I just won't bother mentioning when these are "overdue" anymore. That's just silly.
4/2/2011
Good evening!
Before I knew it... Two weeks passed since my last email. I'm sure that's okay!
Last weekend I went to the Loire Valley (near Tours) to visit the Châteaux de la Loire--big, beautiful castles! Out of the many, many castles in the area, we only visited four, but they were all lovely. Since the trip was split over two days, we only went to two castles per day. On Saturday we went to Chambord (gigantic and known for its hunting grounds) and Chenonceau (much smaller in comparison but with gorgeous fresh flower arrangements in EVERY room), and stayed the night at a nice hotel in Tours, which was nearby. On Sunday we got up early (French breakfast; my favorite) and headed to Azay-le-Rideau (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and Villandry (famous for having the most beautiful gardens in France). There were canopy beds everywhere, elaborate staircases (Chambord--it was a "double-helix" designed by da Vinci), the smell of flowers, signs of spring... and, of course, the recurring images of fire-breathing salamanders. Why...? I guess you could say call them the mascots of the Châteaux de la Loire... Salamanders were thought to be invincible to fire, and the royalty wanted to identify with that, to show that they were strong as well.
[attached pictures]
As for the rest of the week... Well, that was all about classes. I had phonetics again (it's only every other week), and had lots of work to do for everything. The weather wasn't very nice, so it wasn't very appealing to go out and explore before/after class. It finally warmed up by the end of the week, which was good, because we had another trip today!
This morning I met up with my program and we left for Champagne. Not very far from Paris at all--maybe about two and a half hours. We visited the Notre Dame de Reims (big cathedral) and happened to walk in on a choir's performance. They were from Strasbourg, sang in (what I thought was) Latin, and spoke in German. It was really beautiful. My camera battery died very early on in the trip, so I didn't take many pictures, but I liked being able to just sit down and enjoy everything without the camera always at my face. I know I've mentioned this before...
After the cathedral, we had a nice lunch (outside) in the town. The weather was probably around 70 degrees for most of the day. Perfect! I had a warm goat cheese salad (sounds a little weird, but probably one of the most delicious and typically French foods I've had here), got a small treat with friends at the nearby bakery/pastry shop, and then we left for our next destination: a little abbey near a seemingly endless vineyard, where Dom Perignon was laid to rest. Afterward we went to a champagne house, Mercier (founded in 1858), took a tour, and then tasted the champagne. Overall it was a great trip, and we were back in Paris by about 6:30PM.
I think that's about it for now! :)
My spring break is coming up. I'm just finalizing the details... but I will update again soon!
Hope to talk to you later!
Love,
- Maeghan
