The 2nd Day: Versailles Style

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Aaah Versailles! How I wish I had been French royalty!

We woke up early today, 8 o clock. The bed was the first comfy bed I've had in a week, and I did not want to get up. But soon we were ready and on our way. We had to take the Metro to the Train station, and then take a special suburb train out to Versailles. I actually didn't know Versailles is a town now, but I guess it is. Or maybe it is a suburb of Paris? I'm not sure. So we found our way to the train station, but we ended up getting on the wrong train! Oh boy. So we had to go back, and that's when we realized that we needed to go onto the suburb train... Oh boy. So we were able to get our way through the metro and onto the train. It was an old rickity thing, but I quite liked it. The suburbs of Paris are quite cool, they are very old and it's when you get out into the suburbs that is where the houses are. I wonder how different they are.

o she had many little cottages built at the corner of her private gardens. It was the prettiest little thing I had ever seen.

Chateau de Versailles
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My parents are watching t.v. right now and it is so hard to concentrate and write well.

Ok. Where was I?

So we finally made it to the Versailles station. Versailles is so cute, that is where I decided I should live. It's the perfect little town, except I'd think that the tourists would get very bad. We went into the nicest bakery. France has very interesting desserts, but we haven't have any yet. We wanted to get a baguet but they were all out so we kept going. The walk from the train station was probably 10 minutes. Chateau Versailles is in the middle of the main street. We bought some pre-paid museum passes which was soo lucky! The line to get into the palace was HUGE!! We probably saved an hour or two at least by having these passes. If you go to Paris, this is what you need. (We also got a 3 day metro pass) The crowds in there were astronomical. You will never realize how pushy people are until you go to this museum. No wonder the people that live there leave. But after awhile with the pushing, you start pushing back. Oops! But anyways. Versailles.Is.Amazing. The entire time I was there I wanted to live there soo badly. And not just because of the richness, I just want to see every room in the palace and observe all the history. But the wealth would be nice too! hahah. There is an opera house in the palace. It is exquisite! Oh my gosh! I have never seen a nicer opera house. There were many chandeliers and it was done up in red plush. It was glittery and personal and just plain beautiful. Our audio guides took us to other rooms as well, such as the chapel, various apartments of the King and Queen, and the Hall of Mirrors. Unfortunatley, half of the hall was being restored so we did not get to see the hall in it's entirety. But the place was enormous, everything was gilded and covered with expensive fabrics and paintings and reeked of wealth. It was the place I had most looked forward to on our trip and I was quite pleased!

Moi and the palace
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We then headed out to the gardens. The size of them! I couldn't imagine how this was someone's backyard at one point. It was actually weird to think of the place as a house at all. The grounds were so large. I felt like we were on a hike, that's how far they cover. As far as you can see, that is still their gardens. Set with statues, fountains, gorgeous flower beds, and even a canal. You could wander all day through the mazes of hedges that they even have little electric cars and trams you can rent. You can even rent a rowboat to boat on the canal. The gardens would actually be a really nice place to run if you lived there though.

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We then made our way over to the Grand & Petit Trianon. The Grand was where Napoleon lived, and it was a smaller palace in pink marble with it's own sets of gardens. The Petit was in the end Marie-Antoinette's quarters. Her domain (the little palace and surrounding gardens) was so pretty. I had heard about her own mock hamlet in Social class this year so I was quite looking forward to seeing it. However, as we made our way across her gardens, the sky opened up once again and it began to pour!! We hid underneth a tree for awhile, but soon it let up and we were able to walk through the hamlet. It was like something out of a fairytale. She wanted to re-create a poor farming hamlet so she had many little cottages built at the corner of her private gardens. It was the prettiest little thing I had ever seen. By the time we finished going through her 'domain' as it was called, we were ready to head back. But of course, it began to pour again. And it was alot of rain too. My feet were so sore by this time, and I had only eaten an apple and granola bar all day. The walk to the station took us at least half an hour in the pouring rain and I was quite desolate. But then I reminded myself: I'm walking in the pouring rain in FRANCE. That made it quite a bit better. I find that if you put everything into light, it just becomes better. When we finally made it to the station, I bought a snickers bar from the vending machine. It came with two, and it was 1.50! In Canada it's 1.25 for one! But i guess the exchange is a bit different here. But I swear, that bar was the best Snickers bar I have ever eaten. On the way back from the train the ticket police came on and checked everyone for the validity of their tickets. Ours made it through thankfully. By the time we ate dinner and got back to the hotel it was only aorund 6:00, but we were so cold and tired from our "hike" across the massive gardens in the rain that we put on our pjs right away and now I'm going to bed!

Dad and the palace. The high point is the chapel. The king had it built to be the tallest part of the palace
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I don't have time to upload the pictures from Versailles tonight, and I didn't get a chance to upload the ones from Bonn and Bruhn either. Don't worry, they will come tomorrow!