The Wordsmith: Monet's Garden and the Palace of Versailles, my two favorite places!

For our 10th and 11th days in Paris we decided to step just outside of the city and visit two really cool places! Monet's Garden is truly a magical place to be. It is no wonder her purchased the home. The city of Giverny is so small and perfect that Monet could find peace outside of Paris. It is so green there and easy to garden which Monet did. He wanted his gardens to inspire all artists and provided a huge impressionist movement through Paris. His gardens make you want to paint or draw or just be! It is so beautiful!

Now Versailles was what I wanted to see the most! We took a bike tour (which I described in my post over a month ago) and that was like a fairy tale. The tour guide was very nice but her facts were, for the most part, wrong and that drove me bonkers. Other than that it was amazing! Walking where Marie Antoinette walked and seeing the things she saw made my heart so happy. It was so lavish and and so luxurious I was in heaven!!! There were far too many people there but I could not be happier to finally see where my favorite historical figure lived!

Please enjoy our weekend away from Paris!

How absolutely perfect to watch a bee land on one of Monet's flowers?!?!

Kissy face flowers!

I love this one! It is out of a magical fairy tale land.

More kissy face flowers! I know they are called snapdragons but my great Oma used to call them kissy face flowers and make them kiss my face. It is my favorite memory of her :)

I want this flower!

Just a perfect pair of pears.

Is this place for real?

There is a happy frog in this picture!

And now the frog is on the grass above the stream.

Seriously? This place is for real!

How many people have painted these lily pads? I have pondered this since we visited the famous pond.

A happy vine crawling up a tree.

Just me appreciating the gardens.

Joy! I am just so joyous!

Another happy bee!

I dig this flower

Places where you can find a Monet.

This is the surrounding homes in Giverny.

So handsome!

The iron work is so intricate!

This is a reflection of the Eiffel Tower off our window as we saw it from our bed!

Getting ready for our bike tour!

Bike ride selfie!

Heaven!

Goats!

A dog running through the grounds of Versailles. The grounds are open to visitors.

I just love him :)

The farm at the Petit Trianon.

A precious vineyard

The Grand Trianon. This is where Louis XV kept his mistresses.

The Grand Canal. It was hand dug!

Our nice tour guide.

It began POURING after this.

So we stopped to have a fairy tale lunch with salami (spicy and regular), comte cheese, a fresh baguette and red wine! It was so perfect!

A little bug joined us.

There was a flight training center nearby.

Perfect!

I took a nap here. Why? Because I am that awesome and pretended to be that posh.

I could have stayed here for days!

Scott wandered off and found some mystical looking areas.

Can you just imagine the royals running through these grounds hunting a stag!

I want to live here! This is the inside of Versailles.

Marie Antoinette and her first two children.

The key to Versailles.

The movie "Marie Antoinette" was filmed here and this part of the castle where the church is really stuck out for me.

The Sun King's wife.

The king's bed.

The Sun King, Louis XV

The Hall of Mirrors where Marie Antoinette married the future Louis XVI

It was absolutely splendid.

Louis XIV built it...

Louis XV enjoyed it...

Louis XVI paid for it.

These rooms!!!

Marie Antoinette's bed!!

Look at that gold decorations!

Find the hidden door...

The queen!

Not that one...

There it is! There were lots of hidden doors throughout the palace.

The royal family ate in public. People could just spend their day watching the king and queen go about their day.

This is a particularly somber painting. It was painted after the birth of Marie Antoinette's 4th child. Sadly the child died before the painting was finished so he was painted out of the crib.