Thursday, January 19, 2012

Pink Castles and Boom

Yesterday I went to go visit Versailles with my fellow American friend (okay yes I know I'm not "American" but I'm from Mexico AND Canada, so I just call myself american. Sometimes at least, since it's so much easier that way. I'm not implying I'm from the States, only that I am from North America).

Apparently entering the gardens is free, which is awesome because it's so nice to go for a walk. You get to see the castle, the fountains, the Trianon etc, all for free! Then if you feel like going inside any of these places then you just pay.
This map shows only one part of Versailles
We started our walk from the back entrance of the garden, the closest one to the Petit Trianon. I don't know exactly the story behind the Trianon (I did not go on the tour, but I plan on going again during Spring time) but from the movie "Marie-Antoinette", starring Kristen Dunst, it was a gift from Louis to Marie. It was her escape and Louis could not visit her unless she invited him!
Le petit Trianon, so much for little


Next to the Petit Trianon she has a small village that looks like what I imagine villages back then looked like. My friend told me that Marie-Antoinette paid actors to act as farmers and village people. Looks like she wanted to have a normal life without actually having it?

Then we walked towards the Trianon, which is this big palace that is PINK, yes you read right PINK. It is so amazing and crazy! It's made out of pink marble,imagine how expensive that marble must be?! I didn't even know it was possible to have pink marble. As I walked around this beautiful place with beautiful gardens, I tried to picture myself living in those days. What would it feel like? How cool would that be? Yes it was probably lonely and annoying because of the responsibility you had as royalty, but still I'm curious to know what it was like back then.
Gotta love her, she gave us the gift of being able to see a pink castle

We then walked all the way up to Versailles, and no wonder people hated the King and Queen. That place is massive and the gardens just make it even bigger. To think that there was thousands of people without food and they were living in pretty much their own city. It's too bad that Louis actually didn't live there long enough to actually enjoy the finished product.
Chateau de Versailles

I decided not to go inside the castle and wait for spring or just right before summer vacations ( I don't want to go when there's a lot of tourists, you can never enjoy properly the sight because you feel so rushed) so I can see the gardens again because even though they're still beautiful now, the fountains aren't on and there's not leaves in the trees hehe.
I think this is what heaven's gates look like

Later that night my American friend and I decided to go meet our british friend at an english pub called "Le Bombardier". I took the RER (train) instead of the metro since my host parents said it would be so much closer to the pub if I took the RER, since the stop is closer and that it's right there. So I figured, since it's just "right there" I won't take my map (I always carry my map with me, it's indispensable!), which wasn't a good idea.

We didn't get lost, but we did go around in circles and definitely took longer than it was supposed to (on our way back we realized we turned one street before the one we actually had to turn to haha). So like women who don't have a problem with asking directions, unlike men, we stopped at a bistro and asked where the "Pantheon" was (the bar was right next to the Pantheon). This lady went outside with us and explained us which way to go, I was so surprised and grateful because I found that I don't find a lot go friendly people in Paris. Well at least people who work in the customer service department (If you don't get why, read my horrible shopping experience in my post "Shoes, shoes, shoes"). She told us "You walk up this street and then turn right on the 4th street. You can't miss it, it's like BOOM, there it is!"

Yeah, that was a big boom alright. I cannot describe how I felt so blown away by that view. I think I just found my third love (Tour eiffel being my first, then Versailles). I was walking and then I look to my left and there it is, this magnificent building full of history. I just wanted to stand there and look at it all night. It was so beautiful. I regretted that moment not bringing my camera, but I took a mental picture. I will never forget that feeling of being blown away by it. It definitely felt like boom.

We finally found the pub, and to my surprise there was a lot of french people. Yes I know I'm in Paris, obviously there was going to be french people, but I figured since it's an english pub all the british expats would be there. We got some drinks, and waited for our other friend to arrive. As we were talking out of nowhere this guy comes up to me and asks me if I speak english or french. I say english because I learned that if you don't want a guy talking to you just say "I don't speak french" and that'll solve the problem haha. But I said english because I wasn't sure what he wanted. He told me he would like to buy me a drink. Wow, was I hearing right? A french guy not only wanting to buy me a drink but also noticing me? I'm not sure if I've mentioned before, but french men don't look at you. It's as if you don't exist. I'm not kidding, every time I go out, I don't even get a glance from a guy and it's not only me who feels this way, all my friends have noticed too (and no we're not ugly girls).
I was hesitant at first, but then I decided to take a chance, why not? So we got some drinks and spent the rest of the night talking. I won't go into details about what we talked about etc, because that would just be weird. I'm writing a blog not a diary. However one thing I will write about is something he asked me which I found it so funny. He asked me if where I come from if guys do this (buying a girl a drink), I wanted to answer him "Of course they do, it's normal. I'm surprised you guys do this here" (because of the way it feels french men don't even glance at us).
I gave him my number and he asked me out to the movies this weekend. I'm a bit nervous because well dating someone from another culture can be quite different. What you think is normal could probably not be normal for them. For example, I read a blog about a girl who now lives in Paris and how she met her boyfriend at a party and at the end of the night she decided to kiss him. Turns out he thought they where official! The girl was obviously confused, she had just met the guy, but he explained to her that in France you don't kiss someone just for kissing them, you kiss them because you like them and want things to be serious.
This is why I'm scared, I better be careful with every move I take!

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