The Turtles Hit London and Paris (Our Honeymoon): Part IV

Looking back on our fabulous honeymoon trip to England and France, we both agree that the highlight was our day trip to Versailles, the over-the-top home and gardens of the Sun King, Marie Antoinette... oh, and a couple other Louis!

Versailles is a very short drive from Paris, so if you're already in the city, I highly recommend making the trip! When you first pull up to the palace, be prepared for crowds galore.  The whole area outside the palace gates is absolutely swarming with people!  Although this presented an initial disappointment, it definitely didn't ruin the experience for me, personally. If you have a good imagination, just picture it without all the people.  (Or if you have a really good imagination, picture them in 18th century dress, and the whole scene will resemble what Marie Antoinette first saw as she pulled up in her carriage as the new Dauphine!) Anyway... my other advice is that the palace is closed on Mondays. So take note!  Mr. Turtle and I did our research, but I do know people who have shown up on Mondays, only to be extremely disappointed.

Mr. Turtle in front of the palace gates... (See those crowds I was talking about?)

After eating a surprisingly delicious sandwich at the Grand Cafe d'Orleans, we entered the palace.  (We toured it with our Parisian tour guide booked through Trafalgar.)  I promise that you will go absolutely nuts over the interior of the palace if you are either a history buff or an enthusiastic fan of Rococo interiors... and gilt everything.

Me in the Hercules Room

The painted ceiling of the Hercules Room 

Notice the intricate detailing on the doors! Louis XIV (AKA "The Sun King") really left his mark on everything.  He compared his life to that of the sun's, because everything revolved around him.  Yes... really.

Loved the wallpaper and furniture in this hall!

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the amazing light fixtures in every room!

Me with a famous portrait of Marie Antoinette and her children

The Sun King himself (Check out those high heels!)

Standing in the Hall of Mirrors

The King's bed

The Queen's bed (So it's a little ornate, but the detail on the wallpaper and fabric is amazing!)

Our main disappointment about our trip to Versailles was related to touring it with a group.  After these rooms, our tour guide took our group out of the palace because someone needed to use the restroom.  *rolling my eyes...* We turned around to go back inside and finish viewing the palace and courtyard, but the guard said that re-entry to the palace was not allowed!  When we looked for our tour guide to ask her why she did that when we weren't finished, she had disappeared!  Since the lines were ridiculous, and we didn't want to wait and pay for new tickets, we decided to make the best of it, and go on to enjoy the gardens.

And as for the famous gardens, we thought they were as beautiful as everyone builds them up to be and more!

Mr. Turtle with a giant urn

Me with the facade of the palace (Notice how I'm squinting? The sun was briiight!)

View of the fountain and gardens, (The fountains were supposed to be turned on the day that we visited, (Tuesday) but unfortunately they weren't working right. They did play the music in the gardens still though! That was fun!

Wait... what are those things spitting water out?  Turtles??  Too good to be true! Check out my namesake at Versailles!! Precious! :)

Mr. Turtle with the fountain and the Palace in the background

The gardens are so huge, you could wander in them for hours! I definitely recommend spending a significant amount of time in the gardens if you go to Versailles.  There are refreshment stands, lots of benches, and options to rent boats and golf carts.  If it's the right weather, it's the most beautiful setting for a romantic stroll.  If it's hot, the trees provide wonderful shade for sitting on the grass.  Unfortunately, we had to get back to our tour bus before we had time to make it to The Grand Trianon and Marie Antoinette's Estate and gardens.  This was a major disappointment to me, but we had such a wonderful time at Versailles, that instead of letting it get us down, we promised each other that we'll make another trip to Versailles, just us, and spend a whole day there! I'm so looking forward to that day! :)

If you want to see some great pictures of what we missed out on, check out Mrs. Taffy's post about her visit.

Well, that's it for my honeymoon recap series! We had the most amazing time on our trip, and feel so thankful to Mr. Turtle's parents for generously gifting it to us.  If you missed anything, check out my previous posts:

• The Turtles Hit London (Part I)
• The Turtles Hit London (Part II)
• The Turtles Say, "Bonjour, Paris!"

And as for our wedding recaps, I promise I'm not avoiding them!  Just waiting for our professional pictures still!  As soon as I get them, I will begin telling you all about our wedding day! 

The Turtles Hit London and Paris (Our Honeymoon): Part III

After having a wonderful time in London, we made our way to Paris!  I had never been to Paris, even though I'd been dying to go for as long as I can remember.  I would have been seriously crushed if it had not lived up to my expectations.  Thankfully, it exceeded them!  Mr. Turtle and I both fell in love with the city!

And it was truly love at first sight.  (Admittedly, the fact that our hotel, The Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel, was located literally at the foot of the Eiffel Tower made it pretty easy to fall in love!)

The amazing view from outside our hotel

Some highlights of the city were:

1. Hanging out by the Eiffel Tower: AKA Eating ice cream by the Eiffel Tower... a lot!  Such a romantic setting, being surrounded by people picnicking, drinking champagne, and just having an all around great time 24/7!

2. Admiring the Eiffel Tower: If you look through my photos, you might wonder whether I was playing a game of 'how many times can I photograph the Eiffel Tower in four days?'  I wasn't.... or maybe, I was!  ;) As cliche as it may be, (and I do wish we could come across as a little edgier in our taste), we loooved the Eiffel Tower!

3. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower: Okay, I promise I won't say Eiffel Tower again after this! We took the elevator to the top and the stairs on our way down! We enjoyed the most beautiful views of Paris from up there and even loved taking the stairs, although my calves were dyyyying the next day!

Us at the top

Us on the stairs

4. City Bus Tour: Since we had enjoyed seeing London's monuments by bus so much, we made sure not to miss out on the Paris bus tour included in our trip.  It's such a great way to understand the layout of the city and see the kinds of things you may want photos of, but may not have time to make a special visit to. Some highlights were Notre Dame, the Luxor Obelisk, Les Invalides, Champs-Elysees and of course, the Louis Vuitton flagship store!

5. The City by Night: My favorite Paris memory was seeing the city after dark! It's definitely called "The City of Light" for a reason! We walked along the Seine, all the way from our hotel to the Louvre and back.  (We also went to the Louvre during the day.  The sheer mass of their collection is awe-inspiring and worth experiencing, but personally, I preferred the Musee d'Orsay across the street!) Anyways, if you ever go to Paris, make sure to experience it at night! It comes alive in the most wonderful way at about 10 PM!

We concluded our time in Paris with one last stop at Laduree! Yuuum!!

Next up: the final part of my honeymoon series, and perhaps my favorite part of the whole trip, *drum roll*, the Palace of Versailles!

The Turtles Hit London and Paris (Our Honeymoon): Part II

When I last left off, Mr. Turtle and I had gone back to the hotel after a wonderful first afternoon of exploring in London. We filled our next three days in the city with sightseeing and adventures.

Some highlights were:

1. Our visit to the town of Windsor and Windsor Castle-- I'd been there as a kid, but I had so much fun revisiting with Mr. Turtle!  We made some extra memories because it was absolutely pouring rain most of the time we were there and the wind kept blowing my dress up.  (Of course I wore a dress...) The castle is totally impressive, mostly because it is nearly 1,000 years old, and also because of my creepy obsession with the royal family. And the town is super cute to walk around in! Lots of restaurants and antique stores!

2. The British Museum-- Mr. Turtle and I love museums, and we definitely loved this one.  We were totally in awe of the King's Library, located in the East Wing of the museum.  It houses a collection of books, ancient sculpture, and a vast range of interesting curiosities that belonged to King George III.  And I'm not going to lie, even though their presence there has been pretty controversial, I loved seeing the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon friezes in person!

3. Bus Tour of London Monuments-- Our trip was booked through Trafalgar tours, so it included multiple tours.  We skipped out on some of them, but were really thankful we decided to stick with the city monument bus tours.  Taking a bus tour is a great way to see the city and understand the context of the many different areas.  We got to see Kensington Palace, Royal Albert Hall, Albert Memorial, all of the major museums, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, the Thames, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, the London Eye, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace, along with many other places along the way. I hadn't seen the Changing of the Guards before.  It's worth experiencing once, but I would agree with the overwhelming opinion: overrated.

Mr. Turtle in front of Albert Memorial

Us With Tower Bridge

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace

Changing of the Guards

Mr. Turtle in front of the Buckingham Palace fountain

4. Our Picnic in the Park-- One of our favorite experiences of the whole trip was our picnic in St. James Park.  We bought some great food at Fortnum & Mason, (which we highly, highly recommend for a great place to get a quick sandwich and a beautiful three hundred year old food store to explore.) Then we walked to the park and enjoyed relaxing on the grass for a while.  It was so nice to escape the big city crowds and give our feet a break!

Fortnum & Mason

5. Afternoon Tea-- On our last day, we enjoyed afternoon high tea at The Georgian Restaurant on the top floor of Harrods.  We enjoyed this experience so much that we've vowed that next time we go to England, we will have afternoon tea every day, rather than just once! Delicious tea sandwiches, scones, desserts, and tea... and a fabulously British ambiance! 

Mr. Turtle and I made so many great memories during our time in London! 

Next up: Bonjour, Paris!! :)