Living in Finland: Versailes, France

Our 2nd family trip was to Versailes & Paris in October.

By now I was dressing Isabel up in this get-up

So when Greg even mentioned the first few letters...Pa, for Paris
My ears quickly perked up and I was pleading 'PLEASE DEAR!'
'HONEY, SWEETIE PIE...PLEASE!'

Greg knows I love Paris, and he knew he would score extra points for taking me on this work trip.
That was the first place we went to when Greg and I were first dating. Greg invited me to his friend's wedding in Finland and when Greg found out that I had not really been to any place other than the states around Texas, much less out of the country. He thought it might be good to see a little bit more than just Finland and decided I needed to see Paris and London on the way to Helsinki.

Thank goodness he checked with me to make sure that I had a passport, because I didn't and it didn't even occur to me that I was going to need one. My rationale..."I am an American, don't they let us into any place we want??" After all we didn't need a passport for Mexico or Canada. HA! so sad. But my how things have changed, as here I am living in Helsinki and making a second trip to Paris.

Greg is not a big fan of Paris (not sure why) so he wanted to check out another city and suggested Versailles. Versailles has the Palace of Versailles, where Kings lived, including King Louis XVI until the French Revolution... you know Marie-Antoinette, "off with her head!"

Sounded good to me and it was a great choice. I was a little nervous about the plane flight because of what happened last time we flew but Isabel was in good spirits and it was all smiles from Isabel and the happy passengers (glad that there wasn't a screaming baby on board)

We stayed at a beautiful hotel called
the Trianon Palace Waldorf Astoria, which was a hop, skip and a jump from the royal grounds.

Here Greg and Isabel are modeling outside the Trianon.

The hotel/palace was really pretty and so were the grounds.

I loved the different colors of the trees and you could really tell autumn was in the air.

Greg loved playing around with Isabel outside, I guess the crisp air and bright colors made Greg fun loving and playful, like the mules my grandmother Memo always talks about when the air in Texas starts to get a little cooler.

After a play in the leaves and trees we decided to head out and about.

Here we are on the street that ran right next to our hotel. LOVED the tree shapes and color, very pristine.

Even though it was a bit chilly, Greg decided to wear the carrier and went without a coat! brr!

Isabel was all bundled up and was kept warm by her Daddy.

The walk into town was really nice.
I loved how clean the city was.
So manicured, so cute and chic.

On Saturday morning the market was open.

I don't know enough French to get me around the market so I just kept quiet but enjoyed people and food watching.

The first time around in France I didn't eat much food, as Greg and I were first dating (back then I also packed a huge suitcase including 8 pairs of black shoes) BUT this time I packed 1 pair of black shoes and took advantage of the pastry situation.

See I can't drink the wine I want, so to make up for it I told myself I deserved several pastries a day and boy was I was excited to eat some pastries!
It looks like Greg was too!

Oh the pastries! Not only were the pastry shops adorable, they would wrap up these delicious treats in a very fancy box. I guess this lessened the blow of spending 5 bucks on a single treat.

BUT OH! I didn't mind the cost at all because these pastries were très bon!
I got something that was creamed filled with powdered sugar on top.

As you can see in the image below, I was wearing Isabel. Well, by the end of my treat the poor little girl had powdered sugar all over her!

Greg got an eclair and it was very yummy too. He is very lucky I let him eat some of his eclair.

We thought about viewing the Palace but the line was LONG and we had a baby that needed a feed and a change. So back to the hotel we went.

Speaking of feeding. If you had told me in 2005, before I met Greg, that I would be in France before the age of 40 I wouldn't have believed you. And if you told me that I would be back in France 4 years later with a baby and would be breastfeeding in public, I would have told you to 'Get Out!' and pushed you like Elaine on Seinfeld!

But here I am breastfeeding Isabel in the carrier as we walked the streets of Versailles....pretty crazy for me! The carrier hid most of what was going on, just looked like a baby sleeping.

We went back to the Hotel around dusk and enjoyed the atmosphere of the hotel. It really was a nice hotel, inside and out. Here are some shots of the interior.

I got some fruity champagne drink (mostly realfruit juice it seemed) and Greg held Isabel so I could relax and enjoy! Thank you sweet hubby!

The next day Greg had a phone conference call, so I decided to go see the royal grounds with Isabel.
Here we are about to say goodbye to Greg and head out.

I went out of our hotel and turned right and not a very long walk later, I arrived at the Petit Trianon, which is a small chateau located on the royal grounds and was Marie Antoinette's sanctuary, a place for her to get away from it all.

It took me awhile to figure out what was different with this pool table.

Ok, I confess I knew something was different but didn't realize it was missing pockets until Greg said something.

I guess this is a billiards table...sounds like an even more boring game without the pockets if you ask me.

Not too far away was the Grand Trianon, which I guess was where the king could get away from it all to relax. Pretty nice place to relax.

The grounds were so beautiful.

In this picture below, you can see the palace in the background.

It really was a big and fancy looking palace. I wished we had the time to actually go in, but with long lines and a baby it was a little hard to make it happen.

Here Greg is out front of the palace with Isabel asleep in the pram.