Paris- Day Three

Our last day in France may have been my favorite of the whole weekend. We wanted to get an early 8am start and go to Versailles. Turns out we set our alarms for the right time, but France is an hour ahead of Ireland. So we didn't leave the apartment until about 9, but we were all so exhausted that it all worked out for the best! So we took the metro and a train to Versailles, about an hour ride from Carole's flat, got some McDonalds breakfast to get going, turned the corner and saw....

 King Louis the 16th decided to build this excessively massive palace and decided to put gold in every nook and cranny of the house. Literally every room seemed to be fake just because the gold was SO gold. I wish i could explain it better, but every room had an insane amount of gold, paintings, and was usually color coded (in order of the rainbow too, very creative). The picture above is of the Hall of Mirrors, a very famous part of the palace. The other pictures are of just half of the palace, so imagine that times two. Now imagine that and add about 20 of those. That's around how big the grounds of the palace are. Behind the actual building are massive gardens. There is a canal and few ponds going through the grounds (not to mention the couple restaurants, biking routes, ice cream shops, and the other buildings on the grounds). So after we walked through the palace we walked the grounds to Marie Antoinette'a house (after a stop for nutella crepes and hot chocolate). I would say we walked about 6 miles easily just from our strolling around the grounds to and from the different houses (and it was freezing while we were walking too. So cranky and tired but in awe of how beautiful the gardens were we went to lunch at a local restaurant. My favorite part though (big surprise) was the dessert. I literally wanted each and every item that is in the picture. It took me about 5 minutes to decided what i wanted, and I finally decided on a strawberry tart that was beyond delicious. My friend had an eclair at the same shop and I don't think I've ever seen either of us so happy.

I can't figure out how to change the picture so its right side up, but this is the Sacred Heart Basilica. Goregous. Breathtaking. Amazing. I was semi speechless when we saw this. I'm not sure if it was the building itself or the combonation of being sentimental it was our last night in Paris along with the beauty, but it was my favorite part of our trip. After taking tons of pictures we went inside and saw all of the paintings. I must say that I think Europe has a good idea making all of their churches so goregous with all their paintings on the walls and the murals on the ceilings because church was packed. After our quick tour of the basilica we went to Montmarte, the town surrounding the church. It is known as a town full of artists and it still holds true. At 9 at night in freezing temperatures artists lined the streets showing off their work and offering to draw a portrait. We ended the night with dinner then wine and cheese at Carole's apartment. She tried to make us crepes but we had a batter malfunction so ate brie and bread along with a french dessert she made!

We had such a fun trip, full of sighseeing and visiting with Carole. Wish we could have spent more time there, but I have to say, it was good to come home and relax!