Versailles

So on Saturday our program took us on our final excursion for the semester to Versailles!!! Versailles was where Louis the XIV lived, and it's located about 40 minutes outside of Paris. We took the RER, which is not quite a train, but more than a metro. It is basically the metro system that takes you to the surrounding areas of Paris (I also took this to Disneyland, and Maxwell will use it to come into Paris from the airport).
As soon as we arrived in Versailles we walked to a restaurant where they served us salad, a savory crepe, and a sweet crepe of our choice. For my savory crepe I chose egg, ham and cheese. In my mind it was going to be the french version of a breakfast burrito...can you tell I miss my mexican food? For my sweet crepe I got sugar with Chocolate ice cream. It was delicious!!! After eating we walked to the palace.

The place is GIGANTIC!!!! It is crazy, and the gates and roof are covered in gold. The entire thing looks completely fake. We were lucky because the weather was gorgeous. Sunny, not too cold, but there still was a crisp feeling in the air. The leaves have all changed colors and are falling off the tree's. When we arrived to the palace I was amazed to think that 1. it was built hundreds of years ago and 2. that someone actually lived here! It is like nothing I've ever seen before, and was too grand to even begin wrapping my mind around.

 We took a self-guided audio tour of the palace, and my favorite room by far was the hall of mirrors. It was absolutely beautiful. I've learned about it in my architecture class and being able to see it in person was amazing. What many people don't know is that the ceiling, which looks painted, is actually just wall paper. They didn't have enough time to have someone paint the entire ceiling so instead the artist painted paper and then placed them to the ceiling. Fun fact :)

 Each room had crazy amounts of art, sculptures, etc. It was like walking through the Louvre...which makes sense since the Louvre was a palace for the kings as well.
My favorite part about the entire palace were all the busts of famous philosophers, musicians, thinkers, etc. They were so realistic and sort of creepy.

We then came to a hallway with all the past kings of France. It was so insane to me because many of them I was able to identify because of my classes. A few I could even say what types of garments they were wearing and how they have in fact influenced fashion! Go Haute Couture class :)

 It was too gorgeous outside to ignore the perfectly hedged gardens. Megan and I took a stroll and just looked at the amazing-ness of this Chateau from the outside. We wandered the gardens soaking in the cool air and sunshine.

Needless to say it's been a while since I've hugged anyone, and this nicely trimmed bush filled that void. I think I'm losing my marbles being over here!

   Seeing leaves changing colors is crazy to me!

At the very end our program took us to Angelina's. Angelina's is a very popular tourist spot in Paris and they are said to have some of the world's best hot chocolate. We were given a cup of hot chocolate, fresh whipped cream, and a plate of macaroons. It was delicious but SUPER thick. It was basically a liquid brownie!!! It was even too much for me and that's saying something! I drank about half, ate my macaroon and was ready for a nap.

All in all it was a gorgeous day at Versailles, and a great way to spend one of the last free days I have here in Paris.