Day 35: Everything but CAKE!

Man, did I get myself up early or what!? A solid 6:30am rang out loudly from my alarm. I was not particularly happy about it, but I was excited for the day to come! It meant that I would be heading to the notorious chateau of Versailles, clad in vibrant satin red, to explore the bedroom of Marie Antionette.

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Taking the RER, it is only a short 30 minute ride to the chateau. Once again thankful for our magic student cards, we were admitted for free into the chateau where we traversed the rooms of royals, seeing velvet wallpaper among velvet wallpaper, admiring the garish nature of this lavish lifestyle that was somebody's norm. Swerving between swarms upon swarms of tourists, we snagged cheesy mirror pictures and artistic shots of ornate marble patterns.

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Besides the immense chateau, there are the massive gardens that also deserved their moment of fame and acknowledgement from us. As there was a water show planned for the evening, we had to enter from a different direction to access the grassy fields. Walking all the way around the fortress walls, we made it to a different gate where we could find the path towards the Trianon and the residence of the Queen called l'Hameau de la Reine. Essentially a set of cottages constructed by Louis XVI for Marie Antionette, I was taken with the northern cottage architecture that utterly romanticized rural life. Could I also live surrounded by these little straw-roofed cottages and docile farm animals with flowers on all four sides? You know, without the same fate as this infamous queen. Traversing all the little paths, we ran across a clearing that was completely empty...which meant we acted like idiots for a solid 10 minutes as we jumped up and down in front our precariously balanced phone cameras. What can I say? We will never change.

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Walking with so much purpose through half of the grounds (i.e. an insane amount of walking), we made it back to the RER in time to catch it back to Paris. We had to be somewhere before 14h30...to pick up KEYS to this massive apartment right by the Eiffel Tower to enjoy the fireworks on the 14th. Yes, you heard me right. We are truly living in case you couldn't tell.

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I accidentally fell asleep on the RER so Anna had to wake me up. For this reason, I legitimately stumbled out all the way to the apartment with practically no spatial awareness. In other words, quite the fun time...

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Making our way back to the apartment in one piece (a feat in and of itself), we allowed ourselves some rest. The most important discovery during this time was the presence of every single Harry Potter movie on French Netflix. HA! And the world thought I would be getting work done...so SO far from the truth. I needed this in my life after London.

The granddaughter of our host family came to visit in the evening and we made chocolate chip cookies thanks to none other than Smitten Kitchen. She is a goddess in out lives currently. Mixing, whisking, spilling, cleaning, laughing, explaining, chatting, singing, and other gerunds...we had a TIME with this little girl. We even taught her five-year-old self how to separate the yolk from the egg whites.

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The cookie dough was a huge hit with this little girl so we were hoping the baked product would be just as satisfying. We sat down with her for dinner too, enjoying no. 5 spaghetti each dressed to his/her own liking. Mine was slathered with butter and garlic, and anyone who knows me should not be surprised by that fact. They also added a French omelette on top of the pasta. The amount of dairy was killing me in the prettiest way possible.

The warm cookies to top off the dinner were delicious if I can say so myself. A little pat on our collective backs. But, it did not stop there. "Host mom" took out a dark chocolate sorbet and served me a massive portion that I ended up finishing. Stuffed is the most accurate description of my being. Then small hands played with Anna's hair and mine right after. I had clips spanning the length of my forehead. Just imagine that.

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Deciding that we were not going out, we grabbed some more cookies, milk and Nutella (I know, I know...) and watched the first Harry Potter movie. I will admit, I fell asleep full of more sugar than should be allowed in one's body, but you know who cares. There is only one life to live, and I want it to involve Nutella at most if not at all intervals.