My parents left on Sunday, August 19th, and a few days later, Kelly’s parents came to visit – but not before Kelly’s birthday! For her birthday, I got her some macarons for breakfast, and for dinner I made her one of her favourite dishes, eggplant parm. We couldn’t find bread crumbs, so we tried to make our own out of the bread we had around the apartment (verdict, unsuccessful), but the meal came out great anyway, and Kelly was able to have a nice relaxing night (I did all the dishes too!).

Kelly’s parents arrived on Thursday the 23rd, and stayed near our apartment. Once Kelly and I got out of work, we got dinner with them near Alesia, which was very nice.

The next day, Kelly and I still had to work, but after work, we met up with them again and had them over for dinner. Kelly was able to get out of work a little earlier than I did, so she was able to meet them at the Eiffel Tower.

On Saturday, we all went to Versailles (one of Kelly’s favorite places, she says it her Disneyland). We got up pretty early, met at our apartment and had some breakfast, and made it to Versailles much earlier than I had originally expected, but it really worked out – we got in line 20 minutes before the doors opened, and we had a timed entry, meaning we were some of the first people to get in. It made the experience so much better – normally the Château is crowded and you’re constantly bumping into people – this time we had a lot more space, and were able to walk around easily. We also got the audio guide, which is pretty helpful.

When you visit Versailles, be prepared to do some walking – which is exactly what we did. Even though this was our third time there, Kelly and I still found some new gardens and fountains we hadn’t seen before.

We got lunch near the start of the Grand Canal (I got a chocolate crepe with ice cream, which was delicious), and then walked over to the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon. We hadn’t explored the Petit Trianon yet, so that was completely new to us – one of the interesting things, there was a whole large room in the basement that was specifically built for – not cooking food, but reheating it (today that whole room would be replaced by a microwave!). There was also a dumbwaiter system in the apartment so that meals could be served quickly.

One of Kelly’s favourite parts of Versailles is the Queens Hamlet, so of course we went over there and explored it further. There are lots of small paths through the woods that are very nice. After some more walking, we made our way back to towards the bus, and found another building we hadn’t seen before – a theatre near the Trianons. Eventually we got back to the bus and back into Paris.

After a quick nap, we all met up again and went to dinner – Kelly’s Nana knows the owner of a restaurant in Paris, so we went there! The restaurant was almost like a tapas place, each person ordered a few small dishes and shared them with the table. Some of the dishes were quite good – especially the fried chicken! And of course, since it’s Paris, there was a random, beautiful statue right outside of the restaurant. Another great day (and a lot of steps!).