nattynattynattyinparis!!: September 2011

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Versailles!

Today was the most amazing day! I went to Versailles! OMG it was to die for! I mean the most gorgeous place I've been too. Not only is the palace the Chateau Versailles just overwhelming and amazing, its gardens are too and Le Grand Trianon and le Petit Trianon/ the queen's hamlet (which were probably my fave)! We went on a 30 min train from Paris center to Versailles. We got there and were just taken a back by the grand entrance! Anyway we took a little train over to Le Grand Trianon which is like the King's/royals get-away from the "rough life" at the palace and from daily routine. It was just so gorgeous and so intricate and just great haha. The gardens there were fantastic and sooo pretty and had an amazing view over the canal of Versailles. Let me just say, a great place to have a picnic and ride around on bikes (which is possible because certain parts of the grounds is free to the public...aka the canal and the beautiful park). Afterwards we went to the Petit Trianon which was constructed during the reign on Louis the XV for his long time mistress. Unfortunately she dies before its completion so it was given to his other mistress, Madame Du berry (remember her from Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette). It was like a dream/fairytale/ fucking fantastic place! Like a girls dream come true get-away. It was given to Marie Antoinette later by Louis the XVI and she also then had a "temple of love" built outside and a hamlet. The inside of the Petit Trianon was gorge! The rooms were super precious and just amazing to see and know how much history there is behind it. The outside was my favorite. I just loved how organic in looked, the gardens were just beautifully done and so different from the geometric (and also beautiful) gardens around the Palace. The outside also had a swamp that surrounded the queen's hamlet, making it an island country get-away with a dairy farm and various dwellings and more. It just looked like Snow White's village but it was real, a real disney town! It was so pretty and incredible and just beautiful (I cant use that word enough describing this place). I fell in love with the queens hamlet, I just wanted to transport myself to that era and just frolic in the amazing gardens and canal with no care in the world, I loved it! We then ate right outside the Petit Trianon and later made our way back to the Palace and toured the Chateau Versailles. It was incredible! Like ridiculous amounts of marble and the architecture was unbelievable and the frescos and the paintings...sooooo amazing and overwhelming! I got to see Marie Antoinette's room, various King's rooms, billiard rooms, ball rooms, the hall of mirrors and soooo much more. I just enjoyed my entire day there, it was an incredible experience. I highly recommend visiting here, especially the little places like the hamlet!

I am just so grateful to be here, it is such an amazing place! Love you all!

at the entrance of versailles

amazing detail and work at the entrance gate

fountains in the gardens right outside the chateau versailles

hall of mirrors

the versailles chapel

outside the Grand Trianon

the canal

an exhibition of gowns/couture by famous designers inspired by the period

The Petit Trianon

Painting of Marie Antoinette

gardens of Petit Trianon

The Queen's Hamlet

The swamp/pond area surrounding the hamlet

exploring and learning

So lets seeee, since I last left off there has been SO much going on! Mostly TONS of homework and 3 hour a day french class, but I can't complain...I'm in Paris!

So Jenelle and I have mostly been exploring our area and the bastille area a lot. We visited the Place de Vosges (oldest planned square in Paris), Victor Hugo's home, the Marais, a French art history museum, and some other places around us.

Bastille area

I've gone on a few excursions around the city, like the Mosquee of Paris and the area of Belleville as well as the Latin quarter. I loved the Latin quarter, it is where the elite universities of Paris are located, like the Sorbonne. Also it is a great spot for us young college kids, a bunch of bars, cheap eats, and cute cafes. Also the Pantheon is located there (which is gorge! and amazing) and underneath/underground the pantheon is where many philosophers and writers and others like Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Voltaire, and Rousseau now rest. It was really interesting to see!

I had another excursion with my class to the Mosque of Paris and I'm so glad they planned this for us because I would have never thought of going. Remember that scene in Paris Je t'aime with Zarka and Francois? Yeah I saw all that on the excursion and more. Like the seine, the botanical gardens Francois runs through and the Mosque of course. I also got to see the Paris Zoo from the outside (Menagerie) and the natural history museum near by. Anyway, the Mosque was BEAUTIFUL, the mosaics were AAmazing as well as all the little details like the tapestries the ceilings and just everything was soo ornate and beautiful.

Natural History Museum/ gardens

botanical gardens

Mosque

On another excursion I visited the area of Belleville where many famous french peeps are from like Edith Piaf. This is not the best looking area, but I can appreciate it for its uniqueness. It was known for being a sort of a country side of Paris a long time ago where they would have vineyards Today there is a great open air market, it has a great street art scene, it is known for being the area where immigrants go to when fleeing other countries, also for being a melting pot of different cultures and for its famous cemetery (pere lachaise). I got to visit the place where Edith was born there. She was born on the steps, on a busy street (Rue de Belleville) in what is now Chinatown...yeah the steps. To make the bio of her short, she had a rough childhood, she had a great voice that made her very famous and she is now one of the most loved people in France. We then got to visit a Park where I got to see the very famous view of Paris. It was gorgeous. I saw the Eiffel Tour on one side and Sacre Coeur on the other, b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Afterwards we visited the famous cemetery Pere Lachaise, where Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and Edith Piaf now rest. It is HUGE and actually beautiful, old and very very interesting. I visited those three graves and I have to say my fave was Oscar Wilde's, just because it is so interactive (the kisses on the grave/people write on it with lipstick) and interesting. I didn't kiss it, nor would I want to haha. I would only go as far as to write on it with lipstick. Another Paris Je t'aime scene of this place btw!