Versailles

The chapel

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Friday I went with my study abroad program to Versailles. After some awesome French argumentation between the Versailles employees and our program leaders, we got in for free because we're all "Art History students" (our program kind of cheated and gave even the people not studying art history student IDs that say they are, so we can get into all the museums for free or reduced prices).

Versailles is the giant chateau that Louis the XIV built and that Louis the XV and XVI lived in until the French revolution. It's about 40 minutes outside of Paris by train.

After seeing the chateau and the gardens (which were pretty but are much prettier in the spring/summer), we ate at a cafe in the town.

As soon as the cafe owner realized we were American, he brought us over some ketchup to go with our quiche. It's really interesting to see all the steretypes the French have about Americans.

The hall of mirrors

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After Versailles, I spent the late afternoon shopping in the Marais (The Jewish/gay quarter). Friday night I went out to a bar with a stock market theme...drink prices changed based on the number of each type that was purchased.