We spent the
entire day in Versailles today. It was so, so hot when we arrived and the line was long
and didn’t offer any shelter from the scorching sun. We decided we would take shifts – one of us would wait in
line and the other two would find some shade. 15 minutes later we’d switch. Carly was gracious enough to let me take shelter under a
shirt she fashionably tied around her waist.
The palace was
beautiful albeit a bit crowded in some rooms.
Hall of Mirrors
When we headed
outside in search of water the grounds were much less crowded and we were able to
take a couple pictures.
The gardens were
expansive and beautiful.
We were grateful
to find a little snack shop tucked away in the groves where I enjoyed my first
French crepe of the trip.
As we were
walking around the gardens I saw someone who I immediately knew I’d seen in a
movie or TV show. Not surprising,
cause I’m terrible at names and I have a cruddy memory, it took me nearly two
hours to finally figure out it was Melissa John Hart (most famous for her role
as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch). A
celebrity sighting is always cool – this was even better cause we’re in the
middle of France where likely few would know she was anything special. She was a frazzled mom just trying to
buy her kid a popscile on a hot day.
Paris offers free
admission to most museums and points of interest for students so the girls got
in free to most of the places we visited.
Including the Palace of Versailles. We walked over to the Palaces of Trianon thinking my Versailles
ticket would get me admission but it would be an additional $10 if I wanted to go in. I was feeling a little palaced out so
the girls went in alone. I thought
they’d only be 15-20 minutes, but I think they were in there over an hour. When I saw how many pictures they’d
taken it was obvious that they’d had some fun photo shoots while I
waited outside.
We were so close
(or so it seemed on the map) to the newly opened Paris temple that we walked,
and walked, and walked AND walked {cue primary music} to explore the temples
grounds and had a lovely, informative visit with the senior missionary couple
serving there. A special, holy place to be (and we appreciated the AC and cold
water). There was so much opposition
building this temple; however, since it’s been completed the community has
really come to support the temple and it’s beautiful grounds in their
community.
It was
interesting to hear the story of the Christus standing in the garden plaza. It clearly testifies that we are a Christian church. This statue is an exact replica of the statue in the Salt
Lake Visitors Center – both created from the original Thorvaldsen’s Christus
statue in Copenhagen, Denmark {which we would see later on our vacation}.
I gifted the
girls with an Uber ride to the train station, which closely resembled a 007
scene. Seriously those French drivers are insane. Macarons and a shower were the perfect conclusion to our
day.
