In Nantes

Today was incredible! Woke up around 9 and lounged around til 10 am or so. Hanna and I went on a massive excursion to acquaint ourselves with our new town. We had a few spots pre-planned: the Chateau of the Dukes of Brittany, the Cathedral of Nantes, but there were so many lucky mishaps along the way!

We started off in the Centre Ville, which is where our apartments are located. We are right next to the world famous Cigale and a beautiful theater. It was a quick jaunt through the Place Graslin to the Place Royal, where there is a lovely fountain, lots of shops and interesting people. Here we purchased two pain au chocolates for breakfast.

Then we continued on, making out way through the Bouffay district to the Chateau of the Dukes of Bretagne. It was very beautiful, with free admission, and we walked all along the ramparts for a good half hour or so. Thinking about all the many, many people who had also walked those walls in the five hundred years or more that they have existed. It was a blissful experience, and we both were happy nearly to the point of tears.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Cathedral of Nantes. We toured the Cathedral only Thursday, and so had already been given good back ground information of its age, its history, and various symbols. Ere go, we were completely free to walk around and just soak in the feel and look of the place. It is very, very beautiful, with some of the highest walls of any French Cathedral. It has many beautiful and old statues and paintings and confessionals. Unfortunately, most of the stain glass is very ugly, having been added in the 20th century as a result of the French Revolution, a fire, and World War II. All in all though, it is impossible to walk into a Cathedral and not to feel moved. Men have constructed such elaborate monuments to honor God, and such dedication is so moving.

Then we happened along another IES student, Avril from Hope College in Michigan, who walked with us to find a sandwhich for lunch. En route, we happened upon a festival of wine that was being held by a community group. It was a wonderful little parade, complete with people dressed in traditional garb and a marching band that was excellent. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure it's real.

Then we headed to the Passage Pommeraye. Just to stroll around. It is the oldest shopping mall in the world, so I'm told. Lots of beautiful window displays of candies! Avril departed, and Hanna and I tried to find L'Ile de Versailles. We ended up walking almost the exact wrong direction (this is not the norm though - we've actually been quite directionally savy). Fortunately though, today we got lost, and ended up at the Jardins des Plantes which was a lovely park, much in keeping with Hyde Park in San Francisco. There were doves and ducks, fountains and arbors and happy people everywhere of course. We explored quite happily for quite a while.

Realizing, eventually, that we were not at all in the correct neigborhood, we retraced our footsteps, hopped the TAN (like a tram) and headed to L'Ile de Versailles. It consists of a Japanese garden that is very lovely - lots of coy ponds and Japanese cedars - though I think honestly Hanna and I both preferred the Jardin des Plantes and were so glad we'd lost our way.

We decided to opt out of the TAN on our return, and walked along the Loire back towards le Centre Ville. We passed lovely house boats, restaurants on the rive, kayakers, and crazy blue tree statues that have been cut to look like humans. I can't really describe them, but they were very fun to walk by.

We returned to our apartments, rested, and then we went out again for an excellent dinner and wine at a restauraunt very near our house. Excellent! Then we met up with some friends in the Bouffay district, had some kir and chatted, went to another bar where I got locked in the bathroom for five minutes and had a minor panic attack, and then went home to rest.