Versailles

We spent the day walking around Versailles (a short 45 minute train ride outside of Paris) and visiting the Chateau de Versailles. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. 
The estate is huge and there is no way you could see everything in a day, so we prioritized and decided to first take a walk around the gardens while the sun was shining and then head over to see Marie Antoinette's escape home. She build her "peasant home" with the idea of escaping the royal parties that often crowded the palace grounds. It was  a beautiful provincial home with a stream running through it filled with fish and a farm with the biggest pig I've ever seen in my life. We then continued our tour through the gardens and made our way back up to the palace to see what it's really like to live like a king. What an extravagant and majestic palace it was! It was the most spectacular and lavish thing I have ever seen in real life. Unfortunately my camera was out of batteries so I had to leave it at home for this trip, but dad took a few so I'll upload those as soon as I can. 
We finished our visit with dinner at the local creperie (I had the egg, cheese and spinach crepe and nibbles of their nutella crepe - SO yummy!). We're now back home and about to go to bed. We fly out to Prague tomorrow. If I don't get internet access there, I will keep my entries in my journal and update the blog when we get back next weekend. 
Love you all! xox
Alexis