Day 16. July 17. Paris

We took a train to Versailles for a guided tour. We ended up waiting for our tour guide for a half hour and it was cold. Here is a little precursor to this day. We took some pictures and I’m well aware of the fact that I look terrible. I was not in a good mood, I didn’t look good, and it was cold. I’m really trying to look happy in the pictures but I wasn’t. The pictures are funny simply because they are so terrible.
Anyway, he finally showed up and the first thing I could see was a braided rat tail tucked into his shirt. He made me laugh the whole time. Most of the time I couldn’t even understand what he was saying but I got a few key phrases from him through the tour such as; “You guys wait here and then come in two minutes. I’ll get there before you because (while he’s running away) I’m running.” It doesn’t seem funny but if you could hear the variation of tones as he spoke you would be laughing too. You can visit Ali’s blog to see the video. He was a good time though. As we toured all of the rooms in Versailles it was hard to take in. All of the rooms are so elaborate and detailed. It was all kind of overwhelming. So we headed out to the gardens and walked down to a part of where you can get lunch. The gardens are ridiculously huge. The estate used to be 19,000 acres and now is only 7,000 acres(so pretty small). The story behind Versailles is Louis XIII started coming to Versailles and using it as a hunting lodge in 1624. It continued down the line until in 1682 Louis XIV decided he wanted to rule from Versailles rather than Paris. Another reason why he built it was because he was jealous of places like Fontainebleau and Vaux(which we visit tomorrow). Anyway, he built this extremely huge place and living a lavish life while the rest of the country is suffering. While Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette ruled they were so ignorant. They didn’t realize that people where starving; hence them being beheaded. I guess while they were still with head Marie Antoinette missed her home and countryside so much that he had a huge part of the grounds built as a little village for her to visit every day. It was all over the top. Then we made our way back to Paris and got some amazing pastries! Mm so good!