Passport to Paris (Day 2)

I know I said I would update about my Eurotrip daily, but that plan has turned to dust since I have been extremely busy and tired with dance training the entire week. Apologies for that, but I doubt anyone actually religiously follows this little thing I call a blog, so writing at my own pace is hopefully alright.

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Paris, France

(Day 2)

My family spent the following morning in the wonderful place I have wanted to go to ever since I learned about it in high school -- Versailles! All I knew about the wonderful place is that it was home to the infamous King Louis XVI and his glamorous wife, Marie Antoinette, and that it is supposed to be the grandest royal estate ever known to mankind. I actually do not know if I am making up the latter part, but everything I saw with my own eyes may be just that. 

Looking at the numerous function rooms, bedrooms, giant halls and holding rooms, the two questions that lingered in my mind were, 1) How did they get so much gold into that place and, 2) Where are the bathrooms??? 

Italian frescoes adorned the ceilings of various rooms

In the hall of mirrors

Marie Antoinette's bedroom 

The famous Luxembourg Gardens

'Twas a gloomy, cold day in Versailles that day, but the gilded gates and vast area of land are enough to command respect.

Real, fresh French crepes from a local outdoor market

Modernist art

Georges Pompidou Museum. Back in Paris, we visited a museum filled with modern art and various other sections that held functions for every kind of art form, be it dance, music, visual art, or literature. My family only visited the visual art sections and were astounded by the different types of art forms and figures that we met along our way. The museum's facade is beautiful on its own, making the exteriors look as though the museum had been built to look inside-out, with pipes making up the outer part of the building.

L'Entrecote de Paris. We ended our hectic day with an amazing, filling dinner of the traditional steak and pommes frites (French fries), topped off with French wine from the wine country. I cannot even begin to describe exactly how much wine I had throughout the entire trip, which I believe contributed bits to my premeditated weight gain, but which also made my French dining experience truly worthwhile.

Paris, France

(Day 2)