A Weekend in the Loire Valley

Hey Everyone!

So, I am on day 30-something here in Paris, and I come back to the states in a week and a half...I really don't want to come home! No offense to the states, but France is kicking your ass in coolness at the moment. They consider it normal to get chocolate in the early morning....and afternoon....and night. Pretty much all the time! Wouldn't you want to stay here, too?

I had this semi-ephiphany yesterday, as I walking from my program office to the metro station, and I said to myself "I want to stop at my favorite Boulangerie and pick up an eclair!" ... just that, being able to say I have a FAVORITE boulangerie in Paris si pretty awesome. I wish I could stay for longer...but alas, I have to come home sometime, right?

I had a pretty awesome weekend! On Friday, I went with Steph to Sacre Coeur to go souvenir shopping, because they have the cheapest prices there. I ended up spending nearly 80 euros, but it was all worth it. I bought myself a bag, a Sorbonne sweatshirt, and a a shirt that says "J'aime Paris". And of course, I bought some souvenirs for some other people who are worthy of them... :D

That afternoon, I met up with my friends, and we were going to go to the Louvre, because it's free on Friday nights, but then something came up and we deicded we're going to go next week. Instead, we went and saw "Wanted", a new movie out. It was great because it was in "Version Originale", which meant it was in English with French subtitles, which is always good for learning new (swear) words and phrases. It was a pretty good movie, but definitely predictable. Afterwards, Gabs and I came home to the dorms, and hungout with our new friends. I at first didn't want to live in the dorms because I didn't think I would meet loads of people, but I have met so many people from around the world! I have friends from Spain, Senegal, and all over the US. For instance, we stayed up until the early hours of the morning hanging out with our Senagalese friend trading French and English swear words and idiomatic phrases. It was actually pretty awesome.

Saturday morning, we were up at 4:30....aka got like 2 hours of sleep. We were meeting our bus to the Loire Valley at 6:30 am at the opposite side of the city. The metro at 5:45 is pretty cool, as there is almost no one else on it!

So, on Saturday we went to the Loire Valley and we went to the chateaus Cheverney and Blois. Blois was my favorite, because it had originally been one castle, and then each king in succesion took down part of it and rebuilt it to his satisfaction, and so it looks like 4 castles in one. Also, the tour guide really knew her French history and I learned a lot. We stayed in hostel that night, and it actually was a pretty nice place.

Sunday, we went to Chenenceau, which is considered the "Ladies' Castle". It is really cool because it built over the water, and in the second floor hall, it was right on the line of demarcation during WW II. You could enter the chateau in occupied Nazi France and leave innto free territory. The castle was given to Diane de Pontiers as a gift from the king, and when the king died, Catherine De Medicis took it away! It's got a pretty sordid history. We then went to Amboise, which is the town where the castle of Amboise is (Where Francois le 1er lived) and where Da Vinci lived for a long time and where he is buried. Jessica and I deicided to go to Clos Luce, which was Da Vinci's house while he was in France. The place is really cool because it has all of these models of drawings that Da Vinci did, and you can play with a lot of them in the gardens! I really enjoyed it...

Well, that was my weekend, and we got back into Paris around 9 pm that night.

A plus!

Lesley