Versailles and the Musical Fountains . . . in the rain

Woke to rain again. In hopes it would stop we decided to go to Versailles as planned. Walked up to the Musée d’Orsay RER stop and got our tickets. Had a twenty-minute wait and then about forty minutes to Versailles. We left the station and followed the crowd to the château where we let them get in line while we walked along rue des Reservoirs to the last left before blvd. de la Reine which is rue de la Paroisse. We turned left and walked to the Dragon’s Gate entry to Versailles. When the gardens are free, you can walk right in. This was one of the days for the Fountains show so it cost 9 euros. The guard sent us back to a Tabac on the corner of rue de la Paroisse and rue des Reservoirs. It is actually a little bar-restaurant called La Civette du Parc. We went in the door marked Tabac on rue de la Paroisse and the gentleman there knew exactly what we wanted, tickets to the Fountain Show at Versailles. We were soon back at the Dragon’s Gate to Versailles with our Fountain tickets in hand. We entered . . . no line; no people . . . just zipped in. Château de Versailles web site Postscript: The Dragon's Gate seems to be closed but the Neptune Gate is not much farther. You continue along rue des Reservoirs and turn left on Blvd. de la Reine. Go through the Queen's Gate and turn left immediately. It is a short walk to Neptune's Gate from there.

The fountains had already started so we wandered from one to the other in the rain dodging school groups and tour groups. We walked from fountain to fountain until they stopped at noon. Decided to return to our entry point and go outside for lunch. A block away on rue des Reservoirs we found the Bassin de Neptune and got their 13 euro menu. Ed got the chicken and I got pork and both were excellent, fork tender and well seasoned. We chose the lemon tart for dessert and it was delicious. Washed it down with a Côtes du Rhône and paid less than half what we paid for a dismal meal at the Louvre’s Café Richelieu (Angelina’s) yesterday. [Brasserie Au Bassin de Neptune, 30 Rue des Réservoirs, 78000, Versailles; tel: +33 (0)1 3021 7645; no web site]

Walked back to the château gardens for the afternoon show and were better oriented this time. Dodging puddles and running water was a problem and we ended up pretty wet and muddy but the show was lovely, especially the Mirror Fountain that dances to the music something like the fountains at the Rothschild Villa in St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.

Found our way back to the train station and to Paris to discover ludicrous written directions for our still-not-working television. I called Agathe again and after a shouting match (her kids were yelling in the background so shouting became necessary), I finally got the missing piece of information we needed. Besides turning on the decoder and the tv, you need to push the AV (Source) button and choose HDMI. Why they didn’t put that little detail in the directions is beyond me. The tv won’t work until you do it and you do it every time you turn it on. Why is it so hard for people to give directions? The mystery is solved and now we can get weather reports!