Vacances de Toussaint

Why hello again, faithful reader. I do hope I find you well. I thought I would take the liberty of updating you on my Toussaint adventures with this installment  if I may. If I may not, then I suggest you go and do something else for a short while because I'm doing it anyway...

On Monday 29th October, my parents and younger brother arrived to save me from the brain-mushifying effects of speaking French all day, every day. After giving them a tour of Romorantin (which took a lot less time than I thought it would, how depressing) and having filled baguettes for lunch by the river in the park, I accompanied them as their French-speaking tour guide to their hotel. Must admit, I felt rather big time asking and answering all the questions. The hotel also allowed me to take advantage of the wifi (pronounced weefee  in French, it's pretty amusing) as I may have made a slight error in as much as my new house has no internet access. Ahem. Scooting over that....

Tuesday was spent seeing two châteaux from the vast list which I had been given by the teachers and secretary in the staff room. Despite stressing the fact we only had two days free for activities, the French were not deterred and I came away with recommendations for about every château in the Centre region, as well as a chocolaterie and a number of museums. A château is our equivalent of a stately home, but literally translates as 'castle'. Some of them are more 'castle-like' than others, with ramparts and defences. Many of them are empty because their contents were destroyed during the Revolution (but not the two we saw).

Chenonceau château 

The châteaux which made the cut were Chenonceau and Cheverny. These were done based on their façades and proximity to my town. However it was not until we walked round Chenonceau, guide-leaflets in hand, that we realised quite how fascinating a home it was. Chenonceau spans the river Cher, which formed part of the demarcation line when France was occupied by the Germans in WWII. As a result, members of the Resistance who needed to flee to the Free Zone (south of the Cher river) would be smuggled through the château and out the other side to freedom! And during the Revolution, Chenonceau's chapel was spared because the women living there disguised it as a store room for wood! There were many other interesting stories about the château over the course of history, too many to write here, and I thoroughly suggest that anyone who is in the area gives it a visit. 

Cheverny château 

Cheverny was also furnished quite luxuriously, and its diameter is only one room across. This means that both the rooms and the corridor are bathed in sunlight, in contrast to a building which has rooms either side of a corridor running through the middle. The gardens were less elaborate than Chenonceau (which had two, geometrically-precise, but still quite pretty, gardens) but this one did have kennels for hunting dogs which the first one did not. We also got a free wine tasting!! I stopped after two glasses though because I wasn't intending on buying any wine and thought it would be taking the biscuit to get completely sozzled...

le Palais de Jacques Coeur

On Wednesday, we went to Bourges. We saw the cathedral which was HUGE, traditional and gothic. The two towers are different sizes. This is because originally they were the same, but one fell down 300 years after being built, and was built even bigger than the original. There are many different styles of stained glass windows (vitraux) inside because of bombing and damage to the originals.

We also went to le Palais de Jacques Coeur (EU students go free!). JC was a rich merchant who was eventually imprisoned for defrauding the king, narrowly escaping the death sentence due to being pally with Pope Nicholas V! His house resembles a fortress in parts, but is a good example of 'private urban architecture' and proved a sumptuous home (despite being empty now and having been restored).

On Thursday, we made our merry way back to the UK, stopping off for lunch at William the Conqueror's birth place, a town called Falaise, and exploring the castle where he stayed a few times. I now know a huge amount more about William (not hard when I started off thinking he was British...) and there are some incredible views from the top of the castle!

After a six hour ferry crossing and a close shave with sea-sickness, I was back in my beloved BRITAIN!!! I was most impressed with the new tunnel at Hindhead - especially the pretty lights. And yes, I know it's a bit of a cop-out going home after a month of my Year Abroad, but I really needed to see everybody in EXETER and was eager to try out a few of the recipes in my recently purchased edition of Paul Hollywood's 'How to Bake'. Classic white bread: check. Tea cakes: check. I think I'll try Apple and Cheddar bread when I'm back for Christmas.

However tomorrow I set off back to la France, for another six weeks of not entirely understanding what is being said to me, over-indulging in patisseries, and trying to keep control of a rabble of French pupils. The more immediately pressing matter however is the 12 hour train journey ahead of me..... Bon courage....