was going to have to find a good bakery when she got back to Texas. Now that they'd been introduced, she didn't think she could survive without chocolate croissants in her life.
"So, I'm thinking we hit another couple of museums today, and then go shopping. Tonight, dinner somewhere in St. Germaine and then a club. But we can't stay out too late because our train to Versailles leaves at 9."
"I'm exhausted just thinking about it," Erin said, but she grinned so Sherri would know she was kidding. She was grateful for her friend's obsessive planning tendencies, since she herself was fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants. If not for Sherri, she wouldn't be seeing half the things she was seeing in Paris. Hell, she might not have ever found her way to the apartment.
She logged out of her blog, clicked all the windows closed on the screen, and pushed her chair back from the computer station.
"I'm ready when you are."
* * *
Erin stretched her arms above her head as she walked, working out the fatigue in her bones from a late night at une discothèque , a steamy, chic little club on a side street off Champs-Élysées.
She glanced around. The sun gleamed down from the eastern sky, filtering through the leafy branches that bowed over the sidewalks and created intricate, dappled patterns on the concrete. To the right, picturesque brown-brick row houses towered, and to the left, traffic filled the narrow boulevard, motorcyclists whipping in and out of lanes like daredevils with a death wish. Sherri had been thumbing through her Rick Steves guide the entire train ride, but as it turned out all they had to do was follow the crowd from the station. It seemed all foot traffic was moving in the same direction this morning—and probably every morning.
They rounded a corner, and Erin gasped. She'd seen the Palace of Versailles in pictures, but no image could do justice to the enormous structure that loomed ahead of them, its elaborate front gates shimmering as brightly as a new gold coin in the hot white sunlight. She'd never seen anything so regal in her life.
* * *
"Oh. My. Gawd." Sherri stopped in mid-stride and doubled over, putting her hands on her knees. "I wish we'd caught one of those train thingies."
Erin giggled. It was a longer walk than she'd anticipated to get through Versailles' extensive gardens to the smaller palaces behind the main structure. At least she had an up on Sherri in one aspect of their trip—she had endurance for days. She handed Sherri her half-drained water bottle.
"I don't think it's that much farther. We'll definitely get the tram on the way back."
She took the map of the gardens out of Sherri's hands and studied it. After meandering through the throngs of tourists inside the grand palace for more than two hours, they'd set off into the gardens. They'd been treading over the dusty gray-dirt paths for what seemed like miles. Towering hedgerows to their left and right created a disorienting, maze-like effect, and Erin wondered if they were, in fact, traveling in circles. She looked ahead, breathing in the pungent, earthy fragrance of the greenery around them, and saw a round stone pond with a gilded sculpture centered in still green water. She matched it to the map. If she was reading right, they were on track to reach the Petit Trianon, the "small" chateau used by Marie Antoinette in the late eighteenth century, within minutes.
"This had better be worth it," Sherri grumbled. "And we'd better get there quick, because we have to be back to the train station by 4."
Erin glanced sideways at her. This was the grouchiest either of them had been so far during the trip. For the most part, they'd both been giddy since the moment they'd stepped off the plane at Charles de Gaulle. Erin still had to pinch herself to be convinced she was truly here. She couldn't believe they had to leave again in three days.
"You girls lost?"
Erin's head jerked up, and beside her was one of the most beautiful
"So, I'm thinking we hit another couple of museums today, and then go shopping. Tonight, dinner somewhere in St. Germaine and then a club. But we can't stay out too late because our train to Versailles leaves at 9."
"I'm exhausted just thinking about it," Erin said, but she grinned so Sherri would know she was kidding. She was grateful for her friend's obsessive planning tendencies, since she herself was fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants. If not for Sherri, she wouldn't be seeing half the things she was seeing in Paris. Hell, she might not have ever found her way to the apartment.
She logged out of her blog, clicked all the windows closed on the screen, and pushed her chair back from the computer station.
"I'm ready when you are."
* * *
Erin stretched her arms above her head as she walked, working out the fatigue in her bones from a late night at une discothèque , a steamy, chic little club on a side street off Champs-Élysées.
She glanced around. The sun gleamed down from the eastern sky, filtering through the leafy branches that bowed over the sidewalks and created intricate, dappled patterns on the concrete. To the right, picturesque brown-brick row houses towered, and to the left, traffic filled the narrow boulevard, motorcyclists whipping in and out of lanes like daredevils with a death wish. Sherri had been thumbing through her Rick Steves guide the entire train ride, but as it turned out all they had to do was follow the crowd from the station. It seemed all foot traffic was moving in the same direction this morning—and probably every morning.
They rounded a corner, and Erin gasped. She'd seen the Palace of Versailles in pictures, but no image could do justice to the enormous structure that loomed ahead of them, its elaborate front gates shimmering as brightly as a new gold coin in the hot white sunlight. She'd never seen anything so regal in her life.
* * *
"Oh. My. Gawd." Sherri stopped in mid-stride and doubled over, putting her hands on her knees. "I wish we'd caught one of those train thingies."
Erin giggled. It was a longer walk than she'd anticipated to get through Versailles' extensive gardens to the smaller palaces behind the main structure. At least she had an up on Sherri in one aspect of their trip—she had endurance for days. She handed Sherri her half-drained water bottle.
"I don't think it's that much farther. We'll definitely get the tram on the way back."
She took the map of the gardens out of Sherri's hands and studied it. After meandering through the throngs of tourists inside the grand palace for more than two hours, they'd set off into the gardens. They'd been treading over the dusty gray-dirt paths for what seemed like miles. Towering hedgerows to their left and right created a disorienting, maze-like effect, and Erin wondered if they were, in fact, traveling in circles. She looked ahead, breathing in the pungent, earthy fragrance of the greenery around them, and saw a round stone pond with a gilded sculpture centered in still green water. She matched it to the map. If she was reading right, they were on track to reach the Petit Trianon, the "small" chateau used by Marie Antoinette in the late eighteenth century, within minutes.
"This had better be worth it," Sherri grumbled. "And we'd better get there quick, because we have to be back to the train station by 4."
Erin glanced sideways at her. This was the grouchiest either of them had been so far during the trip. For the most part, they'd both been giddy since the moment they'd stepped off the plane at Charles de Gaulle. Erin still had to pinch herself to be convinced she was truly here. She couldn't believe they had to leave again in three days.
"You girls lost?"
Erin's head jerked up, and beside her was one of the most beautiful
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