June 17, 2009

I woke up this morning and had my first hostel shower experience. It wasn't too bad because it could lock. However, we did have to walk to another floor to use it. By the way, did I mention that our room has a halfsie balcony? Basically, the windows open, and there is a small cement block (a.k.a. the patio). Breakfast was significantly better here: chocolate croissants, tea with milk, orange juice, and baguettes. I waited for Logan and Annie to shower (party) and then we made our way to Le Chateau de Versailles via the RER here in Paris. We were unsure which train we were on, but the nice French man, who we named Jacque, helped us out and let us know we were on the right one. :) Versailles was amazing. The Baroque style of decoration made the palace look very royal. It is very different from the palaces in England. Most of the state rooms were decorated with gold patterns on the door and walls. Also, almost all of the ceilings were paingted in each room. My favorite room, of course, was the hall of mirrors. It is a huge hall full of mirrors and glass chandeliers. Another part I liked was the exhibit featuring paintings from all of the battles of the French Revolution. After that, we explored in the gardens for awhile and ate our power bars! We are trying to eat all of our chocolate bars first because the peanut butter bars are much better! After sitting on the grass for a bit, we headed back to the train station. Next, we took the metro to Champs-Elysees and went to the Arc de Triomphe. Then, we did some shopping at Morgan and at NafNaf! We got our crepes too...Annie had chocolate banana and Logan and I had Apple. We headed back after a long day and stopped for some wine and beer and pizza across from our hostel. We are going to try and sleep early because we have an early reservation! Back to another night in the hostel! Au revoir France, Hello Switzerland!