Versailles

Wednesday I woke up really late because I had the strangest “Inception”-esque dream(s). First I dreamt that Christian Bale was promoting the Dark Knight Rises by riding the Batman roller coaster in Six Flags in his Batsuit a lot of times. So many times that he eventually collapsed from exhaustion and died. I was really upset at this news. Then I “woke up” and realized it was only a dream, and felt so relieved. Then I “woke up” again and learned that he actually did die, and pondered whether I would be more upset if my parents were dead, and decided I would be more upset if my parents had died (logical Dream Kristin). Then I “woke up” again and realized he did not actually die, because it wasn’t on the internet anywhere. Then when I “woke up” and learned that he was dead, I explained to my aunt and uncle that I thought these movies were cursed because Heath Ledger died after acting in Dark Knight. Finally I woke up for realsies and felt really disoriented.

For those who are concerned about Christian Bale’s health, he seems to be doing just fine. Here is a dreamy photo of him:

Moving on from my obvious obsession with Batman, my family decided to take me to Versailles today! The castle was gorgeous. At first I was bit underwhelmed by what I thought was the main garden, but then I realized Versailles is actually a BIGASS estate. When I visited my family in France when I was 8, I apparently got lost in the gardens of Versailles. My parents must have been panicking because Versailles is huge. Here are some pics (Remember you can click on the pictures to make them larger!)

The front gate

A bunch of Asians who are afraid of the sun haha

Voila! Le Chateau de Versailles

Chillinnn

Part of the garden

Serene

Me and a rather large teapot

Starting to realize that the grounds are bigger than I thought...

Some statue heads

Sunny

Gloomy boobies

It's like a maze here

Marble statues of people like Hercules and Pandora

Pretty!

My cousin and I enjoying some soft serve in Versailles

Swans in the lake

GORGEOUS! Can I get married here?

Oooh Marie Antoinette! Let them eat cake!

Lake. My cousins were très disappointed they were not allowed to rent a boat.

Sigh so pretty. Statues in the background.

More statues chillin

Interesting blue monument!

So of course I thought everything was pretty like the castles in the background, the lake full of canoes, the fountains, the marble statues of famous Greek gods and goddesses, and the flowers, but as I was leaving, I turned around and saw everything as a whole…and I was speechless. I always thought I understood what people meant when they say “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” but now I could really visualize it. I felt like weeping when I looked at the grounds altogether. I have never been in the presence of such beauty! Imagine being one of the kings or queens of Versailles and knowing all this is yours! Of course, the following pictures do not do the grounds justice. I definitely want to come back here.

Some attempts I made to capture the incredible grounds

That night we had chien-chauds, or hot dogs, for dinner. The French do it differently than the Americans. They eat them with baguettes for the bread, fromage (cheese), and Benjamin sauce, which reminded me of mayonnaise. It was a bit weird; I had to put ketchup on it!

À toute à l'heure!