PARIS TRAVEL DIARY: DAY FOUR
the stunning palace of Versailles. We took a day trip to the Palace of Versailles and it was as you would aspect gorgeous and grand. The only part that was kind of a downer was the weather and how crowded it was. This day was super chilly and super foggy.
For some background history, the palace was built in 1623 for Louis XIII to use as a hunting lodge. It later than became the main place where King Louis XIV or also known as the Sun King lived and where most of the expansion of the palace began. He used a lot of France's wealth to build the palace becasue he wanted it to be one of the greatest places to ever exist. Not only is the outside architecture magnificent, but each room was elaborately designed with beautiful paintings, delicate carved wall moldings, custom furniture, and of course real gold leafing everywhere. One of the most famous rooms of Versailles is the room of mirrors and it definitely meets the standard of it being one of the most breath taking places in the world. With all the luxurious buildings, there are also the massive stunning garden to complete the palace. This is just a small snippet of what you would aspect seeing when visiting the palace of Versailles.
I was so in awe of the palace that I hardly took any photos and just needed to take everything in. There is just so much beauty, but also way more history in every corner of the palace. One thing to note is that during the French Revolution, the palace stop being the capital of France and becasue of the collapse, everything in the palace was auctioned off. Everything was sold and the palace was completely empty except for a few pieces that were unique to the palace. After many years past and the palace had become a historic site, many of the items that originated in the palace were bought and brought back to there original place, but many items still remain unfound.
Entering the palace is like entering into a time machine and traveling back to the 17th century. I try to imagine myself living in their time period and seeing everyone dressed in huge ballgowns and having a dinner party with the King and Queen. The palace showcases everything from the study, dinner rooms, game rooms, bathrooms, bedrooms, a chapel, and a theater. The experience is very surreal. I can't help but think how people are able to create something so beautiful, but then am reminded that God is the artist within all of us. One of my favorite places so far in Paris has got to be the hall of mirrors. It was so breath-taking and even writing this now I can feel my heart beating faster becasue thinking about it still makes me feel in awe.
On the other side of the main palace and through the gardens are separate buildings where Marie Antoinette stay in when she wanted to hangout with her friends in private. There is a little cottage building that resembles a village from Austria where Marie Antoinette was born. There is also a Temple of Love, where it has a statue of Cupid. There are also two other buildings that have beautiful pink marble columns. I love the look of marble and the color pink! The palace is definitely a whole day adventure.
I really wished that I would be able to see it in the summertime, to actually see the garden in it's full beauty becasue in winter everything is dead, the trees have no leaves, the weather was grey and the fountains aren't running. The next time I find myself in Paris, I will visit in the summer!
After leaving Versailles, we headed back to the apartment and spent that night meeting Panyia's relatives. Panyia's Uncle and Aunt came to pick us up and we stayed the night at her Grandpa's house. I was actually pretty excited to meet some French Hmong people and eat a Hmong meal! They were so nice to us and it really felt like I was part of the family. We stayed up and played card games with some of their children who were close in age with us. I was actually very surprise how good their English is and how bad my French is. It was pretty easy to communicate with them and as we kids played cards the grow-ups chatted and we all laughed the night away. We stayed up till 4:00am and woke up the next day around 10:00am. After we got up we headed to...