I liked Versailles as a starter home, but all I really wanted was Marie's little farm house...

Yesterday, hands down one of the best days of my entire 20 year old life, was the day we entered the gates of the Palace of the Sun King, Louis XIV, Versailles. Nestled in a little town about 40 minutes from Paris, Versailles was the location of Louis' enormous building project which established himself as a so called, "absolute monarch" and it was from this seat of power that he ruled France and it's nobles with an iron fist.

The Palace itself is breathtaking and plated in gold, from the knobs of the doors to the intricate crown-moldings of every room. Everything was over the top, as was the monarchy's history, for as we walked into the bedchamber I recalled that every evening and morning, the court had to be present for the waking of the king and queen...that would be horrid. We waltzed through the hall of mirrors which was fantastic, but as the crowds got larger and some very insistent german tourists began using their elbows, we decided that the castle had shared what it had to offer and we ventured forth into the main event, the gardens.

The gardens of Versailles can never really be fully explained. They are immense and varying, from the geometrical precision of the gardens near the chateau to the wild beauty of the forests. So amazing! We rented row boats and rowed around the grand canal, reclining in the sunshine and enjoying all of the ducks and swans floating around us. After this brief sejour on the water, we walked a few miles to the Petit Trianon, a magnificent castle which is on the grounds, and after a brief tour of this building we entered a storybook...

Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI's child bride, never seemed to every really grow up. One of the legacies of this is her little farm community she had built for her and her friends to play "peasant" in. It looks like it is straight out of Beauty and the Beast or some other fairytale. There is a little pond with frogs and waterlillies, several little country cottages, and a little lighthouse, all set amongst fields of rolling hills and gardens of peonies and daisies. It was absolutely magical. I felt like a little girl, frolicking among the flowers and dreaming of a knight in shining armor. We spent a few hours walking among this loveliness and then returned to the main grounds where we bought ice cream and laid next to the lake and took a little rest before we ventured back to Paris.
Such a magical day, ended with a yummy dinner with friends and hanging out in Paris until late.