Jour 8 Paris: Hameau & Trianon

Tie for favorite post is between today's and the one about Marché Saint Antoine. Marie Antoinette's Hameau (hamlet) is one of the sweetest, most Alice-in-Wonderlandy, Secret-Gardeny, gorgeous places ever. It's so frickin' dreamy. If I ever own a house with lots of land, I'm converting my backyard into un hameau. I have to.

We were kind of dumb because we whizzed through the Palace to head to Marie Antoinette's retreat and it turns out, it doesn't even open until noon. Luckily for us, there was a little seating area associated with the café so we just sat down for 20 minutes.

At around 11:50, people started forming a line so we hopped on the bandwagon and queued up.

You'll have to show your tickets to an employee - if you purchased the 'Passeport' package, you'll show the same exact tickets you used at the Palace.

It's a whole different vibe once you get back to the Hameau. It's calmer, dreamier, quaint and lovely.

The only things to worry about are the puddles, but if you're like my baby sis, you'll navigate them like a pro.

And if you're a freak like me, you'll sit on a bench and pose like a creepy statue. The key is to not make eye contact.

Okay, so the key to a really nice hameau is fields of wildflowers.

Fill them with mostly white flowers but sprinkle in a few orange, yellow, and blue.

A little bit of color here and there is cute but when the majority of them are white, it gives the meadow this super sweet, confectioner's sugar-dusted look.

Another key to a great hameau is a water feature big enough to encourage animals to come and live.

Stock your water feature with fish.

And maybe a muskrat or two.

Oh, and some ducks.

Build plenty of adorable cottages, preferably with mossy and/or thatched roofs.

If you can build a little moat around the cottages, it's even better.

Make sure to plant plenty of greenery.

And build adorable wooden gates to guard your gardens. Guardens.

Pink flowers are a must.

This might be my favorite photo from the whole collection.

There are actual farm animals here as well, but we sort of skipped that bit because I was getting tired. We did see them from afar, which was enough for me.

The Trianon was also really cute. It was decorated with pink marble on the outside, or what I think is pink, and it wasn't quite as lavish as the Palace, which complimented the vibe of the Hameau.

I fell in love with these little poufs. I want to make some of my own.

The town of Versailles is also quite quaint, though the restaurants were v. overpriced, at least compared to Paris. My sister said it looked like this was where the rich people lived, and why not? The Chateau is right there.

If I ever go back to Paris - which I likely will, as I tapped Point Zero - I'm pretty sure I'm going to want to go visit Versailles again. I mean, just for the Hameau; that's how much I loved it.

xoxo.