The gardens are really stunning, particularly the long terrace overlooking the Seine. We are so close to Paris that from it, you can see the sky line of the business district and even the Eiffel Tower. 
There are many trails, even forested ones and I did spent a long time just wandering….
Today, Saint Germain en Laye is one of the ritziest suburbs of Paris, with lovely stately homes and winding streets. 
It was an easy and beautiful stroll, as long as you don’t mind stairs…… there are a lot of stairs!!!! 
I then decided to walk across town, to the Castle of Monte Christo - it’s in fact not a castle, but a large stately home and retreat for writers, built by Alexander Dumas, and named after his most famous book. But - I just did not find it. It looked easy enough, but I missed the pedestrian entrance, and by the time I found it, I just could not figure out how to get to the actual castle…. Oh well, took a picture through the gate. The park is supposed to be pretty, but I had already seen a nice park that morning, plus, we are going to Versailles this afternoon, so I’ll get my fill of castles….
It was a very nice walk through a a lovely little town…. About 8 miles…. Should help process today's dessert
Joe enjoyed the visit to Malmaison, and the love story between Josephine and Napoleon.
After lunch, I went to visit Versailles. Joe, who has had too much fun, decided to take it easy and sail up the Seine, as the boat went on the rejoin us in Paris.
I have to admit that I was awed by Versailles. Its opulence, its decadence, its magnitude, the shear amount of marble, gold, and the gardens, the fountains! It is hard to absorb it all. And impossible to see even half of it in an afternoon. It covers 2000 acres (used to be 6000 before the revolution). Our guide said that a guided tour that would cover every part of it that’s open to the public would take 4 days.
This being said, everything that makes it beautiful is also what makes it so wrong. When Claire visited over 10 years ago, she texted me from there to say: “I get why they chopped off their heads”…. Yeh. I get it too.
Yet as a monument to art, creativity and engineering, it stands unparalleled.
For one thing, its location made it very hard to build. It was first a hunting lodge, built by Louis XIII. It was then a marshy area, with no direct access to a water stream. So when Le Notre (him again!) planned the garden (it really should be called a park, it’s much more than a garden), he first had to build a drainage system and bring tons of dirt to dry the swamp. Then build an aqueduct to bring water for the many fountains and the “grand canal”, and then he could go ahead and plan the extravagant displays. It includes little forests, with hidden features inside. It has a canal long enough to go boating in it, it has flowers, a million statues. It is objectively beautiful.
The amount of work it took, without power tools or equipment is mind boggling. And that’s “just” the gardens! The palace itself has 2000 rooms, of which we saw maybe 20. I assume they are not all that ornate, but still….I did not know marble came in so many different colors…..The painted ceilings, and every little detail are just amazing! So you get it, I was just awed. If you have never gone to see Versailles, just do it! But not next year because the Olympics are coming to Paris and it’s going to be messy. And several events will in fact be held on the grounds in Versailles. Equestrian for one. I think that’s very cool! This is the last day of our cruise. Tomorrow we head for Metz! Good by Paris!
(following are a bunch more pictures of Versailles, in no particular order.)
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