Versailles? EuroDisney? Both!

Marie Antoinette's HameauI came to Paris a week before orientation began because I, and the two girls I live with, also from NYU-Gallatin, have housing independent of the program. Our lease started September 1, and we moved in right away so we could have a lot of time to settle. My mom came with me to help me set up, and buy groceries, and also so she could visit Paris and get time away from work. My mom loves most everything associated with European royalty, and she had never been to Versailles, so on a relatively clear day we took the RER out to the chateau.
Versailles is predictably really huge, and the chateau was actually the least exciting part for me. It was glitzy and golden and there was a lot of art, but it was also crowded and loud and pushy and not very enjoyable. We walked through some of the gardens, and ate lunch by the Grand Canal before heading toward Marie Antoinette’s domain. Visiting this part of the estate, I finally understood why France was so broke under her rule. The woman had two palaces, the Grande Trianon and the Petit Trianon, both way bigger than any house I’ve ever visited. Incidentally, there is a house in San Francisco, which is for sale right now, modeled after the Petit Trianon. So if you have a spare several million dollars and aspirations to live like royalty, you should check it out. Besides the palaces, there are twenty or so attractions scattered around the area: a theatre, a chapel, a grotto, a big rock that I didn’t understand the significance of, lots of houses, an orangerie, an English garden, etc. etc.
Then there was the hamlet. Apparently, Marie Antoinette liked to pretend she lived a simple, rural existence in the countryside and was a milkmaid. So she had a little town built to fuel this fantasy. There was a mini farm, where all the animals were hugely fat. There was a dairy, where the milking tables were marble. There was a tower, an artificial lake, a mill, her house, and a separate bedroom. Everything was really cute and like Disneyland: authentic-looking on the outside, but super fancy inside. The architect was really talented to have created this for her. But all this for one woman? Like I said, no wonder France went broke. That, on top of the clothing, must have been extremely pricey.
Another odd thing about Versailles was that the map we were given at the entrance had seriously screwy proportions. Buildings that looked close were enormous treks away, and suddenly we would run into one that had looked very far away before we ran into the one we were trying to get to. The signs inside the palace were very clear, but once we got to Marie Antoinette’s domain, we were definitely on our own. I hadn’t particularly wanted to go to Versailles, but I was definitely charmed by it in the end. Though, I suppose, if I wasn’t able to afford bread it would be infinitely less appealing.