Day 6: Gregorian Mass, Versailles, and Arc night shots

I didn't blog about this yesterday because I was far too tired, and we got back far too late. It was an early wake up call yesterday as six of us went to Gregorian mass at Notre Dame. The mass was partially in Latin and mostly in French. The music was beautiful, as was the setting, but the language barrier for the homily made that part not as enjoyable.

When we got off of the subway there was an exotic bird market right outside.




Franglish isn’t as funny as Engrish, but still






I brought my tripod to attempt to get better pictures of the stained glass. Two in I was told no tripods. I would like to know who was killed via tripod in order to ruin it for the rest of us.


After mass everyone else met us up and we went to Versailles. King Louis the 14th didn't want to live in Paris. He had bad memories of all of the riots the city is plagued with and built this palace 12 miles outside of the city. The palace grounds are filled with beautiful gardens, and the palace itself is very ornate and stunning. Back when all travel was done by horse; it would have taken a lot longer to get there than it did for us on our 20 minute train ride.






The train took us through the outskirts of Paris, with some more modern buildings and more graffiti




We walked through this cute little town to get to Versailles


What is wrong with the next two pictures?




Oh how I wish we got these! BMW, take note!


When we got to Versailles we discovered that they were restoring the exterior. So no epic shots to be had here.


This is the exterior of the chapel that is attached to the palace


Today was the day of the camera nazis. First at Notre Dame and now at Versailles




I had to check my tripod in. Some of the rooms were no photos, I know they really mean flash so I stole some without any flash, and some of the BITCHEST French tourists in the world were in this palace on this day. I cannot express the looks I got from these people for disobeying this rule. I seriously wanted to get in the face of this one woman who kept glaring at me in all of her Frenchness. We really haven't had any issues with rude people this whole trip, but something about Versailles just attracts them. She needed an uppercut to the face sooo badly. I should have gotten a picture of her just to piss her off.

The photos I stole:


painted logs:




Okay, these photos were allowed:

Repair they are doing on one of the ceilings:


The Queen's bedroom


The door where Marie Antoinette escaped during the Revolution as well as her jewelry box


A ceiling


King's bedroom. Every morning people would come and watch him wake up. It was like watching a play or something. It was highly prized to get the honor to watch the king rise. And Britney Spears complains about not having a private life.




The hall of mirrors








Another ceiling


I hate people, graffiti within the palace


This is the inside of the chapel that is connected to the palace. Louis the 16th was married here. Also, people would come and watch the king watch mass. They would stand back and watch him, weird huh?


The walls are carved out of stone. The WALLS are CARVED out of DIFFERENT KINDS of STONE




Inside the palace is this mini Louver. The walls were lined with paintings of French Military Victories. Contrary to what google wants you believe, they actually did win a few.



The victory at York Town during the Revolutionary War. Yes, they did help with that:


Charlemagne:


When we were in front of Notre Dame there is a statue of Charlemagne, the professor said Charlaman and this random man trying to sell stuff says "Charlemange not Charleman, Charlemange" it was quite funny.

They pretty much turn every fountain in Paris off in winter, and remove every flower, which made the gardens not as stunning as they are supposed to be. During Louis the 16th there were 1,500 fountains at Versailles, now there are only about 300




looking back at the Palace


French gardens are about symmetry and control over nature:








HE HAS A TRIPOD ARREST HIM!!!


After Versailles we came back to the room to rest. I fell asleep while doing my journal. After my nap we grabbed some overpriced dinner on the Champs Elysees and took some pictures of the Arc at night. It was so empty here. We didn't stand out as tourists even with my big camera. I was asked for a light of a cigarette, where the metro was, and a cute boy asked to see my pictures, all in French.










Then Erin says, "we should go sleep soon, it's almost midnight." I retorted, "sleep? We need to get on the metros! They are almost closed!" We didn't miss it, thank God, but we had to deal with some pretty shady people.

We made it home okay though