SVong-Along

If you are visiting Paris and Versailles any Saturday between June and September, I recommend buying a combination ticket to the Royal Serenade and Les Grandes Eaux (Fountain and firework show). We visited and got a less crowded walkthrough of the palace (including many of the Salons and the Hall of Mirrors), watched the sunset over the garden, and stayed for an epic firework finale. I'd also recommend staying the night in Versailles if you can get a hotel, as we had to walk a bit to beat the crowd to uber back to Paris. Below are more details of the experience:   We got to the front gate where there were different queues for different start times of the royal serenade, ranging from 6:30 PM til 7:50 pm.  Part 1: Swordfight at the entrance of Versailles (mostly in French, but they said some English words)  Part 2: Serenade in Holy Chapel  Part 3: Dance in the Hall of Mirrors  Afterwards, we saw some of the salons. From 7:30 on we went to the garden. After w...

On the train from Amsterdam to Paris, we decided to take a detour and spend a day and night in Brussels. One reason I wanted to stop was to see the Atomium, which was a pit stop on the Amazing Race.  What is it?  The Atomium is the main pavilion and attraction for World's Fair in Brussels in 1958. It is like Belgium's own Eiffel Tower. It is a iron crystal with 9 atoms enlarged 165 billion times. How to get there: public transit is an option but I just used uber. It was about 20 Euro for an Uber ride - 17 min from downtown (Ubers speak french btw).  Ticket cost - for student ID discount - 24.2 Euro for Atomium + Mini Europe between 10:00 to 17:00. (Design Museum also included, but didn't get a chance to check it out.)  TIPS: There is a bathroom in the lobby, but you have to pay an attendant outside 1 Euro. Only use if emergency, otherwise if you can wait 20-30 min there is a bathroom at the very top near the cafe, but it takes a while to get to the cafe bathroom. If ...