7.6.14 Let Them Eat Cake

Fun fact: Marie Antoinette never actually said, "Let them eat cake." There's no living proof that she ever uttered such words, but still, I think it's a pretty iconic attribution to the French Revolution and all its fabulousness. Doesn't do the Queen much justice though, as I have highly adored her ever since learning about her in my 7th grade history textbook and watching the Sophia Coppola movie with Kristen Dunst. I firmly believe she was much more intelligent than how history depicts her.

We woke up bright and early to eat some continental breakfast at the hotel, and then headed back on the tour bus to make our way to the Palace of Versailles! I was internally screaming in excitement the whole time. Unfortunately, it did rain even harder than the previous day, but I had already bought an awesome new dress and had planned my outfit for weeks so that wasn't changing. 

Got to the palace in the morning. The street vendors were already prepared with umbrellas, postcards, Eiffel towers, and other trinkets to sell. We stood in line (sorry, the queue) in front of the palace for about 2 hours, but apparently this process was already sped up since our tour guide had purchased the entrance tickets for us beforehand. No matters, 'twas a bonding experience because we got to meet Patrick and his friend, two Berkeley students who were also studying at Sussex!

 

 

Finally, entrance into the Palace! I do apologize to anyone I was standing next to because of my constant interjections of, "Omigod that scenery was in the Marie Antoinette movie!" Ugh. Everything was gorgeous and just like the depictions in the Vogue magazine photos. Not going to lie though, it wasn't picture perfect, just because they PACKED all the tourists in like cattle and we all kind of just shuffled along from room to room. Nonetheless, I did sneak in some good pictures and even had time to buy some perfume for my mom and my grandma! At the end of the walk, of course there was a macaron store as well as a gift shop. I've had this strange admiration for Napoleon since AP World History so I freaked out a bit. :) 

Said goodbye to Versailles and headed to Montmartre, a hill in the north of Paris, mostly known for the Basilica of the Sacre Couer. We drove by the Moulin Rouge! Fabulous.

Crystal, Stephanie, and I had a mini photoshoot at the merry-go-round that is apparently the actual one from the French movie, Amelie. Rain still wasn't fun but we made it work haha.

The three of us split from the group to get to the top of the hill to the basilica (paid a euro for the elevator instead of the bajillion steps). I felt so bad for entering such a sacred institution when I was soaking wet from the rain, but inside it was so peaceful and lovely. We kneeled and sat there for a while, and I said a prayer for my family; especially my grandma, who I know would have loved to be where I was at the time. 

Afterwards, we strolled the cute little markets outside to find an umbrella for Stephanie lol. Had to rush back to our tour bus so we quickly got some (French?) hot dogs, which had a baguette instead of a bun and of course was glazed in cheese. The rest of the day was dedicated to traveling, which kinda sucked (driving 4 hours to the French border, going through customs, another 1.5 hours on a ferry, maybe 2-3 hours on the England border to Sussex, then a 15-minute walk to our dorms from where they dropped us off at 1 in the morning.) But I was happy. :) Paris is always a good idea.