The Château de Chantilly on a rainy day

This was our first excursion outside of Paris. We went to the town of Chantilly to see the beautiful Château de Chantilly. Since we don’t have classes Mondays, we decided to leave Paris for the day in order to explore a little more of France. So we made our way to Gare du Nord the main train station in Paris to get a ticket to Chantilly (We were not completely sure of how the whole train thing worked). After walking around for a couple minutes and asking for information we were on our way to Chantilly. Turns out that getting our ticket was easier than we imagined. They have electronic kiosks that let you change the language to English, Spanish, German, etc… and you can buy your ticket there.

Walk (in the wrong direction) and picnic along the woods.

The train ride was short, about 30 minutes long. Unfortunately, it rained the whole day! I must say that since this was a very unexpected trip we were not sure of how to get to the castle. So I got out my GPS… and we ended up walking for about 40 minutes in the opposite direction. I mean it was a very nice walk, we had food and we talked and joked around for a while… until we started seeing horses, and then mostly just pastures and horses. But everything was ok, we called a taxi and made our way to The Château de Chantilly in 10 minutes.

Exploring the Chantilly gardens

The castle was amazing! If you are a book lover, the library at the chateau will seriously feel like a dream come true. You can tour the castle pretty quickly, and they offer a free audio tour in English. After seeing the castle we explored the gardens! The view is gorgeous. If you visit the castle with a group of friends on a sunny day I would recommend renting a golf cart so you can see the entirety of the gardens (plus driving around the gardens is a really fun experience).

Coffee is always a good idea, especially after a long day!

All in all, this was one of those spontaneous trips that make your traveling experience unforgettable. A reminder that when you travel, unexpected things happen, but those adventures make great memories.

The Château de Chantilly

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Carolina is a current student at Baylor University studying at the American University of Paris, France during the Fall 2016 term.