chateau chantilly & its gardens

this post will probably be short, since it is very late right now (past 3:00 am in Paris) and because not much happened today other than our first day-trip to Chantilly.

so, yes...we got up early to meet the rest of the CEA group at the Opera Bastille at 9:15, and took buses out to Chantilly, which is about an hour north of Paris. on the way there, tom and i amused ourselves greatly by looking at a French slang book that he got from a friend of his living in Paris. hahaha, there are some hilarious terms in there. i just may bring the best ones home with me, and continue using them when i speak English.
but when we finally got there...we were amazed. wow, it is breathtaking! even though it is technically still winter, and spring hasn't really brought everything back to life yet...it is a very beautiful place.
we toured the chateau and the art collections from all of its owners inside of it, walked over to the town nearby to have lunch, and returned to explore the garden/forest area on the estate, before returning home. we had a lot of free time too...which we spent sitting on a wall near the castle...trying to soak up as much sunlight as we could while the freezing wind blew all around us. it wasn't the most pleasant day weather-wise...but we still made it work.

part of the mosaic tiling on one of the floors

one of the smaller art gallery rooms

view from inside the chateau...oh, to be rich/royal

the library was amazing

fiona, in an enchanted forest

tom & i made some artwork, and then left it for someone to find.

my lunch. a pizza tonino (with tuna and an egg)

so tranquil.

thatch-roof!

resting our feet on a mini-island in the middle of the creek

duckies! (yes, walking on ice...)

after returning home to Paris (that's still so weird to say! but i love it), we all went to our own homes for a "siesta" before going out that night. the only problem is...tom overslept. haha, i don't blame him. i almost did too. anyway...fiona, krystina, and i went back to Le Caveau Des Oubliettes in the Quartier Latin, because it was such a cool place. we just relaxed, chatted, had a drink...and kept trying to get in touch with tom. haha, we all thought he ditched us for his friends from back home who are here as well. sorry, tom! but yeah, we called it a night early...since we're exploring other parts of Paris tomorrow.

i went back to my building...and then tom calls at around 12:30. haha...and he wanted to go out, since he wasn't tired anymore. so i got him to come over and see my place, and go to an Irish bar at the end of my street. turns out it was closed (weird, because on a weeknight a few nights ago...it was open and lively at 2:00 am) so we just went to another place three blocks away, right by my métro stop, Faidherbe-Chaligny. we chatted, watched some ice hockey on tv, etc. we finally left there around 2:15, and he walked over to the Place Bastille to catch a Noctilien (nightbus) home, while i just walked back to my building. i've never gone out twice in one night...but it was fun!

random grafitti i enjoyed ("i buy, therefore i am")

tomorrow, i will hopefully check out the Hillsong Paris Church (if i manage to wake up on time) and then afterwards to meet up with the others to explore Montmartre and the area surrounding it.

- feeling cultured