Vaux-Le-Vicompte

Today was Vaux-Le-Vicompte Day!

Vaux-Le-Vicompte is a Chateau about an hour

and a half outside of Paris and also the site of

Eva Longoria and Tony Parker's recent nuptials. NYU Paris, offered a cultural excursion to all the people in the program this semester. The offer: "Free" (I say it in quotes because my tuition is $40,000/ yr so I'm am pretty sure they can throw in a lunch somewhere in there, but that's

just me being cynical...) trip to the castle for the day and a promised gourmet lunch. I signed up for the trip right away and I have been excited for it all week, despite my hesitations as to how gourmet, this "gourmet" lunch would be.

This day did not disappoint. We met around 9:30 AM to take the buses out of the city. When we got to the castle a little after 11:00AM, we went on a walking tour around the castle. Seeing the interior and everything was really neat, although I was a little let down by the upkeep of the castle. I didn't feel like it had been preserved all that well but it was beautiful none the less!

After the tour. The whole group met back up in a private room to have our grand lunch. I have to say it was nothing short of fabulous! A true three course meal which started with a delicious quiche and salad (obviously I didn't eat the salad, but everyone else liked it) then moved to the main course of duck, potatoes, and carrots and finally the scrumptious chocolate moelleux (molten chocolate) cake. They also served us coffee after the whole meal! Can you say food coma??

After the lunch we had a couple hours to explore the grounds of the castle so my friends and I rented a golf cart to drive around. This was hysterical and so much fun! Several other NYU students had rented the carts as well so we were all whipping around and just generally having a great time. It was a gorgeous fall day and it felt so good to be outside and enjoy the gardens and amazing scenery!

I am always a little apprehensive for school sponsored events because I feel like they never live up to expectations, but this whole trip has probably been one of my favorite days I have had thus far in Paris.