway back to Paris and visited the Eiffel Tower for the last time before we left.

 I'm sad that we didn't get any great pics of both of us in front of the Eiffel Tower. we were trying to use the selfie stick and we should have just had someone else take our pic.

that was our last stop in Paris after having such an incredible time there. I loved Paris so so much.. even more than I thought I would if that's possible. it was so hard to leave the Eiffel Tower but Jason had to drag me away because we had to make it to the airport for our jet to Venice. I may have stalled for way too long and we had to rush back to our airbnb to grab our stuff and then Uber to the airport. the entire way we were extremely doubtful that we would make it on time and we were right. we got there and we had just missed our jet to Venice. we were stuck in Paris- which wouldn't be awful but we only had one day planned in Venice and a hotel booked. this was definitely the low point of the trip. we were exhausted and looking at our other options, train, car rental, or spending another day in Paris then taking the next jet to Italy but skipping Venice. all of these options were way more than we wanted to spend. we were at a loss at what to do. as we were comparing prices there was a man that had gotten to the gate late like us and he was also trying to find a way to get to Venice. he had a German accent, bad teeth and was probably in his 50's. he said that he was thinking of renting a car and wanted to see if we'd be interested in splitting it. we were hesitant because car rentals were very expensive (especially since we would just be going one way) and our other option of taking the train and skipping Venice would be cheaper. we really didn't want to have to skip seeing Venice though. he told us that he was going to rent a car either way and that rather than splitting the cost he would pay for more than half. we went to every rental car companies they had at the airport and finally found one that would let us take it one way to Venice. we were relieved that we found an option that wouldn't be exorbitantly expensive.. but it also meant that we would be driving all night for about 11 hours! and I wouldn't be able to drive since I can't drive stick well and so Jason and the German (his name was Rolf) would have to switch off and try to sleep while they weren't driving. we felt a little crazy renting a car with a stranger in Europe but we didn't have a ton of options and we heard that it was a common thing to do there. 

Rolf turned out to be a really nice guy and Jason chatted with him for a while and I tried to sleep in the backseat. as we were driving Rolf would point out things like how we were driving past the Swiss Alps and that it was one of the most beautiful drives. we felt a little sick that we couldn't see anything at night as we're driving by places I've dreamed of seeing. next time we go to Europe I am going to make Switzerland at the top of my list. after many hours of driving we drive into Italy as the sun was coming up. my first glimpse of Italy got to be while driving in the countryside at sunrise and seeing the silhouette of castles in the distance. it was completely surreal. while the whole situation wasn't optimal we were grateful for Rolf to help bail us out- and I'm sure he was grateful to have someone to split the driving and part of the cost with him. and it makes a great story- that ended up being one of our favorite things to talk about when telling about our trip.