Versailles

Lots to talk about! I have taken plenty of photographs over the past days as a result of being in full tourist-mode while my parents are visiting.

Today we went to Versailles. I had been into the gardens before, but never inside the castle, which is a sumptious feast for the senses. And, for that matter, an assault to common sense. Who needs an opera stage in their house? Or 7 living rooms?

In addition, I also toured the grounds of Marie-Antoinette's estate for the first time. As a gift, her husband (Louis XVI) built an entire little hamlet for her. On one of the farms contained within this little community today there is a goat with 4 horns. I'm not sure what the story with this goat is, but my guess is that it has some type of genetic mutations in a gene encoding for horn/skull patterning.

French Word for the Day: salopettes, which means "overalls". Strangely enough, the seemingly related words "salope" and "salopard" don't have anything to do with "salopettes": they are rather 2 very vulgar words meaning bitch ("salope") and bastard ("salopard"). Be careful!