Feeling Like Royalty - July 15

I had been looking forward to this day for years now. During my freshman year of high school, I enrolled in a class called AP European History. Although I despised the class and the amount of work I had to do daily, I loved learning about the history. In particular, I loved learning about the French monarchy and about Louis XIV. I loved learning about his grand palace that he built to escape from Paris and spend with his family. Although the French monarchy was highly problematic and eventually came to a brutal end, this grand palace was gorgeous and is still beloved as a tourist attraction to this day. Right from the moment I learned about the palace and saw it from the class slideshows, I knew I wanted to go.

My roommate and I booked tickets to visit the Palace of Versailles on our first weekend of the trip. I bought a dress especially for this event. It was safe to say that I was excited. We woke up early in the morning and dressed for the occasion. Since the palace is 11 miles away from our hotel, we had to take the metro.

I have very little experience with public transportation, but luckily my roommate is from a big city and she is practically a metro expert. She guided us to the tram and off we went. I may have even fallen asleep on the train for a few moments of the hour long trip.

Once we got off the metro, we walked towards the palace. Along the way, we stopped and picked up some snacks and a light breakfast at a local bakery. I even ordered in broken French. We ate our pastries as we arrived closer and closer to our destination.

As I saw the golden gates of the palace come into view, it was safe to say that I was quite starstruck. We entered and took pictures since there were only a few people on the grounds. It was sincerely so magical.

Since the palace itself if so massive and we spent all day there, here is a rapid fire summary of the things we did

• Toured the Palace

• Saw Louis XIV’s apartments

• Saw Marie Antoinette’s apartments

• Ate some pastries

• Booked a private tour of Marie Antoinette’s secret quarters

• Walked through the many guest houses

• Went for miles and miles through the garden

• Drank freshly squeezed orange juice

• Got caught in the rain while out in the garden

• Walked through more of the palace

• Ate more snacks

• Took plenty of pictures

• Felt like royalty the entire time

Spending an entire day in the Palace of Versailles doesn’t even seem like enough time. I can now understand what the Sun King was going for when he had it constructed. It truly was a place of fantasy and mystique.

After the palace gates began to come to a close, we made our way to the metro. We hopped on a train and headed back to our hotel. However, unbeknownst to us, we accidentally hopped on the wrong train. We stayed on the train for nearly twenty minutes before deciding to get off at a station and reevaluate our choices. We were headed south instead of north but at least we had Google Maps to keep us afloat.

We decided to try our luck with a bus. Luckily, we have a pass that allows us to ride all public transportation for free. We tried our luck with one bus only for it to take us in the wrong direction as well. This started to put a damper on our moods but we decided to try one more bus before throwing in the towel and getting an Uber. This final bus did take us to where we need to go. This detour took us to the southern suburbs of Paris and added an extra hour and a half to our trip, but in retrospect it was quite a unique experience. I was safe and made it to the hotel and that’s what matters.

After an entire day of fun adventures and misadventures, I ended off by taking a much deserved hot shower accompanied by some chocolates in bed. It was quite an exciting day filled with ups and downs and traveling all around the city.

♡ Katie