Versailles

Writing regularly is harder than I thought it would be.  But now I’ve posted some pictures from Versailles! It was pretty easy to get to – it’s on the RER C line, which is one of the commuter rails of Paris. The RER lines go further outside of the city and make fewer stops so you can get places quickly. 

I took a day trip to Versailles a few weeks ago, and it was a beautiful day, so I was able to walk around the gardens for a while and take a lot of pictures.  I also went inside the Château de Versailles, which was very ornate. There was so much gold! And a lot of history, though I didn’t really read much about it.  You can check out Wikipedia if you want to learn more.  : )

Also, Jon came to visit for a few days!  He’s been to Paris before, so there wasn’t a lot of pressure to see all the tourist sites. It was pretty relaxing – we just walked around a lot and went out to some nice meals.  I was trying to be adventurous and try new food, so I ordered a salmon appetizer, but it turned out it was raw salmon.  It was the first time that I’ve eaten raw fish!  I think the waiter was a little offended that we didn’t eat that much of it.  Luckily we had chicken and gnocchi for the main courses and ate a lot of that. It was really good! 

We went out on Saturday night to go to my friend Romain’s going away party and another friend’s housewarming party.  It was also Nuit Blanche, a night where lots of museums are open all night and there are a lot of art installations around the city.  It was a bit rainy, so it wasn’t ideal to wander around, but we did see one exhibit near Hotel de Ville.  It looked like a giant soap bubble sculpture…very modern?  There was also a vent outside where people (including me) were very amused by putting umbrellas upside down on the vent and watching them float up in the sky. They went really high! And people would cheer and everything. Our umbrella was broken, so when my friends tried it, it wasn’t very impressive.  Anyway, it kind of reminded me of getting a present as a kid and being more excited about the giant box it came in than the present.  There was lots of art around, but people liked watching floating umbrellas.  People were probably tipsy too, so I’m sure that contributed.

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Tourist!

There was an ugly grey swan. I felt badly for it.

There was a guard who would blow a whistle and yell if you stepped on the grass, so everyone was taking pictures from far away.

My zoom lens came in handy! Thanks family!

Stop action!

 Slow shutter speed! Look at me applying photography skills.

Water is pretty...

Tea party anyone?

Sweet doors.

There were art installations in the chateau...this was an interesting one.

I think I was taking a picture because I liked how the light looked on the statues (not just because there were naked babies).

High heels! I thought Nanu would appreciate this. 

My future dinner table.

Some friends with the strange soap bubble sculpture at Nuit Blanche.