La Ferme, la ferme...

So, when you hear the name Marie Antoinette what first comes to mind? "let them eat cake", 3 foot hairstyles, gross overspending, guillotines? well that's fair...(although she never said "let them eat cake", that was somebody else before her time, and when they said cake they actually meant brioche, in context - bakers, if you run out of basic bread give the peasants fancy brioche for the same price so they don't starve. - So, meant to be fair not patronizing (thanks "Stuff You Missed in History Class" for setting the record straight, Sarah and Katie, I love your podcast!!). So Marie Antoinette was a pretty serious victim of BAD publicity, which didn't end so well, but the great Antonia Frasier has cleared her good name in her book "Marie Antoinette: The Journey", a little light reading before heading off to Versailles. The book was really humanizing and I totally fell in love with Marie Antoinette! long story short she had simple country girl tastes at heart and with that in mind had Louis XVI build her Hameau de la Reine or in English the Queens Hamlet out behind Petit Trianon. And I can understand why, as impressive as Versailles is it is not exactly cozy or welcoming, a little too formal/oppressive/prison-like for my taste and apparently hers as well, so why not use your riches to create an alternate universe out back where you can live the simple life and breathe...

If you ever have the chance please go to Versailles. First you must experience the Chateau (the main palace) where you will be hurried along ever forward like cattle in a gilded Rococo slaughter house, senses stunned by gold leaf and wallpaper and chandeliers and marble busts and velvet and not a single surface undecorated, then you will then be spit out into the famously lovely gardens which you will marvel at until you realize there is not an centimeter of shade and the sun above is so fierce that you will go from being doomed cattle to feeling like Lawrence of Arabia, so hot, so hot, but look there is water far ahead... yes, head towards the grand canal, there are trees down there, trees, and shade, if you can make it, wait, it's farther then it seems... After a brief recovery at the canal you hang a right and make your way to Petit Trianon which feels downright modest compared to the Chateau and then a little wander down a winding path through the loveliest forest to the Queens Hamlet, a little village, filled with hard work and family values. Aaahh, exhale...yes, the perfect place to unwind and maybe have little fun on the side with a certain mister Count Fersen.


After the village you will come to the most charming fairytale farm, I would happily clean stalls for the rest of my life if someone would let me live there... sigh...really just perfect....

also you get points if you spot the lady bug, she came by to check out my progress:)


They had all the regular farm animals and in addition an area for cute bunnies, each with their own little red bunny hut, and wacky chickens for company. I don't want to think too hard about what bunnies are doing on a farm, the answer I like best is that they are there for cuddles so let's leave it at that.

Stay tuned for a Versailles post... I'll be dreaming of goats and bunnies tonight...