My Happiest Day in Paris!

 The Palace of Versailles!

So technically, my happiest day (so far!) was in Versailles, not Paris. Four of us headed on the RER train to the Palace of Versailles, which is just on the outskirts of Paris. We arrived in the mid afternoon, and were immediately stunned by the building because of both its size and glimmering gold color. Even though the clouds don't look it, the weather was actually very very warm this day. I ended up taking off my jacket and wishing I had worn a tank top. Again, we got in for free because we are students! Yay!

 Some detailing of the fence. The gold color just shone so bright, and gave the building such a warm and inviting feeling, as well as a feeling of royalty and class.

 This is the "front" of the building. I tried to take a panorama inside of this front courtyard but it was just too hard. It ended up looking way too flat. Anyway, we really didn't have much prior knowledge of Versailles and so we just explored and walked around with no one specific destination. We entered through a side door and began to walk through all of the rooms.

A view out back to one small portion of a garden. The tour bus kind of ruined this picture, but I was getting impatient and didn't want to wait for it to leave again.

So I added this photo just for some perspective. The GIANT (I mean MASSIVE) building that I am in is on the very very right of this model (It's so small on the model that I don't think you can even really see it). Everything to the left is the gardens on the property. I looked it up, and the property is just about 26 square miles!!! When we peered out the back windows, we could see the pond stretching for so long. There were boats on the water and rows and rows of flowers and trees. The garden was unreal. We actually didn't end up going into the gardens in the day time (I will explain below why), but we had views of them from all the many rooms inside Versailles. So breathtaking! I know that they rent bikes here so when I go back I want to rent a bike and explore the entire property in the day time, and maybe bring a picnic lunch, as well.

There was so much art inside!

Everything here is golden.

 A pretty piece of ceiling art. Everything here was pretty overwhelming, and all of the rooms started to blend together because everything was so ornately decorated. There was never a time where I wasn't completely amazed by the arcitecture and decor.

 A royal bedroom.

This was the side of a fireplace in the house. The golden man was actually about three feet tall. Not sure why, but I really liked him!

The famous hall of mirrors. You can see in this picture just how packed it was the day we went.The fountains are shutting off soon and so I think everyone has probably been visiting Versailles these last few weekends of the season. I tried in most of my other photos to stretch my long arms above the crowd to get pictures, but it was just too hard to do in here. This room has so much light and an amazing energy. I can only imagine how gorgeous it would be as the sun sets and the pink and orange light shines into the room and bounces off all of the mirrors and glass chandeliers.

Just another room with larger than life paintings and so many sculptures.

A pretty view into the courtyard!

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Evening

Okay, this is where all of my excitement is coming from. After we exited the building into the backyard, we saw that they were selling tickets for "The Fountains Night Show." They put on this show from late July until September, and only on Saturday nights. It must have been fate that we came on this day and had the opportunity to attend this event. We asked what the show was exactly, and our basic understanding, at first, was that there was going to be fireworks, music, and some fountains. We expected a sit-down event and to leave after 45 minutes. We were confused as the lady explained that we would be walking around the garden at the event. Still, it seemed like it could be a cool thing to do and so we all paid the 20 euro for our ticket to save a spot! We decided that since we would be seeing the gardens that night, that we wouldn't pay to go into the gardens in the day. Instead, we went out to explore the town of Versailles.

This is when my camera died, sadly. I am so bummed, especially now after knowing what happened that night, that I couldn't take pictures. Luckily, my friends sent me a lot of theirs so I can share some memories with you all! In the little town of Versailles, we spent a lot of time walking around a little flea market that had bags, clothes, and so many little trinkets. We began to get hungry and tired, and so we found a restaurant that was open and grabbed a table out on the street. Since it was only 4:45 (we didn't really have lunch), we could only find a few restaurants that were open for dinner! Parisians eat so late, and we definitely stood out as tourists coming to dinner so early.  This is Nina and I with our food! I got one of the only vegetarian things on the menu, a pizza with peppers, mushroom, and cheese. It was actually really good. I know i could probably ask for certain dishes from the menu to be made without meat, but since I know so little French, I am still a little scared to do that! haha.

We decided that since we has about 4 hours to kill, we would try out very best to be true Parisians and have an extremely long dinner. We took our time ordering drinks, and then food, and sat and talked for hours. It is really fun to get to know so many new people here, and the four of us had the best conversations!

We finished with dessert! This wasn't mine, although it does look like something I would order. I got the chocolate mousse and it was spectacular. The only disappointment was Nina's banana flambe. Our waiter poured the liqueur over the banaa and tried to light it, but it didn't work. He gave up pretty quick, and just walked away leaving a cold, alcohol soaked banana on her plate. We asked the people next to us for a lighter (it seems everyone in Paris has one because everyone smokes) and tried to light it ourselves. It didn't work out to well. All in all, though, dinner was so amazing. I think we ended up staying for a total of 3 and a half hours. We felt very Parisian after that.

                                                              

After dinner, we headed back to the palace for the show. As we entered, there was classical music playing, and so many people! A huge crowd was gathered above the large staircase that descended down into the gardens. It was 8:45 and they weren't allowing people down until 9:00. We decided to take a "path less traveled" and head off to the right, to a different part of the garden that seemed less crowded. Suddenly, classical music started playing and lights turned on all around. It was magical. There were tall bushes (about 5 times taller than me) that created mazes all around the grounds. It really felt like we were in Alice in Wonderland. The energy was electric and I suddenly got so excited to explore all around. The best way I can describe the feeling is to equate it to a little girl in Disneyland where there are no lines at any ride and she has the park to herself for the day. It felt like we could just not possibly see and do everything we wanted to, and suddenly the 3 hours time we were given did not seem nearly long enough. The crazy part is, the portion of the gardens this was held in was just a TINY sliver of the grounds, and still there was not way to see even half of it. In every direction we looked, there were fountains, beautiful flowers, amazing lights, and even bubbles flying up into the sky. Above is a video I found that gives a much better visual representation of what we experienced than the photos I have do. Even if I had my camera, it would have been absolutely impossible to capture the beauty and magestic-ness of this night. I'm hoping the video can give you a little bit better of an idea of what was around us.

We followed a group of people into a "maze" looking garden, and ended up in this beautiful stretch of road. The place was filled with these walkways. Often times, they led to big, beautiful fountains at the end (as you can see in this one). Each fountain was different, some simple and some VERY extragent. It was very cool to see all the different types of people at this event. What I loved most was how classy it was. We decided to go buy a bottle of wine for the night, as thats what seemed like the thing to do here. Intertwined in the gardens were small little food stands set up, selling pastries, crepes, wine, hot chocolate, coffee, and even fresh squeezed orange juice.

Here is a picture my friend Robert took. I love the setting pink sky in the back and the yellow light on either side. This was sort of the "central" view of the gardens. I wish the photo captured more light, as those lights really did illuminate the setting. Again, there was no way to take a successful picture of this.

While waiting for our friends who went to find a bathroom, Robert and I went straight to the bubbles which were flying all over the place. i had a really fun time dancing around in them haha. Again, I must have transported into the mindset of a 5-year old, because everything this night just felt make-believe.

Ugh. So this was THE coolest part of the night. I watched my friends take pictures as we stood there, but the pictures couldn't do this jsutice. Basically, we ended up in a court yard shaped in a circle, with a statue at the center. Using blue and green lasers and fog machines (which were mysteriously hidden somewhere - seriously, I couldn't find them), they created a visual experience that was unlike anything I've ever seen. The lasers shot across the courtyard creating a very thin beam of light. When the fog machines were activated, the lasers would pick up the pattern of the swirling fog, making the illusion of clouds overhead. Just looking directly up, it was as if we had a sky about 10 feel above our head, and the clouds were dancing  and swirling around. They somehow controlled the fog to corporate with the classical music, and as the music became more intense, the fog was blown by fans more intensely, creating a storm like quality. One thing I dont like about this picture is that from the side, you can see where the lasers are shooting. But, we standing below the green, it is impossible to see the sharp edge of the laser, and so everything seems natural and real. We honestly talked about just staying here for a while to enjoy because it was so cool. We sat down and just stared up, but were eventally asked by someone to please not sit (or at least I think that's what he said - he was speaking French so I had no idea). Anyway, if you ever make it to Versailles during this time of year, coming to this night time garden show is worth it for THIS part alone. I swear. I will absolutely never forget this.

I liked the colors of this fountain a lot. It reminded me of a Disney princess! I don't have a picture of this, but one of the other amazing elements was the fire show that took place on the large stretch of pond. There were small spout-looking things in the gross that shot HUGE burst of fire out. Every 10 minutes, there would be a fire show, where the 20+ spouts of fire would go off and make a pattern in the tune of the music. I think this is featured in the video I posted above. 

There were these funny blow up white things all over the place. They helped to light up the gardens. I'm sure you can see the pure joy on our faces. As we walked through the tall mazes, we would find some parts that were not lit up. Actually, they weren't just not lit up, there were 100% pitch black. It was one of the creepiest things I've seen. Naturally, we wanted to go explore. We ran through these wide, open paths of blackness, having no idea where they led. The reason it was not scary was because we could hear music playing in the distance, which got louder as we ran. It was like we were transporting to another part of the garden, and everything was mysterious and exciting. We decided this might just be one of the scariest places to take your child because getting separated and then lost would be terrifying. 

The night ended at 11:00 with the most incredible fireworks show. It was the most symmetrical and perfectly planned fireworks show I have ever seen. They went off just above the main fountain, and were accompanied by a fire show on the water in front. I made this short video with some highlights of our night. A lot of the videos are dark, but you can see some things at least!

I really wish I was a better writer/explainer so I could completely express just how awesome this night was. I think you ALL will need to go to Versailles and see this for yourself. I can't imagine having a more perfect night here.

I just finished my two-week intensive language program and had my final on Friday. I've gotten A's on everything so far and I am hoping for another one (: I start my normal classes tomorrow. I got both classes I wanted so I am very excited about that. I am leaving to go to Nice on Thursday with four friends. We are renting an apartment for 3 nights and I am beyond excited to see the south of France. The weekend after Nice, I am headed to Barcelona with about 6 girls! Two of the girls are in DG with Bella and I and are studying abroad in other places. Looking forward to that as well! I also have my tickets booked to go to Germany for October Fest the first weekend of October. We'll be meeting up with UCLA people then too. AND I booked tickets to and from ITALY for my week break!!! We are flying into Venice and flying out of Rome, and plan to go see Florence in between. SO many exciting things to look forward to, and many more trips to plan. I still need to plan weekends to Switzerland, Amsterdam/Belgium, London, Prague, and maybe one more place! If you have any suggestion on my final trip let me know! I was thinking maybe somewhere in Austria or Berlin. It is hard to know where to go, even though I am sure no matter where I go it will be spectacular!

That is it for now (: I have a few more things I want to blog about but I am off to enjoy my sunny Sunday in Paris!