September 15, 2014 – After a fun, relaxing Friday & Saturday, a friend from my French university, Lena, and I decided to make the most out of our Sunday and trek to the Château de Versailles!
Just a little more than a half an hour outside the city, we took the famed RER (a commuter-type train in Paris) and soon found ourselves in the charming city of Versailles. In full discolure, I didn’t realize that Versailles was an actual, functioning city and not just the estate of ancient French royalty. So I was quite surprised to see a bustling little town with cute little restaurants and buildings that coordinated with the obscenely large palace that puts in on the map!
Advice: if you’re studying in France, bring your student visa to get in for free; also, the RER is de-zoned on the weekends, so if you if you have a Navigo pass for zones 1 & 2 (like me), it’ll get you there free!
We left in the late morning and arrived around 11AM, which we decided was a fitting time to pass directly to the immense gardens and sit by the lake for a small picnic. (Note: If you’re as scared of swans as I am, keep your distance from the water’s edge – they are NOT afraid to swim right up and stare you down until you give them food!)
Cue the photos:
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| View overlooking the gardens & lake |
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| We just kept wondering how they maintained this back in the day… |
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| Eating brioche by the water |
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| None of the fountains were working…but they were still beautiful |
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| One of the only areas with actual flowers |
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| The stunning orangier |
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| Lena’s GoPro was so much fun! |
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| Posing at the Collade |
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| Imitating the statues just never gets old |
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| Hide & seek in the gardens? |
After filling our stomachs with the brioche that Lena so graciously brought and wandering through the gardens a bit, we passed back through to the palace and took our place in line to see the famous Versailles.
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| We lucked out on the best weather! |
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| The most beautiful golden gate |
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| Chapel within Versailles |
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| So. Many. People. |
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| Just look at that detail! |
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| Trying to capture the amazing ceilings |
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| Galerie des Glaces/Hall of Mirrors |
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| Marie Antoinette’s chamber – yes please! |
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| Mirror selfie in the Hall of Mirrors – I had to do it |
Holy cannoli. The amount of gold – my favorite color – in that single building is more than I could have ever dreamed. The ceiling height, attention to detail, paintings and number of incredible artifacts that we passed was unimaginable. Even though I developed at least five new blisters & may have sprained my ankle from all of the walking on cobble-stone/uneven surfaces, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. This may be my new favorite place…especially Marie Antoinette’s bedroom – there’s a very good chance I will take some design advice from her in the future.
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