Mon Anniversaire!

So, as many of you know my birthday was on sunday! Here is a summary of events
Friday- IES visit to musee Dorbree which is literally a block from the IES center where I take classes. It was pretty cool, favorite part: pair of white porcaline dogs. And Jewlery.

faceted amber according to the description- much prettier in reality than in this picture.

Saturday- We went on a day trip to Mont St Michel and St Malo. I had a great time! We had to meet at 7h45 and my host parents said they would drive me. So I was hanging out in the living room in the morning ready to go. We don't end up leaving until 7h39. Alain was driving me and he took a very roundabout way which he claimed was faster. Everything was going alright until we got to a circle that they are doing construction on. End result, we were driving on the sidewalk, avoiding trees and outdoor cafes when Shereen called asking if I was coming because the bus was leaving. When I finally ran on the bus, the kids and family of M deBerranger (the director) were in the front so I thought that I had gotten on the wrong bus and almost turned around and got off! On the bus ride there the weather was georgeous- blue sky and sun. There was also a herd of sheep crossing the road that we had to wait for. By the time we got to Mont St Michel it had clouded up.
We walked around and toured Mont St Michel. It was very pretty with a history back to the 11th century. Unfortunately about two rooms into our tour my camera died. So I will have to get pictures from others.

A few of my friends and I ate at a little creperie where I had my first french creme brulee which was delicious. After lunch we had to race back to the bus so we could go to St Malo.

Shereen, me, Meghan, and Lian in fron of the Mont St Michel

The walk up was lined with cute stores and cafes.

This was the location of a pretty garden and also the death of my camera. I will put up other pictures after I get them from someone.

By the time we got to St Malo it was pouring. It is a walled city on the beach. We walked all the way around the ramparts on top of the walls before going to the beach and climbing on the rocks. I now own a small collection of french seashells. I also displayed my knowledge of shore wildlife by explaining the difference between barnacles and limpits. The weather had gotten a little better by the time we went to the beach so it was really fun. I basically had to drag my friends there by saying it was my birthday and I wanted to walk on the beach. But they were thanking me after because it was such a good time.

My camera came back to life for one last picture, which turned out beautifuly and is now my desktop background on my computer.

Chambord

The last castle that we went to on the Tours weekend trip is Chambord, it is the largest castle in the Loire valley, but it was only built to be a hunting lodge for King Francois I.



This is the view from the back. We are in fornt of a really nice restaurant that we ate at before touring the castle.

This is the view from the front. Since it wasn't built to be a fortress it really dosen't have any defenses. Although Francois I apparently wanted to divert the Loire so that he could take his boat right up to the back door but it didn't really pan out.

There are four big towers, this is the one that Francois I lived in.





Interesting fact: Chambord has a giant double helix staircase in the center of the castle. This is a picture of it. Imagine two staircases that spiral the same way, placed one on top of the other. So one person could walk up while another walks down and they would never see eachother.



Unless they looked out these little windows! In the center there is just a long shaft that both staircase spiral around. That is Shreen looking out the window and some random people at the bottom.



At the top there is a regular staircase that goes up to this tower that has the fleur de lis at the top, the sybol of France.

Pretty. Fact: all of the furniture and tapestries are brought along wherever the king goes, so when people aren't there, it is completely empty.

We also got to go on a special guided tour to the king's chambers (which was empty) and the servants' quarters. The servants lived in the highest parts of the towers because it was hard to heat. This is a picture of the roof which is all jointed wooden beams with wooden pegs.

Blois

The next day (saturday) we went to two more castles. The first one is Blois.



This is the entrance including a larger than life size statue of Francois I (I think?) and his horse.





After you walk through that entry way, there is a large courtyard with buildings on all four sides. The interesting thing about this castle is that it was built over a period of about 400 years, so each side of the courtyard is in a different architectural style. Stright ahead is the most recent addition in a neo-classic stlye with romanesque columns. You can't really tell in this picture, but they ran out of money so the construction is not quite finished some of the colunms are only partially carved. The part on the right with the ornate saircase is older and more of a renaissance style.


If you were to turn around, the other side of the coutyard is from the middles ages so it has a completely different style.


This is me and my friend Louis-Claude.

This is a really fancy firepalce. It has the symbols of the king Francois I, the dragon on the left, and ??? I forget who, but his symbol is the weasel on the right.

Speaking of symbols, if I was king (or Queen I suppose) I would definitely pick a random mascot and put it everywhere. ie: porcupine.

This is the view of the inside of the big staircase.

This is me and my friends Lian and Shreen. (That's right, I have friends that aren't statues).

Cowboy Joe came too.

Chenonceau

Chenonceau is the second castle that we went to, scenically located on the river.

It has a forested part where the kings and nobles would go hunting. You walk down a grand tree lined path.


There is also a labyrinth (which I made it to the middle of first) that has a vine covered gazebo in the center.

I don't really know what this is but I am guessing the maintenance workers' quarters...

They also brew their own wine.

In this picture we have the well (center), guard tower (right), and castle entrance (left).

This is the view of the castle from the side. Imagine the guard tower in the previous picture to be on the other side of the arch on the far right. Also notice how the arches have water running through them, yep it is built ON the river.

Stained glass in the chapel.
Makes you kind of want a canopy bed, doesn't it?

This is taken through the window towards the guard tower.

Photos of Chateaux

Ok, so I ran out of time when I was posting pictures before which is why there were no labels or descriptions or anything. For some reason it is taking between 10-15 minutes to post each picture. Any suggestions from anyone on how I can speed that up would be appreciated!





Anyway, on our trip to Tours we went to four different castles. These pictures are of Amboise.





You have to walk up a bunch of stairs to get to it, as a defence strategy, I presume.

When you get to the top, there is a big courtyard with the church on one side (in photo) ....

...and the rest of the castle on the other side overlooking the river. Interesting fact: this castle had big spiraling ramps so that the king could walk around on his horse instead of taking the stairs.

View off one side of the river.



View off the other side of the town below. Interesting fact: In the distance is Leonardo Da Vinci's house but you can't really see it in this picture.



This is where we ate lunch. It was good.

We walked around the town a little this is a picture of a doorway. (I know you all were lost when there were no labels...)

Photos

Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well. I finally brought my laptop to the IES center so I could use the internet, which means I have pictures!

This is really early in the morning of Jan. 9th at the Sea-Tac airport. I think we managed to get a good picture of everybody. (left to right me, dad, mom)

This one has nothing to do with my trip, but it is too good to keep to myself. Here we have dad wrangling some kiddos (Rachel and Ben).

I brought along a friend. He was jealous of Don Quoixte and wanted a grand adventure too. Location: JFK Airport, New York.
Time: Sunrise.