I’m chronicling my first “Big Group Band Trip” to Europe in 1997 and trying to draw some comparisons to the Europe travel experience of today.  Continuing my journal entry…..

“June 8, 2007

We were awakened by the alarm at 6:20 a.m.  Four hours of sleep didn’t quite cut it!  At breakfast I found that Jason was sick and had been throwing up for hours.  Everyone else seemed fine.  We had breakfast in the hotel’s basement restaurant and then met to go to Versailles, the palace home of Louis XIV and others.

Mike (a parent) volunteered to stay back at the hotel with Jason (the sick kid) while we went to Versailles.  Our bus arrived and soon we were on our way to Versailles.  After about twenty minutes Sally realized she had left her Paris Museum Pass  at the hotel…so, we turned around and went back to get it.

Even with the delays we still made it to Versailles by 9:00 a.m.  We did not have to wait too long in the entry line.  The adults who had Museum Passes walked right in without any wait.  Lisa, our guide, took the students and got them in without too much of a wait either. 

Versailles is a magnificent place, but it reminds me of the other palaces I’ve seen around Europe.  Just like the Doges Palace, the Pitti Palace, and Schönbrunn; Versailles is filled with oppulence and the over indulgences of the rich and royals.  If you’ve seen one rich rulers palace you’ve seen them all.  Regular admission is 35F, we paid 70F for our Paris Museum Pass  so we’ve got to “see” at least one other sight back in Paris to make it worth the cost.

Sarah left her passport and moneybelt on the bus.  Ughhh…how many times do I have to say it. “

-David