Ten months in Tours: November 2013

Monday, 25 November 2013

Chinon and France frustration

This week was ok, I got back my literature test which I did pretty well in, although I have proper exams as of next week which I’m less hopeful about. I’ve also got my first postcards for my postcard wall, which by coincidence each arrived a day apart and made me smile each day- thank you! I’m still tired though, I thought I’d got over my Wednesday tiredness now but this week I took a ‘nap’ in the evening that turned into sleeping for 13 hours!

On Saturday I went on an Erasmus trip to Chinon. I’m really glad I went as it was a last minute decision, but it turned out to be a really nice day! We were given a talk about the castle, and then we got to explore the castle and the town (which is beautiful), and then took a boat trip along the Loire in the afternoon for good measure! The castle was built in the 11th century and was once an important strategic point. It was particularly significant during the 100 years war and a lot was made of Joan of Arc's visit. Chinon the town is also the birthplace of our university's namesake François Rabelais. The castle as it is now is a bit Disney, there are huge fake dragons with various non-local stories attached to them, one of the dragons is apparently Norbert from Harry Potter, and the Loch Ness monster is also redesigned as a dragon. But it's all good fun, and I suppose it fits with the image of the era of knights and dragons.

Although Chinon is pretty small (and completely deserted at lunchtime), there are two large churches only a few streets away from each other. The first was Saint-Étienne which me and Tavleen went to have a look around, it was very impressive although completely deserted. You can tell from the interior that it's still an active functioning church. It's funny as signs for both churches described them as 'parish churches'- they are absolutely not typical parish churches- but I think in the Loire Valley there are quite a few small towns in similar situations due to their historical significance.

Aside from that one day though the week was pretty frustrating. It's getting close to the end of the first semester and there are unbelievably still so many bureaucracy issues, on top of that I unsuccessfully tried to sort out my french phone (another bureaucracy issue), waited around for a cancelled class, searched the shops for a decent jacket without luck, and then managed to buy significantly out of date chocolate in the supermarket that I spend half my life queuing in. So I was already reaching the end of my tether when I discovered that the internet in our residence had cut out completely. This might sound like an exaggeration but it literally puts my life on hold, it was out for 2 and a half days and I couldn't access the majority of my uni work, couldn't contact anyone, and couldn't do anything else as France closes on Sundays.

Rant over, let's just say I'm ready for the Christmas break! The Christmas decorations went up around the centre of Tours this weekend and me and Eilish went to look round the Christmas market. There were so many lovely things, although it was pretty pricey!

Here are some photos from Saturday:

Chilly!

Château de Chinon

View of the Loire from the castle

'Downtown' Chinon

Château de Chinon

Joan of Arc tapestry

Joan of Arc in propaganda

L'Hôtel de Ville

Chinon

Saint-Étienne church

Joan of Arc

Saint-Étienne church

The second church

Rectory?

Joan of Arc statue

The boat ride :)

Monday, 18 November 2013

A Royal Holloway weekend: Chambord et Meung-sur-Loire

This has week has definitely been better than the last. En plus, it's Monday evening and my weekend's really only just ended, so I've done alright.

I didn't really get up to much during the week except classes etc. but on Friday me and Rhianna were invited to have dinner at Pauline and Justine's flat again which was a great way to end to the week. Then on Saturday I went on an Erasmus trip to Château de Chambord, which is about an hour away and has been on my to-do list since I got here as it's the castle that inspired the architecture of Founders. The problem was that Saturday was artic and we spent a lot of the day shivering in the grounds and in the equally freezing château. While some of the châteaux are more like palaces or stately homes, this one is closer to a traditional castle which of course meant there were only the two fires to heat the place! The architecture was stunning, however inside it was a little empty as it was just so big. What there was inside was very impressive, and I really feel that I'm getting a better sense of local history and of french history around the time of the reign of François I^er. The grounds were enormous too, I might return in the summer term to have a look round in the warmth. It was also the biggest group trip for international students so far so it was nice to get to chat and catch up with lots of people. When I got back to mine I felt like I'd just got back from a walking holiday, I was so appreciative of my warm shower and the meal I made with Rhianna that evening.

On Sunday I took the train to Meung-sur-Loire to visit Jess, who's working at the tourism office there this term. It's a pretty little town not far from Orléans, and luckily it has a station (although the trains are very infrequent!) Aside from drinking tea and comparing experiences of the year abroad we had a walk around the town and the Sunday market, went to the Gaston Couté museum, a small art exhibition, and had a long lunch. Then late afternoon we were picked up by a french family who are friends of Jess's and went for dinner and to stay over at their house. Small detail...they live in a château.

It was a lovely evening, the family were very welcoming and I was given a tour of the building, which during the tourist season is also a small hotel. We watched a bizarre french comedy called 'Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob' in the evening and then slept in late and had a late breakfast and a walk around the unreal grounds. Then at Jess's we ate dairy milk, I couldn't believe my luck! It was a great weekend and very relaxing, although hearing Jess speaking french with the family, and how good her accent is, reminded me that I'm here to speak french and I need to make a conscious effort to improve while I'm here. I already feel like I've improved a lot, but I could absolutely be doing more, and it would be a real shame to return from this experience without close to fluent french.

Chambord photos (all Rhianna's this time): (the château we stayed at was Château la Touanne)

Founders' castle!

Chambord

Ceramic stove (unfortunately not in use that day!)

Chambord

A similar staircase to the one at Blois

The castle was once used for huge hunting groups

Chambord

Door with the emblems of François Ier

The incredible helix staircase

The tallest bed I've ever seen

Sunday, 10 November 2013

Blois

This has been a long week even though I was quite lazy for some of it. Lack of sleep and the feeling of disappointment at being back at uni again after the mini-break I'd been looking forward to for so long made it drag by. Then there was the presentation debacle, which I won't dwell on. So I was particularly appreciative of our day out in Blois today, and refused to let the rain dampen my spirits (I was fuming about the bus strike though). I found out that by some miracle I passed my first (4 hour long!) history exam last half term, and I felt ok about my Langue Orale presentation and my Littérature test this week, so after finally getting a proper night's sleep on Thursday I was excited to end this week and write it off and start again.

The original plan was Saumur (the home of the famous mushroom musuem!), but there was a problem with trains so we left that for another day and went to Blois instead. It was a last minute idea but I'm so glad we went as Blois is such a beautiful town and has a really french feeling. We'd been before on the way back from the Zoo, but only to Église Saint.Vincent and then a café while we waited for the train. It's about 35 minutes by train from Tours and then only a short walk into the centre where there are two large churches, the Château de Blois, lots of old buildings on cobbled streets, and a lovely view of the Loire (on a clearer day). We had lunch at a brasserie in town and then went to explore the castle, which was amazing. You'd think that I'd become less interested/easy to impress with castles having seen a fair few recently, but they're all so different, and it'd be difficult not to be impressed with the architecture. The interior at Blois was really ornate and well maintained and there were lots of interesting things to look at, particularly the unique panelled study, the art collections of François I, the fireplaces, the staircase, and the display of original and replica stone gargoyles and parts of facades etc. I won't go too far into its history but Blois is an ancient town that later became a key part of the royal court, which attracted many specialist craftsmen, such as clock-makers, to the region. The château was also the site of the assassination of the Duke of Guise in 1588 and the place of death of Catherine de Medici, who spent quite a lot of time there.

After we'd finished at the castle we explored some more of the back streets in search of the elusive 'Musée de la Résistance', but it got pretty windy and cold so we went to see the Église Saint.Nicolas-Saint.Laumer instead and then headed back to the station. It was only us in the church which was slightly spooky but also incredibly lucky.