ptember 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!)
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.
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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