Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Paris: Volume III, Versailles

Other than Sundays, we received one day off during our month of intense musical immersion in Paris: Bastille Day, July 14th.  It was the only day we had to make a trip out of the city, so we headed for Versailles and Chartres.  Gorgeous day, beautiful grounds:


But the best part was Marie Antoinette's village, the Hameau de la reine.  The queen and her attendants would "escape" out there and dress like shepherdesses to pretend they were simple country folk.  Seriously, if I had had a private country village like this prior to the French Revolution, I would have thought all peasants were extraordinarily happy too:


Seriously, who wouldn't be happy living there?  Especially if you weren't really doing any work except milking really nice, hand-picked cows with porcelain buckets painted to look like wood? 

We ended our day with a trip to see the cathedral at Chartres - well worth the visit although I recall being slightly beyond exhausted when we finally reached "home" again.


And don't let me forget the most important part, my allotted pastry of the day:



Au revoir.

3 comments:

  1. Holy snap, that village looks like Disneyland. In my next life, I'm totally going to be a out-of-touch member of a failing royal system. You look super hawt, deets on the dress please!

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  2. Yup, sign me up too. I felt like I had found the inspiration for Belle's village. The dress is totally one that I picked up in the Monfort l'Amarauy village. I couldn't resist it, it made me feel all French peasant-y and stuff.

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