Angers: Pièce de résistance

Home

2009-08-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

Home again. Exhausted. Reminiscing over the past month and a half. Good times, good people, beautiful countries. I apologize for my failure to document my trip to the UK on this blog. So exhausted.

Normandy, or, The Saddest Field Trip Ever

2009-07-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

American Memorial and Cemetary

Omaha Beach

Pointe du Hoc

German Cemetary

Boat Ride/Brittany/Vannes

2009-07-26T05:27:00.000-07:00

All Apologies

2009-07-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

I am sorry for the lack of posting lately, school has been rather overwhelming and I haven't been anywhere too interesting. Last weekend we went on a day trip to what could technically be called a beach, but was in reality more a rainy hellhole. We went on a boat ride for two hours, no one told us where we were going or when we would get off. I turned out we went in a circle, and ended up back at the bus. Then we drove for another half hour to a cold, rainy shore to eat lunch. They wouldn't let us eat on the bus so we all hid behind an abandoned building to eat our cold sandwiches and water.

After that we went to Nantes, which was similarly miserable at first but cleared up for an hour or so. Jessica and I ate enormous crepes, and bought french striped shirts. Later that night there was karaoke, and Sunday we all took it easy. Other than that not much has happened.
The main streets in Angers are all torn up because they are building a tram, but it is taking a long time because they keep finding skeletons. I had a test this week, and another one on Monday. I only have three days of school left, though, then its of to Paris and London.

Tomorrow we are going to Normandy to see the WWII memorials, which should be really interesting, and hopefully we will have nice weather. I will try to post pictures on Sunday.

Château d'Angers

2009-07-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

I actually took these photos the day after I arrived in Angers, but I forgot to put them up. Here you go!

Random château we didn't get to go in

2009-07-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Senior portraits!

Château Chambord

2009-07-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

The biggest, coolest castle: Chambord. Originally built as a hunting lodge.

The following photos were not taken by me:

The best thing about this castle was that they had a pair of shoes from 1820 that belonged to the Princess Caroline Ferdinand, or the Duchess of Berry. The shoes had blood on them from the night her husband, Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry (who was the nephew of king Louis XVIII) was stabbed and mortally wounded when leaving an opera house in Paris with his wife. THEN she had a son eight months later, who was called a "miracle child" because he was born after his fathers death and continued the direct line of King Louis XIV. Her son received the title of Duke of Bordeaux, but is better known as the comte de Chambord. AWESOME!

Also, the raspberry liqueur "Chambord" was said to have been introduced to Louis XIV during one of his visits to this Château.

The President of France still uses this castle and has hosted such guests as Princess Diana, George Bush, and Bill Clinton.

Château de Chenonceau

2009-07-14T02:13:00.000-07:00

Slightly more impressive. This one had a moat, a labyrinth, and a farm.
Also it was built over a river.

Happy Bastille Day

2009-07-14T01:42:00.000-07:00

Château d’Azay-le-Rideau

2009-07-13T12:45:00.002-07:00

This was by far the smallest castle, apparently it was a gift or something. Unimpressive.

Holla!

The Carrefore and where I live

2009-07-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

Champagne for kids!

The "Wine Room"

Where I live:

This photograph was not posed.

Caves

2009-07-13T12:24:00.001-07:00

OMG CAVE BUNNIES!

What happened today:

2009-07-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

I was able to move up to a higher class level, but only had a half day of classes. I went with Jessica, who lives in the dorms also and is in my class (also moving up a level) to a restaurant and had wine and did our homework, with coffee after. At one point we were the only people in the restaurant, and we talked with the server (owner?) for awhile, he was very nice and eccentric. He told us we were funny in french, or maybe that our french was funny, and called us "petites americaines". Also, I accidentally ate veal. They never tell us what we are eating at the school cafeteria, until someone asked and was told "cows, little cows". It tasted just like chicken, and I continued to eat it, but something about eating babies doesn't feel right to me. Tonight, after dinner, a few of us are getting a ride to the Carrefore, which is kind of the Walmart of France. Apparently it is amazing. It is about 15 minutes outside of Angers due to city ordinances to avoid the ruin of small businesses. France is so smart.

St. Malo

2009-07-07T08:31:00.001-07:00

Mont St. Michel

2009-07-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Adding photos is exhausting.

Photo dump

2009-07-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

I very much liked the machine embroidered demands.

Before take-off

3 hour train.

Stained glass. France is lousy with it.

Some benches from the local cathedral that I would like to own.

Local Cathedral featuring a decidedly modern facade.

Absence.

More to come after I convert all of the RAW images and find the bests.

Puy du Fou

2009-07-04T01:12:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to the Cinescenie event of the Puy du Fou, which is a historical theme park in Les Epesses in the heart of the Vendée region of Western France. The main show takes place in the evening on a huge outdoor stage behind the ruined castle. It tells the story of the 700 years of history in the area. The Cinescene boasts the largest stage in the world, thousands of actors, hundreds of horses and about 400 fireworks per performace. All of the dialog is in French, so I think I may have missed some things, but I got the general idea. All of the actors and actresses (even the children) come from the local villages and are volunteers. I didn't get any pictures of it, but here are some that I found on the internets:

It was fantastic. We didn't get home until 3 am. More info here.

Heat.

2009-07-02T02:30:00.000-07:00

France is so hot, and also humid, its killing me slowly. Also, do you know how much the French love fish? And pork? And that every meal includes one of those meats? This is a problem for me. However, last night I had an egg and cheese crêpe that was amazing. And the bread, and the cheese, and the butter. All amazing. I am not able to upload photos at the moment because I cannot get the internet to work on my computer. Today we are going to tour the Chateau Angers, which houses the famous medieval tapestries, and on Sunday we will visit Le Mont Saint Michel, which I am very much looking forward to. It is almost time to eat lunch, but tomorrow I will try to post some photos.

Arrival

2009-06-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

Due to an unreasonable lack of internet access during my travel I am just now able to update. I am in Angers, and yes, it is beautiful. However, about an hour after I got here there was an impressive thunder/rainstorm. I have a vague memory of the last two days. There was a lot of sleeping in uncomfortable areas, screaming children, and heat. I start classes tomorrow and am feeling more and more like all of the French I once knew has left me, causing a lot of awkward conversations and blank stares. I am so tired. Pictures to come soon, hopefully.

Packed.

2009-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

I am finally all packed. It seems like I'm not taking very much and yet the bag is quite full.

My luggage of choice the Filson duffel. Tan, size medium, 25 inches, 4 pounds. Also included is the carry-on, Fjallraven Kanken in Putty. If anything is worth doing, it's worth doing right.

Plane leaves in t-minus 4 days and counting. I am ready to go, I think.