Royal Wedding in Monaco

It’s been about a week and a half since the royal wedding in Monaco between Prince Albert and Princess Charlene and things have finally calmed down. The week of the wedding was the busiest I have ever seen Monaco. It was filled with so many people and there were events going on everywhere you looked. The main events started on Thursday night with a free concert put on by the Eagles. Unfortunately, I had to work, but the concert was held in the stadium right beside the Marriott so I heard the music all night long. I usually get off work at midnight and my walk home is always very quiet and with only a few people scattered along the streets. Thursday night, however, was different. When I left work, I could barely make my way past the crowd that just left the concert. Every restaurant I passed (usually closed at that time of night) was packed full of people. When I finally reached the train station it was blocked off by police who were only letting a certain amount of people through at a time because the crowd was so large. It was like this the whole rest of the weekend.

I worked on Friday night as well, which was BBQ night at the restaurant. Norman, the chef, prepares a delicious buffet filled with grilled vegetables, king prawns, lamb shank, shrimp, beef, fish, etc. In addition everyone receives a starter of potato salad and macaroni and cheese and a bread pudding topped with bourbon glazed bananas (delicious!). It is by far our busiest night of the week. However, last Friday, there was another free concert courtesy of the Royal Couple by Jean Michel Jarre in Port Hercule, which is right down from my apartment. The show was very visual complete with light and laser landscapes, HD video, and fireworks. I’m assuming everyone was at the concert because hardly anyone came to eat at the restaurant (more bread pudding for me)! I ended up getting off at 11:30 that night because there was absolutely nothing left for me to do. All the guests had left, the entire restaurant, terrace, and kitchen had been cleaned, the restaurant had been set for breakfast, and every single knife, fork, spoon, and wineglass had been polished…a minor miracle.  The concert was wrapping up on my walk home but when I reached my apartment I was able to looked down the mountain and see some of the amazing lights and fireworks.

Finally, on Saturday, the religious ceremony for the Royal Couple was held…what everyone had been waiting for (the civil ceremony was held the day before at the palace). I also finally had a day off so that I could enjoy some of the wedding festivities! The wedding was being held at the palace, where the ceremony would last approximately an hour, beginning at 5:00 p.m. Then, the couple would take a car down from the palace to Porte Neuve, then the Avenue du Port and the Boulevard Albert 1^st and finally will stop in front of the church of Saint Devota where Princess Charlene will leave her bouquet, as tradition. The church of Saint Devota is right down from my apartment and I pass by it several times a day.

Meghan and I headed down to the Port at around 4:00. There were giant screens set up all over the port so that everyone could see what was going on. The problem was, the screens were on the same side of the street that we were, so it was hard to really see them. There were people on the other side of the street but it was blocked off when we arrived so we couldn’t reach that side of the street to see the screens well enough. We finally decided to sit and watch the wedding at a restaurant that had a TV screen, and where we were also able to see to the outside street. The waiter came and offered us either champagne or wine…he said they were having a special for the wedding. Meghan and I decided on champagne. We sat back and enjoyed watching the wedding on the TV screen as well as observing all of the people in the crowd outside. It was funny how many people were dressed up like they were actually attending the wedding. The waiter came back and automatically filled our champagne glasses again. We continued watching the wedding and when the waiter came back and asked if we wanted one more glass we said, “sure, why not?!” The ceremony was about to end and the waiter brought us our check, which was, to our great surprise and horror 90 euros. It was definitely a lesson learned: always ask for the price of the drink, or better yet, just don’t order champagne in Monaco.

We left the restaurant to claim a good spot on the side of the street so that we could see the newly married couple drive by in their convertible on the way to the church. We stood on the side of the street and watched the couple drive by, which was really exciting to see! Although I have to say, Princess Charlene looked completely miserable. When we they reached the church where she would leave her bouquet, she started crying. Meghan and I both decided it was tears of sadness rather than tears of happiness. 

About a week before the wedding rumors had been spreading that Prince Albert may have a third illegitimate love child (he already has two). The rumors also said that when Princess Charlene heard of this she immediately went to the Nice Airport and tried to buy a ticket to fly back home to South Africa.  However, there was security there that stopped her and took her passport so that she had no chance to escape. Scandalous, right? It could just be Royal Wedding drama hype, but I have to say, after watching the wedding for myself and seeing how utterly depressed Charlene looked, I think I believe the rumors.

That night, Meghan and I cooked some pasta that cost 2 euros for dinner (because the champagne set us back a little, ha.) and went to hang out with some of our co-workers. Luckily the apartment we were all gathered at had a balcony which gave us an absolutely perfect view of the gorgeous fireworks that were set off for the wedding. They were some of the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen, and they seemed to go on forever! Meghan and I were secretly pretending they were for the Fourth of July, which was the next day, since we weren’t in America to celebrate and join in on all of the festivities!

The royal wedding of Monaco was an amazing experience to be able to see and take part in. It was so much fun being around all of the hype, and being able to watch the wedding for myself, knowing it was all taking place on the mountain right above where I was standing! It is something I will definitely never forget. Now I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the marriage lasts…

Drinking champagne during the wedding

 Everyone lined up in the streets of Monaco for the big day

 Walking down the isle

I wasn't joking...

In the streets waiting for the Roayl Couple to drive by

 The Roayl Couple in their convertible (it was the best shot i could get!)

She just doesn't look happy to me...

work work work

The past two weeks I have spent getting used to my internship, living arrangements, and the country of Monaco in general. It hasn’t exactly been the easiest thing to do. I mentioned before that Steffan, one of the restaurant managers always takes good care of me and makes sure I’m doing well. When he is at work I get to interact with customers, set up for banquets, work at banquets….basically I get to do and learn what I like. Unfortunately, I was just told that Steffan won’t be back for two to three weeks. That means I am working with Stephane (I know, it gets confusing). Stephane is the polar opposite of my sweet, caring Steffan. Steaphane is another restaurant manager and simply doesn’t seem to care what I’m doing. When I am working with him I usually get stuck working in the kitchen polishing glasses and silver wear. He is very intimidating and probably the most frustrating person I have ever had to deal with. Here is just one story that explains why he is so damn hard to work with:

The other night at work he told me to eat dinner at 5:30 and be back by 6:00. I went to the cafeteria and the food had not been set out. When it still hadn’t arrived in 15 minutes I went back to the restaurant to tell Stephane that that food had yet to arrive. He told me he had told the kitchen to take the food to the cafeteria and snapped at me to go back up and eat. When the food still had night arrived at 6:00 I just decided to give up and go back down and do some work in the restaurant. I just hoped that Stephane would see me and realize that I hadn’t eaten (I was starving after all). When he saw me doing stuff in the restaurant he quickly snapped at me “Hayden, I told you to go eat I can’t afford to have you taking hour breaks, this is ridiculous.” I calmly told him that the food was still not out so I thought I would come back and help set up for dinner until it arrived. He interrupted me and told me the food was there and I needed to eat and come back. Well the food still wasn’t there, so I just decided to sit in the cafeteria until it came. Finally Stephane came up and guess who got yelled at again for sitting in the cafeteria not doing anything?? This is only one of many frustrating Stephane stories. He won’t listen to anything you have to say and constantly interrupts.

So for the past few days I have been in the kitchen polishing or doing other monotonous tasks that require no brainpower or skill whatsoever. I miss Steffan.

Things haven’t been all bad though. I like most of the people I work with….especially a German guy named Andre. He absolutely loves Americans and ironically hates French people (even though he lives and works in France)…so we have that in common, ha. He’s always super nice to me and laughing and joking around, which helps me tolerate some of the things I hate about work.

Also something positive: I got to work at a wedding last Saturday. I was super excited to be able to do something different…especially a wedding since I’m such a wedding fanatic! It was a very interesting ceremony to say the least. All of the guests arrived around 6:00 to the Monte Carlo banquet room upstairs where we served them drinks and hour’ devours. There wasn’t very much in terms of decorations in the room except for a large heart…thing….made out of fake red roses and red ribbon. There were bright strobe lights in every color imaginable provided by the DJ. Like I said, it was interesting. At around 7:00 the bride and groom walked in and had the actually ceremony, vows and all (complete with a full-on make out session at the end) right on the dance floor. To my surprise, they were a much older couple. The entire wedding party was French, which was nerve-racking at first but after a little while I was able to understand them, and be understood just fine.

They had a full five-course menu planned for dinner; however, I quickly found that not everyone was happy with it. One half of the room was very pleasant to serve, and the other half was not.  They weren’t happy with practically anything we served them and I can’t even begin to count the number of times things were sent back to the kitchen because “they weren’t cooked properly.” We even had a few guests asked us to make them something else because they didn’t like what was being served. It was kind of unbelievable that these people would have the audacity to ask for something other than what the bride and groom had chosen for them to eat.

That night I ended up getting off work at 3:30 am. I have about a thirty-minute walk home and in order to get to my apartment I have to walk through the train station. I knew that the station usually locks its gates to the entrance I am used to going in at around 2:00 am. So instead of walking my normal way I decided to use a different entrance, one that took longer to get to and had more stairs and hills to climb, but one that I was pretty positive would be open. After walking up the hill and reaching the door, I soon realized that it too was locked. It was 4:00 am at this point, my feet were killing me and I was exhausted. I had two options: I could either wait for the train station to open up in a few hours, or wander around until I found a new route home. I ended up choosing the latter. I just wanted my bed. So after another 30 minutes of walking (all uphill) I finally managed to find my way back to my apartment. I was pretty much dead. Thankfully, I had the next two days off so I had time to recover.

To my surprise and delight, I received a phone call as soon as I woke up the next morning from my cousin, Maggy. She was on a two-week trip exploring all different cities and countries of Europe, and Monaco happened to be the one she was in that day! I knew that she was coming but I wasn’t quite sure which day it would be, so I was excited to hear from her. I met her right outside the palace of Monaco and joined her and her friends as they finished up lunch. It was great to get the chance to see her!

The next two days I spent reading and napping on the beach and just enjoying my time off.

Over the course of the next four days was when I had the news broken to me that Seffan wouldn’t be back for a while…which made work not real enjoyable to say the least.

I’m hoping that I will receive some news about Steffan returning sometime soon when I head into work today….keep your fingers crossed for me!

The Working World

So I have officially started my internship with Marriott International. I am working in the restaurant and bar area, and have even been able to help out with a few banqueting events. My first day was Wednesday, and I can't tell you how nervous I was heading to my job. I had no clue what to expect and didn't even know if I would even be able to communicate with the people I was working with. When I finally arrived at the hotel, I went to the locker room to put away all my things and was immediately greeted by one of the housekeepers. She didn't speak any English but wrapped me in one of the biggest hugs I have ever received and started saying something, which I am going to guess meant something like "welcome" or "nice to meet you." This made me feel instantly better. One of the restaurant managers, Steffan is the one who is mainly in charge of telling me what to do. He so sweet, and is constantly concerned with how I am doing and always makes sure that everything is ok. I've really enjoyed working with him. When I got there everyone went around and told me who they were and a little bit about themselves. They are all very nice, which I was extremely relieved about.

I have either been working from 4:30 pm-midnight or 5:30 pm-1 am and for the first few nights of work I have just been learning the basics of the restaurant and bar. I have learned how to set the tables for breakfast and dinner, how to make a few drinks at the bar, the table numbers, etc. The highlight thus far was when I was able to work a wedding last Saturday night. Anyone that knows me knows my obsession with weddings, so i was ecstatic that i was just able to see it in action. I have also been waiting on tables, which brings me back to my days at Pigs-r-Us when I was a waitress there. I miss you, my pig-r-us family (and cant wait to come home and get some of that delicious bbq)!!! 

On Monday and Tuesday Steffan was not there to give me tasks to do, and I have to say, work was not nearly as enjoyable without him. Yesterday I had the day off and took the train into Nice. There, I did a little shopping, had lunch outside at a cafe, and did some reading on the beach. It was nice to have the day to just relax and do whatever I wanted. 

The downfall about all of this has been that Meghan and I hardly ever get to see each other because our schedules are the exact opposite (she works morning and I work nights), and we haven't had a day off together yet. Hopefully that will change though. 

Well it is about time for me to head off to work, so I will keep you posted with more details later!

Get ready Monaco

On Monday, my study abroad in the French Riviera officially came to an end. The group left the apartment around 5:30 a.m. to catch their flight, so it was sad to have to say goodbye. Meghan and I stayed behind and caught the train to Monaco at around 9 a.m. With two large suitcases and a heavy backpack, the walk to the train station was not easy. We finally got off the train at Monaco and decided that it would be near impossible to carry our suitcases the entire way to the Marriott and we would just call a cab. We lugged everything outside to where the phone to call a taxi was only to find that it was broken. We then went upstairs to ask information where we could find another. Two escalators and an elevator later we finally managed to find a phone that worked and took a taxi to the Marriott. When we got there we were given our keys to the apartment at the front desk and a letter from our boss. Phillip, who was working at the front desk was very sweet to us and told us that the hotel shuttle would be there to take us to our apartment at noon. He took us to the cafeteria so that we could eat lunch and after that Meghan and I walked around outside for a bit. The hotel shuttle then brought us to our apartment, which we quickly learned could be a challenge to live in for the next two months. We were able to meet a few of the girls that live here, two from Holland and two from Mexico, one of which shares a room with Meghan and I. However, we have yet to meet the rest of the girls, and I haven’t even caught a glimpse of them. Apparently there two girls from Russia and two from Asia that also live here. There is also a woman who is a regular employee for Marriott (not an intern like the rest of us) who just broke up with her boyfriend and will be living in the staff apartment until she can find a new place to live. Needless, to say, it is very crowded. Unfortunately, there aren’t really any drawers or closets for me to put my clothes in so it looks like I will be living out of my suitcase for the next 2 months. There is also only one bathroom for all of the girls to share, like I said…it will be a challenge.

The next day we went back to the Marriott to meet with our boss and go over a few things. She just went over some rules and gave us a quick tour around the hotel. I’m not the best person with directions, so I’m nervous about finding my way around all of the back ends of the hotel. We still haven’t learned exactly what we’ll be doing in the hotel besides working in the restaurant so I guess I’ll find out soon enough. After our meeting Meghan and I headed to the beach for the rest of the afternoon, and enjoyed our last day off before work.

Today will be my first day, and I’m pretty nervous. Meghan started at 6:30 this morning and I will go in at 4:30 this afternoon. I’m assuming I’ll work until midnight or so. I wish Meghan and I could have the same schedule so that I could have someone around to spend the rest of the day with, but hopefully we’ll at least have the same days off together. I’m not really sure what to expect and I really hope that not knowing much French won’t hurt me too much. The language barrier is definitely my main concern. Wish me luck!

First day in Monaco

Love her

Monte Carlo Casino

Last Paris Post

On our third and last day in Paris we went to the bakery again (it was so good) and then took it easy by strolling along Avenue des Champs Elysess, which is one of the most famous streets in Paris and even the world. Catherine, Hannah, and I then stopped into Ladurée, which was known for their macaroons, to have lunch. This was the most delicious meal I ate in Paris and was probably the cutest restaurant I’ve ever been in. On the front of the menu, it told some history of the place and we learned that it was actually the very first tearoom in Paris! Here is some of the history that I read about it:

THE LADURÉE STORY

The history of Parisian tea salons is intimately tied to the history of the Ladurée family.

It all began in 1862, when Louis Ernest Ladurée, a miller from France’s southwest, created a bakery at 16 rue Royale in Paris.

During the same year, the first stone of the Garnier Opera was laid, and the area surrounding the Madeleine was rapidly developing into one of the capital’s most important and elegant business districts. The most prestigious names in French luxury goods had already taken up residence in this neighborhood.

In 1871, while Baron Haussmann was giving Paris a ‘‘new face’’, a fire made access to the transformation of the bakery to a pastry shop.

The decoration of the pastry shop was entrusted to Jules Cheret, a famous turn-of-the-century painter and poster artist. M Cheret sought inspiration from the painting techniques used for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the Garnier Opera.

By incorporating them in his work, he added depth and relief to the ceilings ornamented with cherubic children.

Under the Second Empire, cafes developed and became more and more luxurious. They attracted Parisian high society. Along with the chic restaurants around the Madeleine, they became the showcases of the capital.

The beginning of this century found Paris wrapped up in a frenzy of distraction and going out in public. Parisians flocked to the Universal Exposition. Women were also changing. They wanted to make new acquaintances. Literary salons and literature circles were outmoded.

Ernest Ladurée’s wife, Jeanne Souchard, daughter of a well-known hotelier in Rouen, had the idea of mixing styles: the Parisian café and pastry shop gave birth to one of the first tea salons in town. The “salon de thé” had a definite advantage over the cafés: they permitted ladies to gather in freedom. Jeanne Souchard succeeded in combining the turn-of-the-century trend to modernism
with knowledge of the merits of a craft transmitted by her family.

The rue Royale tea room was enlarged in 1930 by Pierre Desfontaines, second cousin of Louis Ernest Ladurée. When he retired, his son, Jean Marie, and his niece, Dominique, presided over the tea salon.

Just look how adorable their website is!

http://www.laduree.fr/en/scene

After lunch I got a box of delicious macaroons! So amazing! After that we walked around Paris a little more until we reached the Louvre, one of the world’s largest museums. It has nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19^th century and is 652,300 square feet.  The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, which began as a fortress built in the late 12^th century under Philip II. We were able to see the remnants of the fortress, which was really cool. In 1682, Louis XIV chose to live in the Palace of Versailles, and left the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection. I had heard it takes a full three days just to simply walk through the museums, so we just decided to look at some of the major exhibits such as the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. I wish we could have had time to see more, but I’m glad I was able to check the Mona Lisa off of my bucket list!

After that, we strolled around a little more and then got dinner on Champ-Elysees. After we finished I slid out of the booth and knocked over a glass, which promptly shattered on the floor (I’m the clumsiest person ever). I was so afraid that I was going to get yelled at by one of the waiters (a lot of the waiters seemed to be cranky in Paris) and quickly began offering to sweep it up. However, he told me I only owed him a kiss on the cheek and he would forgive me! Afterwards we went to a gelato place near the Eiffel Tower that we passed by on the first night and helped ourselves to dessert. You could seem them in the back making the gelato in huge barrels. Delicious. We then went back by the Eiffel Tower to watch the light show one more time. Right when it began to get dark outside the entire sky lit up with huge streaks of lighting, While a little frightening, it also made a gorgeous background to the tower. We took a taxi back so that we wouldn’t get caught in the storm and then went to bed to rest up for our early train ride.

I woke up with a terrible migraine in the morning and was then greeted by a screaming baby in the seat next to me on the train. The whole way home. For five hours. The headache continued for a few days after that (I’m convinced it was the screaming baby), hence why I am so behind on my blogs. I still have more to tell about my last week in Antibes, so more to come later! 

Getting breakfast at the yummu cafe we fell in love with!

Cat and me at Ladurée

My amazing dessert

Ladurée pastries

The Louvre

The Famous Mona Lisa

The Venus de Milo

Last time at the Tower

An American Girl in Paris Part Deux

I’ve been awful at blogging lately but I’m planning on getting caught up with it all now! So get ready to hear some stories. I just moved into my apartment in Monaco, but I’ll get to that later. I still need to finish talking about my Paris trip…it seems like it was ages ago!

But first let me let me clear up something about my last post. The obnoxious woman I met in the store on the first night in Paris was American (I guess that’s where we get our bad rep from with the French). Apparently she’s from Maryland and spends 6 months out of the year in Paris. I also forgot to mention one more little insult she threw at us (sorry but this woman really made me cranky). She kept telling Catherine and me that we had the most interesting accents and she just couldn’t place it. “You just have the strong eeeeehhhhh sound to it whenever you talk,” she said while she proceeded to make a noise similar to that of a dying cat.

Anyway, enough about crazy lady. We got up pretty early on our second day in Paris so that we could go see the Palace of Versailles. We went to a French bakery right around the corner from our hotel, grabbed some delicious pastries and caught a taxi to Versailles. We were there by 8:30 a.m. and I’m so glad we got there early because we were able to get to the front of the line, which turned out to be hundreds of people deep by the time we had finished our tour. This palace was one of the most amazing and elaborate things I have ever seen. I literally don’t think I have seen so much gold in all of my life. Everything from the gardens to the hallways was just unbelievably lavish. We were able to walk around the palace at our leisure with a headset that explained the significance of each room. Here are a few fun facts I learned:

•  In the past, the palace used to be the king’s residence and place for welcoming official foreign visitors along with growing diplomatic relations with other nations. It is praised to be one of the Seven Wonders of the modern world.
• ·      It was first constructed in 1661 and was modified in 1668 and was perfectly finished in 1688. The total duration was 27 years with the collaboration from more than 30,000 laborers.
• ·      Versailles is an ancient town of France situated in the suburban area of Paris. King Louise XIII went there to hunt animals. Because of this, he kind commanded the construction of his private hunting lodge in 1624.
• ·      Later, during the reign of King Louise XIV, he wanted to make the world recognize the wealth and abundance of France. As a result, he ordered the demolition of the old lodge of King Louis XIII and replaced it by constructing the new marble palace.
• ·      In 1789, there was a big revolution in France because the citizens did not like the extravagance of King Louis XIV. The king spent citizens’ taxes extravagantly while the citizens had to suffer from poverty. From this reason, the citizens gathered in seizing the palace and capturing King Louise XIV along with his royal family to be imprisoned. Then, they sentenced him to death on the guillotine with his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette.
• ·      The palace and garden are set on 19,262 acres, and the total site is larger than the island of Manhattan.
• ·      The construction of the palace cost 116,438,892 livres. This is equivalent to $2 billion in today’s terms.

The pictures simply do not show how extravagant this place was. It was absolutely amazing. After our visit to Versailles, we took the metro back to Paris and got lunch (escargot included). We then hopped on the same bus tour that we had done the day before and looked at some more sights. We got off at the Notre Dame Cathedral where we got to see beautiful gothic architecture. When we stepped inside, mass was taking place, and the choir kind of provided a musical background to our tour! It was hard to take in all of the beautiful stained glass windows…there was so much to look at all at once! Since I learned so much at all of these places I just feel compelled to share them all with you…so here are some fun facts about the Notre Dame Cathedral:

• ·      Construction of Notre Dame Cathedral began in 1163 during the reign of Louis VII, and was completed around 1345.
• ·      In 1793, during the French Revolution, Notre Dame Cathedral was looted and damaged, and images of the Virgin Mary were replaced by those of Lady Liberty. Restoration work began in 1845 and lasted 25 years.
• ·      Notre Dame Cathedral is the most popular monument in France, even more popular than the Eiffel Tower. Thirteen million people, a mixture of tourists and worshippers, visit every year.

Right around the corner from Notre Dame was Sainte Chappelle, which I was told I simply had to visit. Sainte Chappelle is a Gothic Chapel that was sponsored by Louis IX of France. It was originally built to house precious relics such as Christ’s crown of thorns, the Image of Edessa and thirty other relics of Christ that had been in the possession of Louis IX. When we walked in, there were pretty stained glass windows and uniquely painted columns around a statue of Louis IX at the very front of the church. To our right there was a very narrow spiral staircase, and opened up into a large room full of floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows. It was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. I had trouble taking it all in at once, but once I did, I could see that there were very tiny pieces of glass that formed an image, that was then part of a larger image. It was truly breathtaking. Again, pictures can’t capture its beauty.

After Saint Chappelle, we finished our the bus tour, window-shopped for a little while, and then headed back to our hotel. That night, we decided we wanted to try a little bit of the Paris nightlife. At the front desk we were told that Rex night club was the best place to go, and it was relatively close. We took a cab there at around 11:30 and when we walked up to the door they told us they didn’t open until midnight. I guess Parisians like to do it late-night. We grabbed a beer at a bar close by until Rex opened and then excitedly busted through the doors ready to dance the night away only to be stopped and told it was a 15 euro cover to get in. We all sucked it up and paid the 15 euros only to walk downstairs to find a completely empty dance floor (with the exception of two guys who looked like they weren’t quite sure where there were or who they were, but just decided to dance anyway), and a drink list where the cheapest drink cost 10 euros. After a solid ten minutes we decided to just leave and find a new spot. The woman who was collecting the cover charge told us it didn’t usually get good until 2 a.m. and that we would have to re-pay if we wanted to come back (she said it in a way that sounded like, “I dare you to step a foot out the door and try to find somewhere else.”). I don’t know about the French but by 2 a.m. I’m on my way to my bed, and that’s on a rowdy night. Not worth it. We went to a bar a little ways down the street which turned out to be a much better option. We actually met some friendly people and had a good time, without a cover charge. One person I met was trying very hard to carry on a conversation with me in English and asked if I could speak any French at all because his English wasn’t that good. When I told him no, he asked if I knew any Spanish. Excited to hear of a language I had actually studied before I said, “yes, I learned some Spanish in high school! Lets try it!” Mistake. He turned into Speedy Gonzalez on me and I felt even more awkward than before. “Oops, maybe I don’t know Spanish as well as I thought.” That’s when a taxi pulled up and we all climbed in at went back to the hotel. From now on I just tell people I only know English, and not a stitch more.

At the gates of Versailles

The chapel

The famous Hall of Mirrors. It has 17 large chandeliers and 26 smaller ones each made of solid silver. The chandeliers held 1,000 candles.

The King's bed chamber

The Queen's bed chamber

Where the King and Queen ate their meals

A circle of special people would get to sit and watch the king and queen eat their dinner

Artist!

Notre Dame

The beautiful window inside Notre Dame

Statue of King Louis XI in Sainte Chappelle

The gorgeous stained glass windows in Saint Chappelle