The Travel Breakdown: Study Abroad in Paris; Palace of Versailles

Day 9 was an excursion day. This was included in our travel abroad package! I had been looking forward to this the whole trip so I was excited to finally go. We took the RER there, and from the center of the city, it was a 30-40 minute trip (a good time to have a quick nap! haha) Walking up to the Palace of Versailles was amazing. The gates were gold and out front was a statue of the Sun King himself. On of the professors who lead our program took us around on a tour of the palace.

You can see how crowded this place was even on a weekday! This was the view walking up. The Palace of Versailles is absolutely massive and quite a sight!

Look at those gates! The whole place was LITERALLY dripping in gold. I'm obsessed. One day my house will look like this ;)

While at the Palace of Versailles, we of course walked through the Hall of Mirrors. We also got to see where the king himself and Marie Antoinette slept. This place is super ornate and honestly makes Le Louvre look dull. Everywhere you looked there was beautiful art and gold...even on the ceilings!

The Hall of Mirrors 

Look at that set up! I couldn't imagine eating off of that. haha. 

A massive hall in the Palace of Versailles that showed all the battles of France. 

After walking around in the Palace of Versailles for a couple hours, we went and got lunch with our group. We got crepes of course! We needed the carbs for what was next...

Thank goodness we wore running shoes this day because we went into the "backyard of the palace". The Palace of Versailles literally sits on acres and acres of land. You could literally walk for miles and still be on the property. It's literally insane how far the gardens stretch. They're absolutely beautiful and we went on a nice day. I noticed a lot of Parisians just walking their dogs around the grounds (how cool!). Besides wearing running shoes and fueling up on carbs, be sure to bring water! It's super expensive to buy and they don't have any water fountains.

One of the beautiful views on the ground of the Palace of Versailles

One side of the Palace of Versailles! Seriously this place is massive.

Even the garden is super ornate!

Another angle of the ground at the Palace of Versailles.

We walked around the gardens for HOURS. Needless to say, we were exhausted. Also, if you get the chance, visit the domain of Marie Antoinette. It's a couple miles from the main palace but this is a little "safe haven" Marie Antoinette would retreat to when she felt overwhelmed. Unfortunately, Michael and I made the trek ALL the way out there and it was closed :( I hear it's a really fun place to look at too! So be sure to check the hours before going!

Also, be sure to devote a full day when visiting the Palace of Versailles. It's definitely worth it, trust me :)

Have you ever visited the Palace of Versailles? What did you think??

In my next post, I'll talk about the Opera Garnier, La Slyphide, and eating at the famous Angelina's!

xoxo, Morgan