Versailles on St Patricks Day

Tuesday March 17, 2009
Well today we went to the Chateau at Versailles. Wowza, can you say over the top? So this is where it all went down. Basically Louis XIII used it as a hunting lodge and his court was held in Paris but then his son Louis XIV decided that he needed an escape from Paris so he established his court there in lavish splendor of course. Its pretty crazy how big it is. There is no way they used all those rooms. They were all wonderfully decorated though! They all had gorgeous fabrics on the walls which often matched the furniture. The furniture is definitely the style that you find in antique shops on Main St. except the upholstery was much richer. The beds are pretty epic with huge canopies and stuff- sweet. Their was also this huge globe (like 2 meter diameter) and it was so cool cause there was an astrological cover over the globe of the earth. Apparently it is still accurate!
We headed out onto the grounds after a couple hours in the palace. The grounds are amazing; they go on for miles, really as far as the eye can see. The maps are also very confusing so we definitely got lost a couple times. So we headed to the Petit Trianon which is where the queen, Marie Antoinette built herself a house so she could escape from all the trials of the royal court. Then we walked down the path to the Grand Trianon where the king built a house for himself to escape the stresses of royal court life. He built this one because the Petit Trianon was just too small for him. Nearby here Marie Antoinette also built a ‘Summer House’ which she used to hang out with close friends in the evenings where they would chat and play parlor games. Now why she couldn’t do that in the palace or her Petit Trianon I don’t know but hey, she’s a crazy queen who understands her? Then we walked all the way back to the Queen’s Hamlet at the end of the park. We didn’t know where the entrance was so we ended up not going in but we still saw it. Mom says she remembers this from when she came to France by herself when she was 15. This is where the queen basically built her own little country village for play. She wanted to experience country life but didn’t want to put herself out there with the real poor and starving that were all around her of course. So there was a chicken coop, dairy, etc. which all produced food that was served at the Queen’s table. She would apparently wear a plain cotton dress and straw hat and while she didn’t do any work of course she did supervise. So while she spent time in her play village the revolution was rising outside.
We were exhausted by this point (these are not close walks) so we sat down by the grand canal and appreciated the beautiful day and the sparkle on the water. You can also rent boats here and row all down the canal. I got some ice cream and we walked back to the chateau then the train station to head home. We got home and relaxed before heading out for St Patty’s Day!!!!
This was the most disgraceful St. Patricks Day ever. We went to an Irish bar that we had previously scouted out and there was not a single person inside other than the bartender. Ummmm what? So we decided it was better to be at a happening place that isn’t Irsh than a dead place that is. So we sat down at a bar with a nice view of Sacre Coeur. They did not have any Irish whiskey (crazy!) only Scotch which I deemed inappropriate. So we both had apple cider, yes I know its not very spirited but they didn’t have green beer either. When I get back to Canada I have decided I will make up for things by having a “Birthday/ St Patrick’s/ Coming Home “ party. The server was funny though and there was a huge group of real Irish people sitting next to us. We chatted with them- I love the spirit. Turns out the 10 or so of them are from all over Ireland (Killarney, Cork, Dublin) and met up in Paris for their friends 50th birthday. Yep it was on St Patricks Day and yep his name was Patrick! I told them I was heading to Ireland in a couple weeks and they seemed very pleased about that! So we paid the bar tab (9€) which was definitely not appropriate for St Patricks day but we didn’t want to have hangovers so we definitely did not go all out. Don’t worry guys I will make up for it about a million times in Ireland. So we walked back home and went to bed!
PS I saw a guy at Versailles wearing a Pemberton Fest T-shirt it was awesome!!

EMBLEM OF THE DAY:
Chatting with real Irish on St Patricks Day. Also, seeing Marie Antoinette’s play village because it is just so ridiculous.