For those who don’t know, summer has officially arrived in Paris. This last week it has felt like we were physically on the surface of the sun (well, of course not, but a bit of drama adds to the retelling!), it was h-o-t. HOT. On Friday it got to over 32 degrees, and even went above that in certain areas around the city. Don’t get me wrong, I love summer. But it gets a bit draining when you feel as if you’re about to melt.

Despite the constant sensation of imminent combustion, my friends and I headed over to the Jardin de Versailles to soak up the sun, and enjoy this magnificent weather. The last time I came to the gardens, and the Chateau itself, was back at Christmas. So it was refreshing to see the place during a different season. We spent most of the day relaxing by the Grand Canal, watching the people row. After an obligatory ice-cream stop, we headed around the gardens and the outside of the Palace to have a look.

When I last came here with my family back in December, they were restoring the Latona Fountain, and behold – restoration is now complete! The once worn-away sculptures of the fountain are now brought back to life with a new surface of luxurious gold lead gilding. The newly restored fountain is incredibly opulent – exactly what the late Louis’ would like.

Whilst there, we also found out that the British sculptor Anish Kapoor is exhibiting a number of his works. This was a delightful surprise for me, as back during my second year of University, one of our end of year projects was to curate a hypothetical exhibition. My group decided to include some of Kapoor’s work outside around the gardens of Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, and so seeing his work here at Versailles brought back many memories! I didn’t get a chance this particular day to go around and have a proper look at the works on show, but I will definitely go back hopefully this week! I did, however, get a glimpse of the controversial ‘Dirty Corner’ work, which I am very undecided about! (Read more about this here)