and i’m back with the next “paris” post, although this one is actually featuring our day trip to versailles. i almost skipped out on versailles because i was miserable with this awful cold/flu-like plague that lasted pretty much the entire two weeks that we were in europe… and beyond… [and i’m never sick – if i ever get something, i never get it as bad as everyone else, as my mama always tells me. but this was unfortunately the exception]. but who am i kidding – there was no way that i was skipping versailles, nor any of the other things we had planned, for that matter. it would take a lot more than that – probably a pretty bad bout of ebola – to keep me at home when there’s europe waiting to be explored just outside my doorstep [too soon? sorrrrrrrrrrry].
anyway, i was soso happy that i went to versailles because i felt a bit better as the day went on, and we had the most knowledgeable little tour guide named claire who made the tour so interesting and the crowds so much more bearable, AND we got to skip all the lines thanks to viator. aunt debbie was the one who introduced us to viator and it is the bomb dot com. anyway, we toured the palace, and then toured the gardens and the grand trianon and marie-antoinette’s estate and saw the dancing fountains. i would have loved to visit the queen’s hamlet, but there was only so much time, and as it was, we were there for a good eight hours, maybe more, and i felt like we got the very best tour for the time we had.
it rained on and off all day, but luckily we had umbrellas and it didn’t pour except for one time while we were inside marie antoinette’s estate and then again at the very end of the day, when we were in the little town searching for a place to eat. and we ended up ducking into a charming little restaurant and sat by some texans and the meal turned out to be probably the most delicious dinner out of our entire time in france. but, for full disclosure, we were SOAKING WET and very happy to get home and into dry clothes, and get this: the night before, we had had a very similar situation and ate our meal with soaked feet and damp everything too. the reality of paris, i suppose. this is bound to happen. but the dinners were totally worth the wet feet. :)
{our adventure at versailles begins!}
{this perfume shop outside of the palace was so french-looking.}
{the massive palace}
{photo credit: mom. love this one because you can see the whole gate!}
{oh, that golden gate! it’s all proof that the french revolution very much needed to happen… but admittedly it does make the gold-obsessed individuals like a myself a bit starry-eyed.}
{inside the palace}
{ooh la la}
{that ceiling… photo credit: ashlin}
{his and hers… the king’s “show bed” is on the left, and the queen’s is on the right. they didn’t really sleep there, but this was where the waking up and going to sleep ceremonies took place every day, surrounded by people. pretty insane, if you ask me.}
{ashlin took these photos looking out the windows of the palace. they’re quite stunning.}
{our whole group + claire, our tour guide, taken from aunt debbie’s phone}
{from my mom’s phone… i have the best mama ever!}
{much to my delight, the palace had an angelina, a famous and fancy sort of “pastry boutique” [similar to fauchon which i had pictures of in this post]. angelina had already been on my list so we this was where we ate lunch. i had some yummy french onion soup and still regret not getting dessert here…}
{all the deliciousness in these photos is overwhelming. photo cred: debbie}
{the king’s grand apartments}
{photo credit: debbie}
{the whole group!}
{ohhh, versailles}
{photo credits: debbie}
{another lovely one by debbie}
{the gorgeous gardens of versailles}
{photo credit: my mom}
{photo credits of above two photos: debbie, because i just can’t get enough of these gardens!}
{drizzling}
{marie-antoinette’s hamlet, from a distance. and some guy with an umbrella attempting a very poetic photo bomb.}
{i spy a patch of blue sky…}
{gahh, those flowers.}
{the grand trianon}
{photo credit: ashlin}
{photo credit: mom}
{lovelies at the gift shop}
{the prettiest chocolate bar wrappers ever. and you can’t tell from the picture, but they’re ALL sparkly.}
{waiting for the fountain show}
{the fountain show!}
{at dinner in versailles. i took this selfie of the six of us through the mirrors on the ceiling!}
{it looks plain, but it was the best fish i had in france. see that photo there on the right? that’s how much i loved it. my dad would be so proud.}
thank you to mimi for the fabulous time at versailles! it was SUCH a fun day, and we learned so many interesting historical tidbits and got to see some of the most beautiful gardens i’ve ever seen. it was well worth our time.