A summer home?

So today we took a program outing to le chateau de Versailles. All I can say is that I don't think it's possible for any picture you've seen to do justice to this place. The sheer size of it is pretty incredible when you first see it, but the Hall of Mirrors and especially the Gardens are unbelievable. It was such a cool thing to be walking through the rooms that you know Louis XIV, Louis XVI, and Marie-Antoinette used to live and sleep in. Pretty crazy.

I think the Gardens are by far the best part of the entire experience. If ever planning a trip to Versailles, do your best to pick a day with good weather because it really makes all the difference. Once you exit the palace and walk onto the grounds in the back, you can really get a feel for the size of the entire property.



Twice a day they turn on all the fountains around the grounds and blast classical music from loud speakers hidden in bushes so it really makes it feel like you're back in the 17th or 18th century! Sitting on a bench, listening to the music, and taking in the sites with a ham and brie baguette was seriously surreal. We also got to see le Grand Trianon and le Petit Trianon (used for the King's mistresses) and le Hameau de Marie-Antoinette. The queen created this little village so that she could feel like she was back at home in Austria and it seriously looks like it belongs in a fairy tale.



Overall, finally seeing the palace after learning and hearing about it for so long was more than I could have expected. Mais, c'est la vie en France!

Tomorrow I'll be heading to the Louvre and then out to Johnny Depp's club on the Champs Elysees for someone's birthday so that should make for some good stories and pictures! Today I leave you all with a quote that I thought was pretty appropriate for how my Versailles experience went...



A bientot!

"The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are." -Samuel Johnson