Versaille!!

By far my favorite day in Paris! We got any early start today. Waking up at 6:45am to get on the train to Versaille by 9 am. The train took us about an hour and when we got there we went straight to the visitors center where there was no line and got our ticket. We went to the palace first, and oh my goodness it is just as grand as you have imagined.

The rooms are decorated so fancifully with gold, and marble everywhere and beautiful textiles covering the walls, and chairs. Each room a different color, each inch of each room decorated to the nines. It was just stunning.

I took so many pictures I don’t know how I will narrow it down to put them on this blog post. We saw the king’s bedchambers, the queens bedchambers, the kids section, the dining room, the hall of mirrors.

All of it amazing. I loved all the moldings on the doors and walls. After the palace we walked through the gardens. We stopped for lunch in the gardens and ate with a view of the palace and the Grand Canal.

We continued along the gardens to the Grand Canal and from there to Grand Trianon, another palace for retreats for the royal family. At the Grand Trianon, there was a wonderful surprise! A fashion exhibit! Showcasing designer pieces that were based off of historic French costume, there were garments from Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Comme de Garcon, Dior, all set against the backdrop of another lavishly decorated palace. It was so beautiful; I could have stayed in that exhibit all day.

It was also exciting because after history of fashion I was able to recognize what about the garments were a historical reference. From there we went to Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette’s palace given to her by her husband.

It was surprising how sparse it was in decoration compared to the other palaces. The gardens of Petit Trianon included Marie Antoinette’s estate and the queen’s Hamlet which were a sight to see.

With the little country houses, a whole little village, with a farm and animals, we just wandered for a while. Such a nice contrast to the palace but still the country homes were done in a way that they looked nice and cozy compared to everything else. We walked around the gardens more and sat near the Grand Canal then decided to head back to the hotel. Right as we got on the train it started to rain. Across from us on the train were 2 Americans men, who started talking to us about Paris and what they had seen. They said they were going to the Museum d’Orssay after they got back into town and we mentioned that we were art students and were thinking about going but weren’t sure if we wanted to spend the money. Next thing you know he gets out his wallet and hands us 20 Euros and says use this to go to the museum. There was one catch though we made a deal that when we are older ladies (they said like late 50’s) that we should return the favor to some young travelers. We promised and thanked them for the generousness. We didn’t go to the museum then, we decided to go tomorrow. We went back to our hotel and booked a shuttle to the airport, downloaded the rest of Marie Antoinette, charged my camera, which had died while at Versaille. At around 7pm we went to Chartiers for dinner, they had traditional French food that wasn’t too expensive, I got duck and for dessert a pear and ice-cream dish.

We sat next to 2 French ladies who helped us to read the menu and we talked for a while, they were very nice and so helpful. When we got home, we finished our movie, while drinking the wine that Maggie had bought earlier in the trip and wrote postcards. Time for bed. Last day in Paris tomorrow. L