On Being Flexible and Versailles

This week has been nuts! We've finished camp here in Paris, so we have a few days this week for touring. Monday we intended to go to Versailles, but we discovered partway through our trip that our connecting metro line was closed for the day. That's when we used flexibility and spontaneity to our advantage and had a fantastic day at the Arc de Triomph and Peré Lachaise!

We still desired to see Versailles, so we picked Thursday as the target day.

Wednesday was intended as Normandy day. Well, plans changed again (yay for learning to be flexible!), and we went to Versailles on Wednesday. Normandy Today!

Versailles was amazing. We enjoyed walking around and admiring the wonderfully old buildings. While we didn't pay to see the inside of the Chateau de Versailles, we walked around the outside. One highlight from the day was stumbling upon a music library. There was a huge section devoted to Western art music! Tons of recordings by great performers, magazines, and operas on DVD all free to check out!

My other favorite part of the day was stumbling upon a lovely park. We sat there in silence for quite some time just taking in the beauty.

Walk through the day with me!

Hooray for produce!

Oops! Failed photo attempt! Look, I'm growing my hair. (Sorry, that was totally not subtle. ;)

I love this so, so much.

Are you taking all this in? Incredible!

This is the Cathedral of Saint Louis. I liked it more than Notre Dame.

It's built in the shape of a Latin cross.

Couldn't get enough of these buildings!

Love the contrast between these flowers the monochromatic photo above. I kept flipping back and forth on my camera.

Here's a shot of the Cathedral. I'm all about those navy accents.

This reminded me of Tali Rose and her mustard yellow cords. I'm such a fan of that color.

Picnic lunch!

Cassandra is thrilled!

Love, love, love!

Okay. This photo is funny for several reasons. Bear with me.

This is outside the Chateau, one of Louis XIV's palaces. Maybe you've heard of his funny obsession with his own legs? We decided to take a picture in honor of his OCD. Apparently the girls in the front left had the same idea. The guy behind us, on the other hand, had no idea what we're doing. And then Josh beheaded Louis...

Josh's turn. He refuses to smile for pictures...

...so we decided to take a picture in honor of Josh on take two!

I couldn't be serious!

Ahh. There we go. And Louis's head is in place.

Geeking out with Martha at the music library!

This is a school for Baroque music. Love!

And this is an outside choir performance space.

I love the texture of the cobblestone through the arch.

The gorgeous park I mentioned. Can't remember the exact name, but it had "Elizabeth" in it.

Such a restful place! Versailles made me like Paris more, just like the cemetery experience on Monday. Still, I'm ready for Belgium (and chocolate!). Come on, Friday! I'm missing the piano!