Day 4: Separated at the train and Russian Ballet

Today we headed for the RER train to again attempt a trip to Versailles. Being a courteous tourist, Thad walked a Canadian to the map to show him what we had figured out on the train schedules. Meanwhile Stephanie yells "this is our train!" from down the tunnel. Everyone scrambles to board except Thad was too far away. So Steph was on the train to Versailles and Thad was stuck at the station. Thankfully, Thad caught the next train and found Steph waiting for him at the station. We are sure glad both of us had the same plan in mind!

Versailles was crowded but immaculate. Louis XIV certainly had a high opinion of himself (and his fine pair of legs). I guess that's what happens when you become king at age 5. After a brief stroll through the gardens, we took the train back to Paris and up to the Marais area of town.

This sector is known for it's shopping and unique (gay and lesbian) lifestyles. We wandered the vendors but found the stores mostly to contain American retro style merchandise. We saw a shirt that said "someone in Nebraska loves me!" and a lot of Buffalo Bills gear. We had some lunch near Victor HugLo's house and headed home to get ready for the ballet!

The Theatre des Champs-élysées was showing 3 Russian ballets for our night's entertainment. Let's just say we had a different opinion of the ballet. Stephanie loved it; Thad was completely confused and unimpressed. Nevertheless, it was fun to get out amongst the French elite.

A couple of observations on the French:

1) They do not smile in the street. Everyone looks very serious all the time. They stand in their shop window with arms crossed as if to imply, they would be extremely pissed if you came into their store.
2) They do not speak to each other unless there is business to discuss. For example, when passing in the street, they do not say hello or even acknowledge others. Only if you are needing to stop someone, should you ever say hello. Steph found this out when an old man began grumbling angrily when she said bonjour to him on the street.

After the ballet, we headed home and picked up some more sandwiches and chocolate crepes for dinner. we did some more laundry, and packed for tomorrow's trip to Bruges!