Versailles? No thank you!

Sometimes, you should just follow the warning signs....
#1. When Jacqueline went to the bakery this a.m. to get bread to make sandwiches, they didn't have any bread. Huh?!?!
#2. We were up and out early this a.m. to get to Versailles by the time it opened in order to beat the crowds. We arrived at Gare d'Austerlitz to purchase our Passeport (ticket to Versailles which included all of the attractions at Versailles plus the train ticket to get there). Well, apparently Rick Steves' book is wrong and the passeport doesn't exist anymore. OK, no problem, we'll buy the train tickets and wait in line at Versailles to buy our tickets because we're going to get there early.
#3. What's that? The train isn't running from Austerlitz now?! So, we got back on the subway to go to another station, which meant that we were going back the way we had already come plus more.
#4. By the time we got to Javel station, according to our original itinerary, we should already have been at Versailles.
#5. Our tickets in hand, we left the metro and went to board the train. But wait...everyone's ticket worked but mine even though we'd bought them all together from the attendant at Austerlitz. After a few minutes of indecision, Matt convinced me just to jump the turnstile. (This is the point where something actually went right because I didn't get caught or stopped!)
#6. When we got to Versailles, we waited in the line for tickets. When we finally got to the kiosk to buy the passes, Jacqueline's Visa wouldn't work. (Mine won't work at all in many places because it's too old.)
#7. We got back in line to go to an attendant, which thankfully wasn't long.
#8. As we entered, there were big signs letting us know that everything was closing today at 5:30 instead of sunset. Great!
#9. By this time, the lines were huge for the Chateau, so we decided to be smart and go see the sights at the back first. Since our time was shortened, we also decided to pay 6 euros each to take the train to the back so that we'd have more time to see all the grounds. We bought our tickets, got on the train, rode it all the way to the back, only to discover...all that part didn't open until noon. It was 11:15, so not enough time to go back to the palace, but lots of time to kill. (At least there wasn't anyone else around -that should have been our first clue!)
#10. We idled away 45 minutes by the canal because the gates to the far end of the garden were closed today.
#11. When we went back at noon to the Grand Trianon, there was another line-up to get in there.
#12. We meandered our way through the Grand and Petit Trianon areas along with the rest of the crowd. By the time we were done, it was past lunch time, so we took the train back to the main gardens for lunch. Since we hadn't brought lunch due to a lack of bread, we had to buy overpriced paninis at the sandwich kiosk. When we went to order, they only had one kind of panini left.
#13. Jac and I narrowly avoided a fistfight with some broad from Spain who didn't want to wait in line for her sandwiches to be grilled. I out-Frenched her and got my sandwiches but when Jac's were ready, the loud-mouthed sandwich-stealing snot-bag muscled her way in. The hungry hungry hippo nabbed the sandwiches before Jac could get them. Obviously she needed them worse than the Hutchinsons did.
#14. After lunch, we walked through half of the gardens back to the palace to tour there. There were still huge crowds of people everywhere. It was difficult to tour the palace because there were large tour groups going through and so we couldn't see (well I couldn't anyway). I would have liked to have spent more time in some rooms, but we kept getting dragged along with the flow of the crowd. It took Eric and I about 45 minutes to get through the whole palace. (It should take about 90 min)
#15. I was so looking forward to this part of our trip - I've wanted to see Versailles forever, especially, the Hall of Mirrors. When we got to the Hall of Mirrors, it was SO busy there that you couldn't even get the full effect of how glamourous it is/would have been. I should have just stuck with the pictures.
#16. Since we had gone so quickly through the palace, that left us time to go back to Marie-Antoinette's domaine. We had skipped it earlier because we wanted to make sure there was enough time for the palace. There was a huge line for the train and they wouldn't let us back on the train unless we bought another ticket. Even though the tickets are hop on hop off and valid all day and it doesn't say anywhere that you can't go around more than once (even if you don't go the whole way around more than once), they wouldn't let us back on.
#17. Forget Marie Antoinette, which I had really wanted to see. Forget the other half of the gardens which I had also hoped to see. I was frustrated and fed up by that point in time. I'm convinced that Versailles is simply a tourist trap now. All of the paintings that add to the history of the palace can also be seen at the Louvre and other galleries in Paris. The palace is actually not that nice when you are fighting huge crowds. Although the gardens are beautiful, I preferred the gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte. I think in part because it is difficult to appreciate what the palace has to offer with so many other people around. I would rather go back to Vaux-le-Vicomte again for the day to spend time in the gardens than to go back to Versailles to see the rest of it.
#18. When we finally got away from the blasted place and made it back to the metro station, neither mine nor Eric's train tickets would get us into the metro, so we had to use new tickets (read pay for 2 more tickets).
#19. WE DIDN'T BRING ANY WINE WITH US TO DRINK TODAY TO EASE THE INCONVENIENCE OF THIS DAY TRIP. (That was probably the biggest warning sign that we should have heeded!)

On the plus side:
#1. We arrived there and back safely.
#2. We had the experience, so we can say we've done it.
#3. We had a nice supper in rather than eating in a restaurant in Versailles late at night.
#4. Eric picked up bread fresh from the oven from the boulangerie (now they have bread) and we're going to enjoy a quiet night in.

Although I did take pictures, I'm too soured and embittered by the whole experience to actually take the time to post them.

Tomorrow will be a better day. 2 days left in Paris!