Versailles and the first week of the Intensive courses

My blog is named after my favorite man in all of history, the incredible Louis XIV. He was indeed the state, and his château, Versailles, just outside of Paris, is most likely the greatest single piece of real estate I have ever seen in my life. For those of you who have not ever been to Versailles I have two things to say to you: 1. You have no excuse UNLESS you've never been to Europe. 2. The only thing you need to know is that GOLD coats almost the entire building. It is incredible.

When Adrienne and I stepped off the RER - similar to the Metro North and LIRR for you New York Folks that acts as a Metro while it goes through the city of Paris, so I guess more like the Path to NJ, which I have never taken - I couldn't have felt happier. Versailles is a town that is all about this Paris. We had to walk through a mini street fair to get to the palace.

Now, I have visited the château before, so the reason for the visit was really just to see the gardens. OH MY GOSH, LOUIS, DID YOU DO ANYTHING WRONG? The most beautiful place, the most incredibly extravagant ponds, called "bassins" en français, and MORE GOLD AND MORE IRON. Hello, money. The fountains are not allowed to run constantly because France has water restraint laws and lots of issues with conserving water and energy. Electricity is more expensive than in the States, according to Madame. Anyway, could not have been a better day. The sun was shining on my face and it warmed my heart to see all the French children and tourists - who might as well be children - running around. What is more, is that NYU does this nifty thing where it lies on our ID cards and says we're Art History students so we can get into all the museums for free. All we paid was 6 euro for the gardens and 3 euro for the best fresh squeezed orange juice ever. In case you didn't know, which I didn't either, Versailles still has a small orange grove where it produces oranges to make juice for its tourists. How clever. Louis XIV, always thinking for the future.

The Hall of Mirrors had finally finished its reconstruction and looked incredible. I took vanity shots all over the place and took photos of photos and it was the most entertaining 20 minutes of my day. I felt it was appropriate to be so vain if I was standing in a place where Louis XIV lived and where the Coronation of Napoleon painting hung. The chandeliers reflected off the windows and I can only dream about what it would have looked like with real candles and not our tacky electric bulbs.

To continue our day trips to see old palaces, we went to the Luxumbourg Gardens to meet with some of Adrienne's friends, and it was fab. A jazz band was playing, and sang "New York, New York," which obviously made me homesick and also made me realize how badly I wish there were jewish delis in France. If anyone knows where I can find one, tell me.

This weekend I hope to find the techno parade (again if anyone knows about this TELL ME), and possibly get myself out to Giverny.

Now to start my homework because I have to intensively review grammar for the week. Ça ne me plaît pas.