Paris Part 2

Today we took the RER (the suburban train system) out to the Versailles Castle. We were all very excited about it because we had all learned a lot about it in our historty of design classes. I thought it was more away from things, but its very much in the middle of a neighborhood. The tour of the castle was truely impressive and everything we thought it to be and more. The hall of mirrors was very beautiful. I think that the Room of Peace was my favorite room. From there we went to see some buildings on the ground called the Grand Trianon, and the Peitet Trianon. As well as Marie Antoinette's hamlet where she would vacation away from the castle. It is rumored she would have the ducks and chickens that lived there dyed to match her costumes each day. but that was a haul. We had laughed at first when we were told it would take an hour to walk out to the end of the grand canal, but it was really true. The grounds and gardens behind the castle are truely massive. When we got back we picked up some groceries and met Caroline, her brother Guillaume, and Eyal to go down to the river. We ate and drank right along the Seine. It is a huge gathering spot for students, and there are dancing lessons, and drum lines, a very lively place. The next day was first dedicated to having internet access. It was wonderful. We hadnt been on in almost 6 days, so it was good to catch up. From there we headed to the Louvre Musuem. In some ways the architecture of the building itself seemed more impressive them some of the art inside, and the art is incredible. We saw the Mona Lisa, she much smaller then I imagined, but my favorite part was the room just of Peter Paul Reubens work, he is an artistic genius. On our way home we bought a thank you gift for Alexs family, as we were having drinks with them later that night. They were so generous to us, even getting out the expensive Fois Grais (goose liver pate) for us to try. Afterwords we went to a discotech with Caroline and Eyal. The next morning we really slept in, and then ran a few errands before getting a filling french meal and getting prepared to take our first overnight train. It was nearly and hour late leaving Paris, and not the most restful expereince, but we got through it. In fact we were all asleep when we got to Irun so that the conductor had to come wake us up.