In Transit, Arriving Late: Our Journey to Versailles, France

My younger daughter and I spent one lovely week in Paris this past June! Overall, we had a memorable time, but getting there was another story!

TL;DR: Due to a flight diversion, our journey to France included a missed connection, delayed bags, and nearly-canceled hotel reservations. One of the bright spots was getting to explore the historic Estate of Versailles with friends.

Cue the meme: “Nothing beats a Jet2 Holiday!”

SFO > JFK > CDG

The plan was to leave San Francisco on Saturday afternoon, catch a connecting flight leaving New York at 1 o’clock Sunday morning, and arrive in Paris that afternoon. We’d have Sunday to simply relax, recover from jet lag, and explore the 12e arrondissement, where our hotel was located. Our plan for Monday morning was to take a scenic and leisurely ride on the Réseau Express Régional (RER) “C” train to Versailles, France and meet our friends there.

Well, you know that saying about best-laid plans: they sometimes go awry. No complaints – c’est la vie ! Expect the unexpected.

San Francisco

As we were boarding our flight to New York’s JFK, they made an announcement saying they had run out of overhead bins. (I suppose it’s the risk we take for being in the final boarding group!) As a result, we had to check our carry-on bags at the gate. They tagged our bags with our final destination of Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and we bid our bags « à bientot ! » (see you soon) and hoped for the best. I was puzzled, though: how do they run out of space if each passenger is allowed to bring onboard two items max – one item to stow in an overhead bin and the other on the floor underneath the seat in front of you? 🤔

The flight was pretty smooth and uneventful for most of the journey. About an hour before we were due to arrive at JFK, we were told that our flight would be diverted to Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) because of stormy weather in the New York area – no flights were coming in or out. We sat on the plane for about 90 minutes. However, we promptly took off and made our way to JFK as soon as additional flight crew members took their seats. (Wait, where did they stow their bags? What about the storm?) At this point, I started to worry we might miss our connecting flight to Paris.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.

New York City

We spent the night at JFK. The airline tried to book rooms for us stranded passengers, but said their hotel partners were fully booked. They told us that if we were able to book our own rooms for the night that the airline would reimburse us. I looked up a few hotels and the ones that did have availability were either too far away from the airport, exorbitantly priced, or looked sketchy (no offense).

In the end, we accepted the blue, plastic-wrapped blankets the airline lent all of us weary travelers and spent the night inside the terminal. My daughter slept a few hours, but I stayed awake. (This proved to be helpful later on as I was able to adjust to Paris time quickly.)

I may have been sleep-deprived, but I was happy. Mainly, I was grateful for this mother-daughter trip. I was also grateful for food! Believe it or not, I devoured a Shake Shack burger and fries at 7:30 in the morning! (Vacay mode ON!)

Paris

We were rebooked on the earliest flight available and we finally arrived at CDG at 7h00 on Monday. When we arrived in Paris, we learned our bags had missed their connection, too! Thankfully, the inconvenience was mitigated by a rather simple process to file a delayed/missing baggage claim. Finally, something was easy!

After we were assured we’d get our bags delivered to our hotel as soon as possible, we called a rideshare service to take us to our hotel. As we were a day late, the hotel threatened to cancel the whole reservation if we didn’t check in that morning! Fortunately, the check-in process was easy and we got to lighten our load by dropping off my daughter’s backpack and some items from my tote bag.

We’d had plans to meet our friends ahead of our timed-entry of 10h00 to the Palace of Versailles. As we were pressed for time, we decided to hail another rideshare service instead of taking a scenic and leisurely train ride to the Paris suburb as we had planned.

Estate of Versailles

The Estate of Versailles is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and is made up of the Palace (Château), Trianon Estate, the park, and gardens.

The Palace of Versailles and the Trianon Estate are normally closed on Mondays, but it was a bank holiday (jour férié) the day we went due to the Christian holiday of Pentecost the day before. ➡️

In 2018, I got to see the Estate of Versailles through the main gate. Read more here > How I Got Lost Then Found Myself in Versailles

We finally arrived at the Palace of Versailles at 10h25. After we went through the security checkpoint, I approached a bespectacled man dressed in an impeccable suit at the information desk to ask for a map. He asked me (in French) which language I would like the map and I said, « français ou anglais, s’il vous plaît. » As he handed me a map (une carte/plan) in each language, he asked if I was visiting from England. When I said I was visiting from the United States, he said that he had a gift for me since I had traveled so far. Then he handed me a glossy educational resources booklet in French containing 65 pages of historical maps, photographs, and details about the structures and art collection at Versailles.

Nice gift aside, that encounter was one of the highlights of the entire trip for me. He made me feel like the only visitor as he took his time pointing out can’t-miss exhibits. I even forgot for a second how disheveled and exhausted I was!

Palace of Versailles (Château de Versailles)

Here are some of my favorite rooms, furniture, and artwork at the Palace of Versailles:

Like the majority of the décor and furnishings on view, King Louis XIV’s bedroom (above) is likely a perfect reproduction, but I like to believe it’s the original! I was looking forward to seeing this room the most as it’s the same one on this postcard that I had previously featured as a Wednesday Postcard. ⤵️

King Louis XIV’s bedroom was strategically located on the first floor facing the sun (approximately below the clock and flag in the photo below):

Located in the Diana Room, the Louis XIV bust by sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, has been at Versailles since 1684. Through the end of September 2025, this sculpture was on view at eye level. It was great seeing the details of the sculpture up close!

Needless to say, my photos don’t do this place justice. The Palace of Versailles is so over-the-top gorgeous, opulent, elegant, and so full of history, it felt surreal being there. With its exquisite bedrooms, sculptures, oil paintings, chandeliers, and ceiling murals, it was overwhelming to take everything in. I didn’t know where to look, but everywhere I did look was absolutely stunning. My only quibble was how hot and cramped some of the rooms were since there were so many of us moving from one room to the next.

Moving outdoors, I found the expansive parks, manicured gardens, captivating fountains, and verdant groves equally impressive.

After our tour of the Palace, we finally met up with our friends. (I hadn’t seen them since 2018!) Together, we explored more of the massive, nearly 2,000-acre estate. We all had the “Passeport” type of ticket which gave us access to the Palace (with timed-entry), the Trianon estate, gardens, park, as well as the Musical Fountains Show, and Musical Gardens, which are open from April 1 to October 31. During this time, they even open up the bosquets (groves). With baroque music playing outside, I felt like I was in a perfume commercial.

Grand Trianon

Petit Trianon

It had been years since my friends and I had seen each other, so it was cool to be able to hang out – and at the incredible Estate of Versailles, no less!

By mid-afternoon, my daughter and I were starting to feel the effects of jet lag and walking in stifling heat. Feeling depleted, we ended up not going to dinner with our friends, but we did have lunch together the following day! (I wrote about it here > Visiting Paris: Good Food With Good Friends)

We were even too tired to care that we still hadn’t received our bags! (Good news: we eventually got our bags and later got reimbursed for the inconvenience and expenses we incurred. I’m so glad I bought travel insurance!)

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Related posts about my trip to Paris and Amsterdam (June 2025):

Wednesday Postcard: My Visit to Disneyland Paris

Where is the “Emily in Paris” Apartment?

Exploring the Van Gogh Museum During a Layover in Amsterdam

More to come on my trip to Paris!

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Thanks for reading Bonjour: A Francophile Blog!