Un Voyage à Versailles #HogsAbroad

Yesterday we went to Versailles, but the day did not begin as I intended.
Versailles is about 30 minutes outside and southeast of the city of Paris, and I live in the 13^th arrondissement, which is in southwest Paris. As such, I had a bit of a longer train ride than some of the others who were meeting me at Versailles, so I woke up pretty early to catch the right train. I made it to the station on time, got to my platform, and … my train wasn’t even scheduled to arrive for another 25 minutes. “Okay, it’s just late,” I thought. But then, a few minutes later, all upcoming trains to Versailles just disappeared from the arrivals screen. It was very strange and I had no idea what to do. I wandered the station looking for the information desk, but when I finally found it, it was closed!
Finally, a new train appeared, but it wasn’t leaving until almost an hour later than my original train was supposed to leave. I grabbed un pain au chocolat for breakfast while I waited, and finally got on the train. Luckily everyone else headed to Versailles with me was delayed as well, so we all arrived at around the same time. We later learned that the trouble came because of labor strikes at a station on our way to Versailles. The French are all about strikes lately, and it is not making my life very easy.

One way or another, we all made it to the palace. We were told that, since we were studying art/art history we could get in for free to the palaces, we would just have to buy tickets for the gardens, so obviously that's what we did in order to save some of our precious (and limited) moolah. We just had to prove that we were studying art, and we did so using our student IDs and a class list from an email.

Unfortunately, the rules about student entry seem to be vastly misunderstood, because every gate agent across the grounds had a different interpretation. To get in to the palace, ticket woman said we needed a specific certificate to prove what we were studying, even though the original ticket lady said any form of proof would work. We didn't want to have to go back through the crazy long line to get tickets, so luckily she eventually got tired of dealing with us and just let us through.

Later on, at Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon, the guy didn't even ask for the proof before letting us in; but at Grand Trianon, the guards said we had to provide a passport and visa, and they wouldn't let us in. Basically,  the Versailles guards need to have a meeting regarding consistency in student ticketing. Even though we didn't get to go to Grand Trianon, we saw everything else and we were running low on time anyways, so I am satisfied with the trip for sure.

ANYWAYS. We finally got into the palace and it was incredible. It is by far the most opulent place I have ever seen. Louis XIV really did have an eye for (borderline garish) interior decorating.

Louis' own little chapel. So casual.

The picture below is Louis' bed - except it wasn't really his bed. This was the pretty bed he kept around for guests to see, but the second bed is the one he actually slept in, not that any of that makes any sense at all.

Probably the coolest room in the palace was the Hall of Mirrors. A room covered in mirrors doesn't sound that impressive, because for us that's basically just a dressing room, but in this time period it was the height of wealth and opulence. Mirrors were incredibly expensive and very difficult to get a hold of, and prior to Louis XIV even most royalty only had a few smaller/handheld mirrors.

These chandeliers were INSANE.

The next pictures are just some funny/interesting things I came across. Louis was a funny dude.

I thought it was weird that Versailles is a shiny golden mansion but Louis stuck a deer's head on the outside like it was a hunting lodge.

Apparently the king required very accomplished napkin folders.

This next room is kind of hilarious. It's a huge hall completely covered in paintings of wars and battles - but only the ones that France won. So it was kind of like a self-esteem boost; if Louis was having a rough day, maybe the peasants were mad or something, he could just come to this room and remember all the other people and countries he (France) had conquered.

Joan of Arc

This is a painting of a battle in the American Revolution. Not even a French war, but they helped us out, so France views it as a personal victory. George Washington is guest-starring in this painting.

After we finished our tour of the palace, we stopped in a cafe called Angelina for lunch. The Angelina in Paris is extremely famous for its hot chocolate, so of course I got some. It was so thick and sweet that I couldn't even finish it, but it was delicious nonetheless!

Then we ventured off into the gardens. They are absolutely huge, and we only saw a small portion of it, but it started to rain on us so it wasn't the best day for exploring. Still, they were beautiful.

We took a little walk through the rain to Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette's house (she was married to Louis XVI, but other women lived in it at other times besides just her). It was pretty, but I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because I didn't find it that impressive. Interesting, but not a must-see. Grand Trianon might have been more exciting, but as I mentioned earlier, they wouldn't let us in.

There's Marie, looking pretty.

I don't even know what this random building is but I thought it was cute.

 After that, we marched back through the rain to the train station and made our way back to Paris. My feet were aching, and it had been a long and sometimes difficult day.

I ate a crepe for dinner on Saturday night, as one should in Paris, and then I chilled that night and pretty much all day Sunday, because everything was closed and the almost apocalyptic rain had begun. It rained all day today (Monday) and is expected to continue through the rest of the week, which is terrible and depressing. Le sigh.

But I'm in Paris, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. *grumbles*

Au revoir!

Sydne

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Read more from Sydne at http://theyesgirlwrites.blogspot.com/
To find out more about the ISA Paris, France: Arts & French Language at the Institut Catholique de Paris program, check out http://studiesabroad.com/paris