The triple upgrade

Sometimes you get an upgrade, and sometimes you luck out and get the triple upgrade. Thus it happened last night when we arrived at the Waldorf Astoria Trianon Palace in Versailles. I suppose it is low season with few guests, or maybe they truly appreciated my being a Hilton Diamond member—whatever it was, Jenny and I were put into a fancy suite overlooking the Versailles gardens in one of the fanciest hotels I've ever stayed in. What digs!

Picnic supper in the Waldorf Astoria

Halfway through our trip to Paris, my friend Jenny and I (after meeting up in the DFW airport before hopping to Europe) have been sightseeing and simply hanging. The weather has been a bit on the dull side, with gray skies and low temps, but that doesn't really matter much when visiting museums and riding the metro. we decided against using the (almost) free bike system, the Velib, because of the dampness and the fact that almost all Velib stations seem to be full to capacity.

Jürgen and the Happy Pig

Today we are going to visit Versailles—thus our leaving Paris proper for the night. We've already visited Monet's water lillies in the Orangerie, toured the Musee d'Orsay, admired the stained glass of Sainte Chapelle and shuddered thinking of the cruelty of the guillotine while touring the Conciergerie. One really cool (and new for me) museum was the one chronicling the history of the Paris hospitals, replete with state-of-the-art surgical tools—at least in the 17th century! All cool stuff.

Surgical kit from way back then

Tonight we'll be back in Paris and for Saturday and Sunday I am planning visits to a few more choice spots. I'll try to add a few more photos in the next few days, so please come back.

OK, off to Louis XIV's playground now....

Jürgen