Wednesday, June 2, 2010

A Day at Versailles

This week for Classy in Philadelphia's Where in the World Wednesday we're heading to...
...to jump....
Versailles
This again was on my 2005 France trip. The 5 of us (aka the Paris Posse as we dubbed ourselves) headed to Versailles. At the Metro we were able to buy tickets that included the train ride to and from, as well as the actual tour at the palace.

On the train ride there, we sat next to a group of fellow Americans. We didn't talk to them, but did overhear their conversation.
"Any idea why we're going to this place?"
"Well I've heard of the Treaty of Versailles. And that ended World War II, so this must have been built to celebrate the end of the war."

Once we reached the palace we were welcomed by Louis XIV.
Louis XIV at Versailles
He's actually the one who built the palace. And I'm pretty sure he wasn't alive in the 1940s...

We took a tour of the palace.
The Chapel at Versailles
This is the chapel in the palace. The hall of mirrors was actually being restored while we were there. They had kept half of it open, so you could attempt to get the feel of it. But I wasn't that impressed, and didn't wind up with any pictures. (I have since seen pictures of it since it's been restored and will say that now it looks impressive.)

After the palace tour we had a picnic of food we brought with us overlooking the gardens.
After our picnic at Versailles
We finished eating and headed out to explore,
Gardens at Versailles
and engage in some fountain jumping.
Jumping
The first picture in this post is my own failed attempt at fountain jumping.

After a day filled with such culture we headed to McDonald's! There wasn't one technically at Versailles. But in order to walk from the train to the palace you walked by one. So we headed over to share some French fries and McFlurries. (No picture of McDonald's. I wasn't blogging back then, and hadn't grasped just how important it was to document everything!)

Be sure to head over to Classy in Philadelphia if you're looking for more Where in the World Wednesday posts. Or if you'd prefer, you can see Where in the world I've been here.

~Shoshanah

4 comments:

  1. These pictures make me SO SAD. I can't believe I was THERE just a few weeks ago!!! I LOVED Versailles, the gardens, the fountains, the palace: all magnificent!

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  2. Oy vey - the stupidity of Americans is pretty ridiculous! How can people know so little!

    I am so bummed that I didn't make it to Versailles when I was in Paris in 2008. I will def be going on my next trip!

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  3. So cool. We didn't get to Versaille but a few of my friends did when we were abroad. I wish we had, but we were all literally sick in bed two out of the four days, so we didn't have much time to explore!

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