Insomniac's Dilemma

6/6/09 6:47AM CEST

So... yeah... it's 6:47 AM... I woke up at 5 AM yesterday, went traipsing around France, and collapsed at around 12. And then. Woke up at 6 again. Here is my dilemma- what I've termed the insomniac's dilemma- is it worth wasting the time trying to fall asleep again, or is it better to just get up and begin one's day?

Well, I decided to update my blog.

So anyway, yesterday, we started the day at like 8:15- or for me- 8:25 since I fail at life. We had about an hour and a half class before taking the bus to Chateau de Chantilly- it's essentially an estate that belonged to a noble family- the majority of which was constructed during the 17th century. It was an hour long bus trip or so.

It was gorgeous- it has the second biggest art museum in France outside of the Louvre, and we saw a lot of the figures we had talked about in class- including Cardinals Mazarin and Richelieu- successive henchmen of Louis XIV (who, despite being from different countries, looked kinda like twins). The art museum had a few original Raphaels, and an original miniature of Rigaud's Portrait of  Louis. This painting is ubiquitous, especially with regard to French history. It was unbelievable to be able to see a smaller version up front. Looking forward to Rigaud's final draft at the Louvre. P.S. He was obsessed with his legs, as is evident in the painting (He was a dancer- apparently one of the best dancers of his time!

We then took a tour of the palace. It was magnificent, and had a lot of very cool things, including doors that were gold-plated, and furniture custom made for Marie Antoinette per Louis XVI's orders.

We saw the stables. They were better and more elegant than my room. Then, we watched a horse show. It was actually kind of like- what are you guys doing to these horses? Given, the horses were talented- they had been taught to bow, and other pretentious things. They were very pretty- and I miss riding like none other- but I felt that it was rather unnecessary.

Blah, blah, blah... fast forward to our dinner. It. was. AMAZING. Five courses. Three different types of alcohol- kir royale as an apértif (a delicious champagne with creme de cassis (black-currant liquor), a lovely Chardonnay, and a Bordeaux, which was a little rougher. It was absolutely phenomenal. Also, apparently whipped cream- or creme chantilly, in French- was invented at the Chateau Chantilly where we were. We got a live demonstration of how it is made, and then had some homemade whipped cream to top off our fabulous dessert. Fast forward to a table of students and our professor, five glasses or so later, stumbling towards a bus that showed up late. We got home and I passed out.