Versailles!

This weekend was my school's excursion to Versailles. A group of 60 of us took the train on Sunday and we were there from 1pm-6pm. I've been to Versailles when my family came to Paris when I was in high school. Because of that, I wasn't too disappointed that the chateau itself was SUPER crowded. There's currently an exhibition by Jeff Koons that was really cool, so I pretty much rushed through the main chateau taking pictures of the Jeff Koons sculptures. I hate crowds and try to avoid being in them for too long. I did really love the sculptures though, even though everyone else seemed to hate them. I was especially fond of the balloons-- the dog, flower, bunny and especially the balloon in the hall of mirrors (once again comes the reminder that photoquality is dramatically compromised by the 400pixel width of my blog. To see the pictures as they're meant to be seen, check out my Flickr!) I also used pretty much any reflective surface possible to take pictures of myself. Do you see me? Hint: I have a pink sweater on Self-portrait with bear (see me back there?) In the hall of mirrors In the balloon in the hall of mirrors I also hit the gift shop here HARD. I got these awesome hologram postcards for my little cousins, and then I figured since I was buying things anyway, I might as well get books. And so I bought my first children's book of the trip. The Monument book is actually awesome, and I think will make a great addition to my classroom. I also bought a paperback about French history that is poorly translated from English. My friend Katie bought the same one. Katie and Joanne digging into 100 Dates of French History Told to Children The weather was beautiful and it was really warm, so obviously I bought MORE ICE CREAM! Also because of the whole fountain thing they were piping music through the gardens in the afternoon, which made for some very cool video.

Toward the later part of the afternoon we settled down by the water and people watched and walked until it was time to leave. My roommate Vicky forgot her camera, and Joanne's batteries died so I ended uptaking 80+ pictures throughout the day. If you'd like to see more you can check out My Flickr as usual, or glance through the slideshow below.