No, really. You've always heard about the grandeur of the Palais Versailles, but it is difficult to describe once you've seen it in person. We started the day by taking a 45-minute train ride to the far-out suburb of Versailles. Luckily, the sun was shining the entire day, which made for plenty of great photos; however, the wind was biting and chilly on the hill on which the palace was built. We had to pack our own lunch today to picnic on the Grand Canal, but I barely made it to the train on time thanks to the rush hour traffic and problems on the metro. Fortunately, there was a small café in the middle of one of the grand gardens, and I was able to purchase a jambon sandwich (ham and butter on a fresh baguette).
We spent over 6 hours visiting the gardens and adjacent properties before we even stepped foot in the actual Palace. After taking a guided tour with our professor of the main gardens, we made our way to the Grand and Petite Trianon. The Grand Trianon is where the wives and queens spent their time outside of the palace and out of the way of the King. Many mistresses of various 18th-century French kings also stayed here. The Petite Trianon is the separate property for Queen Marie Antoinette. This area has its own mini-palace, a farm, and a hamlet (small village) that were all created to make Marie Antoinette feel more comfortable in the stuffy royal environment. On the farm, I was stung by some strange European leaf. My luck! It wasn't too painful, but it did strange things to the nerves in my left index finger.
Finally, we made our way into the grand Versailles palace. The chapel and the 6+ different drawing rooms were a sight to behold with all the gold decorations and many paintings, however the Galerie de Glace (Hall of Mirrors) was truly the most spectacular sight. It is a work of art to see the room full of ornate mirrors, and it is where such famous events took place as the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1918 to end World War I.
Beyond the physical sights and awesome views, today was really nice because we all got to spend the day together as a group. It's been great to get to know the other students on my trip, but today really helped a lot of us to bond outside of the classroom environment. We shared plenty of insider moments, and there was rarely a minute without laughter. After our long day at Versailles, our teacher (courtesy of the Office of International Programs at Georgetown and part of our program tuition fees) took us out to a dinner at a café in Versailles, France. I had an excellent steak, although the French waiter was not pleased when I ordered it cooked. Most French people eat their meat at medium or basically still bleeding. A bottle of red and white wine and some chocolate mousse wrapped up a real French meal.
Before heading home, a group of us went to a bar in the Latin Quarter for an end-of-a-long-day drink. Again, it was nice to chat with our classmates in a relaxed environment. Tomorrow, we do not have to report to school until 4:30pm when we will have a seminar on French cuisine and a fancy dinner. We're planning on scaling Notre Dame and the Tour Eiffel tomorrow with our free time. Wish us look with the long lines of tourists (scoff)!
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