Last Day in France!

For our last full-day of vacation, we went to Versailles! Jeff and I left earlier than the group, because they all wanted to sleep in. I'm glad we did because the line to get into Versailles was SOOOOO long. We waited for an hour and half in the baking sun. I'm glad I brought my "weird" hat (whatever, I look awesome). Somehow in a lot of our pictures, it looks like the place is empty. Don't be deceived. That is just strategic camera placement. There were THOUSANDS of people. This is the only time in my life I felt there was a real possibility I would be crushed to death. People pushing and elbowing to get through to the doorways to the next rooms. They need to put a cap on how many people can visit. It was ridiculous. Anyways...

Me with the fancy entrance gates.

 From inside the gates.

 View of the palace from inside the gates.

 The largest canvas-painted ceiling in the world. And it was for a BEDROOM. No wonder the French Revolution happened.

 The Hall of Mirrors

 Mirror selfie in the Hall of Mirrors.

We were not planning on still being inside of Versailles for lunch time, but due to the long line, we were starving. They had this sign at the entrance to the cafeteria. Some things just don't make sense in translation... He he!

 After walking through the main Palace, we went through the guest wing. It was soooo quiet! I guess all the other tourists just wanted to see the main Palace and that's it? Better for me, anyways!

 

 This hallway of statues was exquisite.

 Beautiful stairway

 Next we walked the long way around (because it was a "peak" day so our museum pass didn't get us through the Gardens. I'm not paying 9 euros each for a walk through some shrubbery!) to the Petite Trianon. This is where the royal family would live when they didn't need the whole huge palace. There is a Grande Trianon too, but we didn't have time to tour it.

Cool hallway underneath the living areas, that the servants would use.

 Alex, Jeff, and Brandon

 The back of the Petite Trianon

 Marie Antionette liked to play make-believe, so she had a hamlet built so she could pretend to be a milkmaid. We walked around that, and it was cool. The next few pictures are from that. All the buildings are slightly miniaturized. I guess she must have been short? 

 The mill house.

 The light house.

Part of the country garden

I definitely understood why the people revolted. The opulence was crazy!

 We did a quick visit of Sainte-Chappelle. It was build in the 1200s. The stained glass is so beautiful!

 Our last meal in France.

 Jeff and Brandon ordered escargot to share, and Rhonda and Alex tried it too (somehow I missed a picture of Alex, but he really liked it!). 

Last chance for delicious ice cream! We ate so much gelato and ice cream this trip. It was awesome.

 Cool art on a wall in Paris.

This night, there were police everywhere in riot gear, so we were worried about being able to leave the next morning. I don't know what was going on, because it was all cleared when Jeff and I left the apartment at 5am. We took the subway to the airport, and off we went!

Sidenote: there was riots of taxi drivers about a week after we left. They were attacking Uber cars with baseball bats and stuff. I am really glad we missed that!