Fridays in France: Chapels and Cathedrals

I think my earliest exposure to Paris was through the "Madeline" books and Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." While I adored the former, the latter utterly terrified me. Frollo was a scary bad guy, okay!? That said, the movie imbued the churches of Paris with a certain mystique in my young eyes...a mystique that has only grown and intensified as I've grown up and moved deeper into my love of the Catholic church, architecture, music, and all things Francophile. 

On our Paris trip last May, Mom, Em and I explored plenty of Paris's famous places of worship, and through Em's lens they were captured absolutely beautifully. I can't help but marvel at the insane dedication of time and skill to erect such stunning buildings in an era before cranes and bulldozers and machines...truly a tribute to the glory of God. 

Our first stop, appropriately, was Notre Dame! 

We headed there from the Musée Rodin, and it was my favorite cab ride of the trip. The driver totally humored me in my desire to converse and squeeze in all the French practice I could, and we chatted the entire way about churches and Notre Dame (the university, not the church!). He thought it was hilarious that a school in America had "stolen" the name of the Blessed Virgin. He also took us on a baby detour to do a drive-by of the Eglise de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest church in Paris. I didn't get a picture out the cab window but it was beautiful! We also talked about the 8,000-pipe organ at Notre Dame, and he told me all about how he regularly goes to the organ recitals there. Um, hi, let's be besties. 

The exterior of Notre Dame will never cease to amaze me. I can't help but get chills every time I think about the craftsmanship that went into every gargoyle and saint carved on every little surface. Mind-blowing. My only regret is that we didn't go up the bell tower, but we were pressed for time and their evening Mass was starting shortly after we arrived. 

...it was a bit windy! 

Cannot get over those portal carvings. This is the right-side door, featuring the Virgin Mary's mother and about five bajillion angels and notable historical figures in the Church. 

The doors themselves aren't too shabby either. I love the attention to detail and completely lavish ornamentation in every aspect of the church's design. Our driver also told us to look out for the statue of decapitated St. Denis, who is said to have carried his head six miles to the center of Paris. 

Found him! And his head! 

Like I said, we got there about fifteen minutes before Mass was set to start...it's interesting, because the cathedral remains open during services so there's a lot of ambient tourist noise (I attended Mass on my visit in 2010 when I studied abroad!). We kept our exploring to the perimeter because of the Mass. 

Let's chat about that rose window, shall we? This is the South Rose Window...there's also a North and an East, which is largely hidden by the massive organ. These are so massive that the weight of the stone around it often caused tiny cracks in the glass, so all the rose windows have been heavily restored. The photo doesn't communicate their sheer size.

I also couldn't help but laugh when I saw that the stained-glass panels open. Gothic air-conditioning for the win, I suppose! 

That is blurry me in the background saying a quiet Hail Mary and lighting a candle, my favorite tradition in churches all over the world. I can think of few experiences lovelier than lighting a candle at Notre Dame as the (smaller) organ began to play for Mass. It's nice to know that I've lit candles at two Notre Dames now...the other being, of course, at the Grotto on campus. 

On to a quick snapshot of Sacré-Coeur! We spent one gray and drizzly morning exploring Montmartre on an art history walking tour, which was absolutely fantastic and which I highly recommend. It focused primarily on the Impressionists, who really put Montmartre on the map, but we learned a ton about the area, including its famous "moulins" (windmills) and its significance in Parisian history. One of the most interesting facts? Sacré Coeur was finished in 1914! For some reason I thought it was much older...but it was built to serve a dual religious and political purpose. Politically, it marks the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, and religiously it's meant to subdue those damned (literally) Montmartre hippies. 

For these reasons, it's not beloved by the French, and we peeked inside for all of fifteen minutes while we tried to dry out and plan our next move (which was art shopping at the Place du Tertre, and which I can't recommend highly enough!). My only other comment is that this is the only area in Paris where I ever felt uncomfortably worried about pickpockets...they were out-and-out aggressive both in 2010 and on our visit last May. Just a thought. 

From Sacré-Coeur, we bounce back to Notre Dame de Reims, which I referenced fairly heavily in my champagne post three weeks ago and will gloss over now with minimal commentary, except to say that the façade of the church is being totally restored...

...and is just as spectacularly ornate as Notre Dame de Paris. 

Their windows in the nave are paned with clear or very light stained glass, so the whole space felt so much lighter and airier than Notre Dame de Paris. 

And the Chagall windows were such a striking contrast to the ancient church! Added in 1974, they felt weirdly contemporary compared to the Gothic architecture. Gotta say, I didn't love them...until this happened: 

The sun burst out and everything lit up and I was utterly transfixed. 

And that's all for Reims! 

The award for my very favorite church in all of Paris, though, will always go to Sainte-Chapelle, the stunning little jewel box of a chapel hidden near Notre Dame on Ile de la Cité. It's housed in the interior of the Conciergerie and was built for Louis IX to house Passion relics. Words and pictures truly cannot do its beauty justice...so I'll let pictures do the talking. 

Every medallion in the windows tells the story of a chapter of the Bible, and every window's medallions are a slightly different shape. There are fifteen windows in all, 14 of which tell the story of the Bible and one of which recounts the French king's quest for the Passion relics. 

As if looking up weren't enough, even the floors are elaborately tiled and painted. There's so much to look at that our group in 2010 spent almost an hour in here, and Mom and Em and I did too. While we didn't get lucky with a super sunny day to see it, the beauty of the windows spoke for themselves despite the clouds. 

Heart-stopping. 

I'll end it on that note this week...stay tuned for more Fridays in France next week, or click the "Paris" tag to the right of the top of the post for past editions! 

Fridays in France: a macaron tour of Paris!

Time for another installment of Fridays in France! As you (probably?) know, Mom, Em and I went to Paris for ten days last May, and I, being a shamefully delinquent blogger, am just now getting around to recapping it. There will be a France-themed post every Friday from last week until I finish sharing the stories and photos from our trip! 

Like any basic-bitch female with a penchant for Instagram, I (along with Em and my mom) am obsessed with macarons. The fixation far predates their recent trendiness, however; I've been a fan since Sofia Coppola's gorgeous "Marie Antoinette" hit theaters in 2006, featuring heaps of the pastel treat scattered all over what felt like every set. Needless to say, our time in Paris last May was macaron-heavy! 

In my post about where we ate in Paris, I mentioned that we hit up Ladurée on the Rue Bonaparte, of course. Ladurée is arguably the most internationally-known producer of macarons, along with gorgeous pastries and treats to make one's head spin, and they did all the confectionery and pâtisserie work for the Coppola film. I mean, look at this insanity: 

Heaps and piles of macarons, and the prettiest pastries, at Ladurée! I couldn't get enough of the beautiful jewel box of a café...the pretty mint-green walls, the silver-gilt everywhere, and the classic, stereotypically French awnings and window boxes. What a dreamy setting! 

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Simply visiting a macaron shop, however, was the tip of the iceberg. We also signed up for a macaron- and chocolate-making tour at famous pâtisserie Gerard Mulot through a tour company called Meeting the French! We spent a morning of our trip learning way more than I ever thought I'd know about macarons and artisanal chocolate...and I loved every minute of it. 

Gerard Mulot in Saint-Germain des Prés is one of the most famous macaron shops in Paris, right up there with Pierre Herme and Ladurée, and they offer small-group tours every morning. We robed up in sanitary booties, aprons and hair nets and headed into the hot, close, crowded back kitchens, where we met legendary chef Patrick Leclercq. Chef Patrick has been Gerard Mulot's chief macaron-maker for 35 years, and is personally responsible for producing over 10,000 macarons in 18 different flavors every week. 

When we walked back, Chef Patrick and his sous-chefs were piping filling into the middle of classic almond macarons. He quickly switched gears, though, to mix up a batch of framboise (raspberry) while we looked on! 

A macaron is basically a sweet and flaky almond cookie sandwich with jam, ganache or buttercream filling. Chef Patrick explained to us that there are actually two different styles of macaron-making: the Italian method and the French. The vast majority of macarons are made in the Italian style, which uses hot sugar syrup to make the batter more durable. Chef Patrick, naturellement, scorns the Italian method and is all about the more complex, finicky French method, which uses room-temperature sugar along with a blend of dried, pasteurized and fresh egg whites. He also mixes each individual batch by hand, submerging his arm up to the elbow in the batter, because he has the ability to tell when each batch is perfectly mixed solely by its texture. Impressive! 

The macaron batter was then poured into the macaron machine. Due to the volume of macarons produced every day, the machine is necessary to keep production flowing. It was hilarious and wonderful to witness how idealistically Chef Patrick talked (all in French, of course!) about wishing he could hand-mold each individual macaron! I enjoyed being able to understand him directly, as our tour guide definitely had to stick to the basics in translating. Even I lost a lot in translation, though...there wasn't a unit on macaronage or French culinary terms in my ten years of study! 

After being plopped out onto parchment-lined sheets, the macarons rest for ten minutes before being rotated into the ovens, and then quickly out again! Just look at that...only a fraction of the total production for the day, and so delicious! Per Chef Patrick, the cooling racks are constantly filled, sorted by flavor to prevent any filling mix-ups! 

Once they're cooled enough, it's time to fill them! We saw two flavors...almond, which is filled with almond paste...

...and fresh-out-of-the-oven framboise, with a delish raspberry jam center. We got to taste-test the raspberry, and it was absolutely out of this world to taste a macaron that had been made five minutes ago. The texture wasn't brittle like many macarons I've had, but almost cakey and so incredibly light. It truly melted in my mouth. 

Our next stop was the chocolate kitchen, where Gerard Mulot's sexy head chocolatier, Johan Giacchetti, showed us how Mulot chocolates are produced! 

We tasted two kinds of chocolate: a salted-caramel-filled chocolate and a classic poured "wafer" style chocolate. Above, Johan filled the molds for the filled chocolates with the thinnest layer of rich, dark chocolate ganache. The molds are then left to harden, filled, and topped...

...then they're decorated with all kinds of beautiful chocolate art! Johan showed us edible logo decals, delicate sugar-painting, and even tiny, perfect appliqués of flowers or hearts that get pressed onto the chocolates. Look at how perfect the finished product is! 

To demonstrate poured chocolate, which is a much more time-consuming process that uses sheet molds and requires overnight setting, Johan did possibly the most ridiculously delicious thing ever: 

Those are macarons. Being covered. IN CHOCOLATE GANACHE. Excuse me while I die, s'il vous plaît. We also got a look at some of Johan's chocolate artistry, which earned him gold at the 2014 Jean-Claude Léchaudé chocolatier exhibition. His specialty? Chocolate sculptures based on bandes-déssinées, or, en Anglais, cartoons. Look at this cutie guy, for an example: 

100% chocolate. You can see more of his amazing work here. I was completely overawed (both by his adorableness and mad, mad skills), and fascinated to hear that he wanted to compete in the "Grand Prix of Chocolate" next spring! 

(The photo above, obviously, is Emily's work. I love the depth her lens imparts! 

Having tasted macarons and chocolates, we loaded up on a few flavors we had to try, including salted caramel, cherry almond, and...lily of the valley? We were in France over their Labor Day (Fête du Travail), which is celebrated by giving lilies of the valley to loved ones, much like a Valentine. There were sprigs of it in every buttonhole and people selling stalks on so many corners!

Turns out that macaron-makers commemorate the day by making lily-flavored macarons (the green-and-white, muguet, above!) I had to try one...as soon as we got to the Luxembourg Gardens and parked ourselves with sandwiches and wine for a lunch al fresco! 

Turns out I was the only fan of the unorthodox flavor. Mom's favorite was lemon, while Em preferred the much more classic pistachio (again, that depth of field kills me): 

For those with upcoming trips to Paris planned (LUCKY!), I highly, highly recommend the "Meeting the French" tours. For just 22€, we had such a wonderful, behind-the-scenes look at production of true French pastry and chocolate. Both Chef Patrick and Johan were incredibly friendly and proud to show off their craft, and I feel like I gained such an appreciation for what an art form each truly had perfected! 

Chef Patrick was adamant that Mulot macarons are intended to be eaten the day they're purchased, but had no such qualms about Ladurée...so we stocked up on our visit to Rue Bonaparte! I saved my box and keep bracelets in it now...along with the darling pagoda-box I splurged on at Charles de Gaulle before we left! What a luxurious way to fly, munching macarons on and off the whole way home! 

To check out other posts about Paris, click on the tag to the right...it will take you to everything I've written so far! Thanks for tuning into the second installment of Fridays in France, and check back next week for more of our time in the City of Light! 

Fridays in France: Thanks, Champagne!

Hey, remember once upon a time when I went to Paris?! Remember how I said I wanted to blog all about it and finally finish and wrap it up? Hey, me too!

I feel like such a schlump not officially committing the amazingness that was our Paris trip to record here, so I’m really going to focus on and try to do that. That said, I went to Paris in May and plenty has happened since then that’s also worth writing about, so in favor of not totally flooding my blog with posts, I’m going to have “Fridays in France” every week from now until I’m all Paris’d out. I previously covered two of our three day trips, to Versailles (and its gorgeous gardens) and Giverny, home of Monet’s famous gardens, as well as useful tips and notes on where we shopped and ate while there.

To wrap up our trip with a bang (or a bubble? Ha!), we took a full-day tasting trip to Champagne, about an hour and a half outside of Paris, and I cannot recommend the experience highly enough. This was easily the highlight of our trip, and was something we debated doing for several weeks before we bit the bullet and booked it. It was one of our most expensive tours/activities, but it was honestly worth every euro and then some.

We booked our tour with O Chateau through Viator, and were picked up right from our apartment by beautiful Pierre, a former winemaker with a degree in vinology from UC-San Diego. We quickly rounded up another five passengers to complete our small-group tour, and set off for Reims, the heart of the Champagne region.

A quick note before we proceed: all the outstandingly good photos are by Emily, and all the blurry/unfocused/poorly-composed/tipsy-looking ones are mine!! 

Reims is not only the birthplace of champagne, but also a major player in French history as the traditional site of coronations since Clovis in 496. Joan of Arc famously crowned Charles VII in the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Reims in 1429, and the city was the site of German surrender to Allied forces on May 7, 1945.

We arrived early enough to visit the beautiful Cathedral  and explore for a bit before heading out to champagne houses. I loved the juxtaposition of the soaring gothic cathedral with the more modern Chagall stained glass.

From the Cathedral, we took a short trip to Taittinger, the first of the three champagne houses we’d be visiting. Taittinger is one of the biggest champagne producers in the region, and also one of the oldest! The Taittinger property was a great first stop, since it was a super-comprehensive tour offering a peek into the traditional production method for champagne. We started by heading through these fancy doors...and down over 300 feet underground to the Taittinger champagne caves! 

Champagne was accidentally invented by French monks in the 1500s, and production methods have remained largely unchanged since that time. The monks bottled their wine before fermentation ended, resulting in sparkles. The methode champenoise evolved about a hundred years later (thanks Dom Perignon!), where  a "secondary fermentation" in the bottle with the addition of sugar created the carbonation. There are incredibly technical aspects to the production of champagne, including the temperature at which wine is stored during the fermentation process. The tunnels under the monks' abbey at Reims proved perfect: the chalk walls dating back to Gallo-Roman times create the ideal amount of moisture and maintain a consistent temperature of  around 53 degrees. 

Once bottled, champagne has to secondary-ferment for a minimum of 1.5 years, often much longer, and further undergo the process of remouage, or "riddling." The A-frame racks seen above and below are designed to be placed at an adjustable angle, which grows wider over time as the champagne ferments. During remouage, a vintner rotates every bottle a precise quarter-turn one way and eighth-turn the other, giving them a small shake to loosen sediment and guide it to the neck of the bottle. After fermentation, the sediment is removed and the extra space is refilled with yeast and a little sugar prior to corkage, giving champagne the crystal-clarity it's known for. 

Once riddled and corked, champagne rests in the caves until it's perfectly aged and ready for shipment. While it was impressive enough to see a stack like this...

...the true scale of the production quickly became evident when we were told that each production cave held over 3,000 finished bottles. Um, HI. And there were SO many caves! 

Having frolicked with the monks in the caves and tunnels for about an hour, we ascended back to the tasting salon for our first (of many) glasses of champagne for the day! Seeing dozens of glasses lined up and waiting for us made my boozy little heart skip a beat. 

We sampled the "Brut Vintage" from 2010, a single-year bottling. Most champagnes are a blend of several years' grapes and wines to create a consistent and balanced profile...it's only in an exceptional crop or growing year that a single year is kept separate. The champagne was great, although after our next six tastings in hindsight it seemed sweet. 

Santé, Mom and Mem! 

From Taittinger, we headed deeper into the heart of Champagne to Verzy, home of our second stop! Pierre, our guide, was incredibly informative and filled us in on the history of the region as he drove, even making a pit stop so we could experience a terroir (champagne plot) for ourselves. The day couldn't have been lovelier...

Each terroir is approximately the size of my freshman dorm room (i.e. TINY), and the entire region is patchworked together due to the laws of inheritance for plots. Champagne plots are passed down through families, and as such, most have been split multiple times to go to multiple children, etcetera. The result is that many families don't have contiguous plots anymore...instead, they're scattered all over the place. The plot we stopped at was owned by Maison Penet, our second destination, and was marked out by their distinctive scrolled French cross: 

Little baby grapes (Clearly I took this photo, ignore the awful focus)!! Pierre told us that champagne grapes are typically a combination of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, and the grapes are harvested 100 days after the vines first flower. For Maison Penet, that job requires 800 workers going for over three weeks. There are only three vines per plant for champagne grapes, and the vines stay super tiny (all the vines in these pictures are mature vines). 

After getting our education in the fields, we headed to the Penet champagne house, which also happens to be the Penet family's beautiful 250-year-old home! 

While the crux of the tour was similar in content to Taittinger, Maison Penet is a boutique champagne producer, putting out an infinitesimal number of bottles compared to Taittinger. They also pride themselves on producing only brut and extra-brut champagne, which means little to no sugar is added. This allows the blend of each vintage to truly shine, according to the Penets! 

After our tour, we were treated to an absolutely gorgeous three-course lunch in the Penet family's home, hosted by Martine Penet. She and her husband Alexandre both grew up in champagne-producing families, and are raising their 12- and 10-year old daughters to take over the 300-year old Penet champagne house! She told me their 12-year old can already taste and discuss vintages--I'm so jealous. 

We were served a wide variety of food...a carrot salad, various crackers and breads, pâté and assorted crudités, and a delicious pork. We chased it all with insanely good French cheese...saboir and Chaource, a pungent one Martine's husband had just brought home from the Swiss Alps. I was lucky enough to be seated next to her, and throughout the lunch, we conversed entirely in French...what a pleasure and thrill to be able to do so! She told me all about her daughters, the family's recent roof replacement, and of course plenty about life in a champagne family. I was enchanted. 

We tasted three champagnes...their Grand Cru Extra Brut (above), the Penet Chardonnet, a delightful floral/very light champagne, and their Blanc de Blancs, a vintage that's so good that every bottle is numbered and labeled with an engraved pewter plate. Martine consistently emphasized that champagne shouldn't be a special-occasion beverage only, and pairs marvelously with almost everything. After our lunch, I was completely sold...and Mom bought a case of Penet champagne to have shipped home!! 

At this point, with a healthy buzz and full stomachs, we were perfectly primed for our third stop at Maison Lelarge Pugeot, an all-organic "campagne biologique." Smaller even than Maison Penet, Lelarge Pugeot uses all bio-friendly, pesticide-free farming techniques and is among the scant 2% of French wine producers to claim that. The operation was lovely, as was our walk through beautiful Vrigny to reach their fields and bottling facility. 

Clearly at this point we were amused by plenty...including discovering a wine barrel full of first-fermentation champagne that we could literally have stuck Mom in! 

I also enjoyed seeing the sediment we had learned about at Taittinger up close. 

Lelarge Pugeot differed from Taittinger and Penet in that all production was done with heavy reliance on technology, rather than hand-riddling and bottling. Further, champagne was aged in barrels rather than bottles for a smoother, rounder flavor. I found the difference in approaches interesting. 

How picturesque is Vrigny? It put me in mind of the first scene in "Beauty and the Beast," a true "little town, it's a quiet village" type scenario. So charmant! 

It also didn't hurt that we had an utterly adorable little tagalong companion, the Lelarge vineyard dog! She was such a sweetie pie and stuck close through the entire tour. 

It was so incredible to see acres upon acres of beautiful grapevines, knowing the history and prestige behind each plot of land. Similar to the Penets, the Lelarge family has been in the champagne business for ages. According to their website, the 8th generation just started working for the family business! Sign me up, please. 

After three more delicious tastings at Lelarge, we piled back into our van with beautiful Pierre and tucked in for the 1.5 hour drive back to Paris. It felt like my insides had turned to champagne...we must have pounded through over a bottle and a half apiece in the course of the day's tastings! I learned so much, and I'm afraid it's turned me into a total champagne snob.

We've been drinking our Penet champagnes all fall, and are saving our two engraved bottles of Blanc de Blancs for Jonathan's graduation...tres bien, n'est-ce pas??

Until next Friday, my loves! 

A fountain show at Versailles!

Yesterday we left off after touring four separate parts of the gorgeous palace of Versailles: the main palace, Le Domaine de Marie Antoinette, the Petit Trianon, and the Grand Trianon. Our tour, however, was far from over. Versailles boasts over 800 hectares of gardens, including 200,000 trees, 210,000 flowers planted annually, a man-made lake and river, an orangery that's relocated outside every spring and inside every fall, and over 50 functional water fountains.

Our ticket for the day included admission to the famous "Grandes Eaux," the staging of the fountain show that runs every spring and summer. 

The gardens are incredibly formal and laid out in a way that forms "outdoor rooms" known as "bosquets," intended to allow the sensation of existing in a sort of escapist maze. Anne-Sophie, our wonderful guide for the day, made sure we saw each of the stunning, unique bosquets and their fountains over the several hours we spent in the gardens! First, however, we took a quick break at the Grand Canal to admire the sweeping views. 

Emily caught this photo of the rowers on the canal...

...and I caught this photo of her in the act. Love. 

Anne-Sophie was also kind enough to take our first official Schwegwomen photo of the trip!!

I also loved getting to see how massive the palace was from down below in the gardens: 

Unbelievable, right? No wonder the concept of the Bourbons' absolute power lasted unchallenged through so much, for so long. 

Designed meticulously by André Le Nôtre, the famed landscape designer, every view in the gardens of Versailles was scrupulously engineered and designed very specifically to create vignettes and visuals intended to delight the eye. Anne-Sophie was incredible at pointing out the intention behind every framing, whether it was with plants, arbors, sculptures, or water. See?

And the fountains! Due to poor water supply, the fountains at Versailles can't run year-round. According to Wikipedia, "In 1672, Jean-Baptiste Colbert devised a system by which the fountaineers in the garden would signal each other with whistles upon the approach of the king indicating that their fountain needed to be turned on. Once the king passed a fountain in play, it would be turned off and the fountaineer would signal that the next fountain could be turned on." How ingenious! I would like a personal fountain-whistler someday, please...

Every fountain is different, and I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite. The Fountain of Enceladus shows a giant being dramatically buried beneath boulders...

...while the Salle de Bal is designed to resemble a rushing mountainside stream. In the Bourbons' time, elaborate concerts would be staged in this bosquet, with musicians perched among and playing over the sound of the rushing water. Can't imagine that would have been good for the instruments!

I was also partial to the Colonnade Grove, 32 perfect arches with individual fountains surrounded by perfect topiaries and statues. 

I do think my favorite, however, was the Mirror Fountain. While all the fountains had beautiful symphonic music piped in the background, the Mirror Fountain was actually synced up to perform a Bellagio-esque show along with the music. 

Perfect setting for a Schweg sister pic! Meems is pretty gorgeous, huh?

I tried to take a little video, but ended up wanting to just watch them instead. We lingered there for close to 15 minutes...an eternity when you consider the other 49 fountains we could be admiring!

I also loved the Grotto of Apollo, the Bacchus fountain featuring drunk baby cupids, and the garden's famous centerpiece of Apollo, the Sun God (how fitting) emerging from the water driving his chariot. It was near impossible to get a good picture of that guy, however, with the prevalence of selfie sticks...UGH! Bane of my existence right there. 

Having enjoyed the entirety of the fountain show, we wandered slowly back to the palace's exit, admiring sculptures: 

Enjoying the views: 

And stopping to check out the famous Orangerie, one of the classic examples of a truly manicured, regimented formal French garden. Can you even get over the amount of attention these sculptural hedges have to require? It was absolutely staggering to see the size of this garden alone...the photo truly doesn't do it justice. 

Time to bid Anne-Sophie goodbye and head back to Paris! Until next time, Versailles...merci millefois for un journée incroyable. Thanks a million for an incredible day!

Versailles, you guys.

Versailles, for me, is akin to the Magic Kingdom. There's a princess, a bit of a fairy tale, and a hell of a lot of gold and chandeliers. My inner history nerd has always found the Bourbons completely fascinating, and getting to make a return trip to their fabled playground and eventual gilded prison was, for me, one of the highlights of our trip! 

We scheduled Versailles for the Sunday after our Friday arrival, which worked out perfectly to escape the worst of the jet lag. An easy 45 minute train ride from central Paris, we got to sleep in a bit too before our 10am tour! I would ALSO like to point out that that Sunday was the day that Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge graced the front cover of every newspaper ever, including this one, in French, bien sûr: 

Damn right, I took a picture. And with that, let's leave the English royals behind and return to the French ones! 

The sheer size and breadth of Versailles is opulent and intimidating on a level completely foreign to Americans. When one considers it was palace, political statement, and center of power all at the same time, it's easy to understand how significant it was in French history. Built from a humble hunting lodge by Louis XIV, the "Sun King," it embodies everything he wanted the Bourbon dynasty to stand for: wealth, power, beauty, security, and luxury. Even the gates were gilded. 

As a huge tourist attraction, the main palace itself was packed for the morning portion of our tour. I have to confess, the pushy tourists did detract a bit from the experience for me, but getting to soak up these gorgeous sights did plenty to distract, including the Chapelle Royale...

...the elaborate ceilings and crystal chandeliers in every room...

...views of the palace that seemed to go on forever...

...and my personal favorite, Marie Antoinette's floral explosion of a royal bedchamber. 

Emily got into quite the staring contest with Louis XV while relaxing in there, by the way. (I think he won.)

It wouldn't be a Versailles trip without a leisurely wander through the famous Hall of Mirrors. Emily's stunning camera work really highlights the visual impact of the chandeliers lining the hall...imagine them all lit up and reflected in windows and mirrors on both sides! How intimidating. 

My fail of a photo, on the other hand, does at least give an idea of the kind of crowds we were dealing with. Insane, right? 

I did find a clear bit of mirror to take the ultimate selfie in though. Millennial vanity for the win!

After a quick lunch break down in the village of Versailles, we rendezvoused with our small tour group (and our OUTSTANDING guide, Anne-Sophie!!) for visits to the three smaller properties on the grounds of Versailles...Le Hameau de la Reine, the Petit Trianon, and the Grand Trianon! I was extra-excited for these tours, as we had skipped them back on my 2010 visit...just look at the moderate crazy radiating from my eyes, below. Steer clear of the nerd, or she'll start spouting obscure facts about 18th-century monarchs at you!! Even more exciting, though, was seeing the sun break through the clouds right in time to explore the expansive gardens and acres of wild space on the palace grounds. 

Le Hameau de la Reine, or "Marie Antoinette's Hamlet," is a small, fake farm that Louis XVI had constructed for Marie as an escape from the constriction of formal palace life. She used to go hang out there with all her wealthy princess and duchess friends, pretending to be a peasant while drinking fresh milk out of priceless china in buildings that were painted to look artificially aged. I love the detachment and excess of it all. The village itself looked postcard-pretty after the rain. 

There was even a cow! And chickens, and goats, and geese, and fish...this place was a serious working farm. It even has its own tiny winery, owned by the Coppolas. Because, of course. 

Like the doomed queen herself, however, we soon tired of pastoral play and headed for the Petit Trianon, the smaller of the two outlying palaces at Versailles. Louis XVI also gifted this to Marie Antoinette after the birth of their first daughter. Smaller and much simpler than the main palace, it offered her a private retreat where she could entertain only her closest friends, and where courtiers, including her husband, could only enter by her express invitation. 

The iconic portrait by Elisabeth Marie Vigée-LeBrun hangs there...I died and went to heaven, figuratively, upon viewing it in person!

I also fell in love with her gorgeous music salon. 

The Grand Trianon, on the other hand, is a long, snaking Italianate confection of pink marble that was used for more formal court escapes from the main palace. Just take a look at this! I even dressed to match it, haha. 

As much as I loved Marie Antoinette's music room at the Petit Trianon, I guess I could settle for this heavenly yellow salon...it IS my favorite color, after all. 

After Anne-Sophie posed the question, we all agreed that we preferred the Petit Trianon to the Grand Trianon, though. With that, we departed the outlying buildings to head back to the gardens for what was, in my opinion, the highlight of the day...the fountain show! This post is getting to be a beast, though, so we'll save that for later. As the French say, à demain, mes amis...see you tomorrow, friends!