Passport to Paris: Day 5

July 5th,

Today I got up early so we could make the trek to Versailles and hopefully beat the crowds. We had to take the metro into the city then catch a RER train to Versailles. The RER train was kind of cool, it was a double decker train, something I have never rode before. When we got to Versailles it was clear we were not the only one with the idea "to beat the crowd." The was a whole swarm of people already there and the line was really long. It took us at least a half an hour to get in. The palace itself was quite lovely with beautiful french architecture and gold trim. I didn't know much about Versailles when I arrived, and to be honest, even now after going I don't know to much. Seeing all these old, cool, beautiful places has caused a lot of things to run together. But this palace was were the French royalty lived before the revolution. In fact Maria Antoinette lived here until she was captured by the french rioters (and later beheaded at the concierge-- didn't know she was killed.) 

Inside the palace was beautiful... but very crowded. I loved seeing all the art (especially on the ceilings) and architecture but I was a little claustrophobic so we walked through quickly and only listened to parts of the audio tour.

My favorite room was the hall of mirrors, as you can see it was a lot of other peoples favorite rooms as well. Got to love tourist season in Europe. But even the massive crowds couldn't take away from the majesty of this room. The crystal chandeliers, gold trim, ceiling mural and mirrors was enough to take my breath away!

(King Louis XVI's Room)

(Maria Antoinette's bedroom)

After touring the inside of the palace we went into the gardens. They were just as lovely as I had imagined. I probably would have enjoying walking in them more had I not been walking the past who knows how many days in a row (I swear I'm not bitter, just really tired.) We stopped and had a lunch at a cafe in the gardens then walked to the end of the gardens and back. I loved just visiting with my Aunt and enjoying the scenery. The flowers, and shrubs were designed in beautiful displays that added so much to the experience. And since the gardens are so big it didn't seem crowded at all. Palace 0 - Gardens 1!

After we felt like we had seen it all we took the metro back home in time to get Amelie from school. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and prepping for our big sight seeing day in the morning.