French Word of the Day: étoiles (ay-twahle)- stars

The stars have all aligned and peace has come to the world again.  What does that mean?  I finally got internet in my foyer!!!!!!!  I can communicate with the world!

My group went to Versailles this weekend.  It was my fourth time at Versailles, but if you’re only going to see one castle in your life; Versailles should be it.  It’s huge and impressive and overdecorated.  If you ever see another castle after Versailles, your reaction is “Oh, this is it?  Come on guys, you can do better.”

But Versailles had a surprise for me!  Someone who works at Versailles (who will soon be my friend) decided to spike controversy by taking a Japanese manga exhibit and putting it right in the middle of some of the castle’s most famous rooms.

Have no idea what I’m talking about?  How about a photo!

I burst out laughing when I saw this one.  Some of the people in my group were shocked and appalled that the famed Hall of Mirrors that normally looks like this:

Had this in the middle of it:

Even though none of them could tell you the historical significance of the room (Treaty of Versailles ending WWI, anyone?), they still felt unjustifiable anger towards “whatever idiot had decided to ruin the beauty of Versailles.”

They looked a bit like this guy:

Jenna and I explained to them that Versailles was built at a time when many of the people in France were starving.  The royal court literally moved away from their problems and built an excessively large and extravagant castle instead of aiding the people dying on the streets.  We thought the art was extremely thought-provoking and that its purpose was to show the ridiculousness of Versailles.  (Well, that was Jenna’s eloquent explanation.  I just thought it was hilarious.)

We’re either really good at arguing or none of the people in our group had extensive knowledge of French history because suddenly, everyone else with us decided they liked the art.  They even liked this lady:

She looks a bit like a French maid, non?

I plan on updating more this week now that the internet has returned to me.  I hope you all enjoyed the lovely pictures.

Speaking of pictures, thank you for all the offers from my last post!  You will be helping making this less white:

Wow, that looks dull.  At least the bedspread is orange.  Girl’s gotta have some color.

The room is much bigger than my last one.  I can actually walk in it AND when I spread my arms out their full length, I’m unable to touch both sides of the room at the same time.  In Paris, this is the spacial equivalent of a six-story mansion.

For all of you who fear my room is a desolate place, I give you this photo:

Yes, that is a dolphin laundry hamper.  His name is Dusty, and he’s my friend.  Théo walked in, saw him and said, “That’s for children.”  I’m ignoring him.  (Théo, not Dusty.)

The French are striking again tomorrow (the retirement age thing again).  My normal metro line is working at 50% (this means there will only be half of the normal cars in operation… rush hour is gonna suck), so I need to figure out how to walk from school.  This should only take 90 minutes.  Thank God I don’t have morning classes on Tuesdays…

Pain au chocolat count: 18