jai-lapeche

[jai-lapeche]

Thank you!

I find it really awesome that this blog has gained some followers even though my trip is over. It makes me feel happy that people are actually looking through it so thank you :)

Hope everyone is having a nice summer!

I am also taking the time to say that I do plan on going back to Europe when I graduate college. Let's see if it really happens and I'll be back to updating on this here blog. It may take a while but it'll be worth it.

Plus tard!

-nessa.

[jai-lapeche]

Has it really been a year?

Well of course not a year since I've been in France but it has been a year since I first thought about going to France.

Crazy right?

I know I was going to have a post about what it was like being back in Austin for a full month, but I decided to talk about how it's been a year already from when I first seriously thought about studying abroad.

Time really flies. I remember sitting on the benches here at St. Edward's University flying a kite. We were going to go to the kite festival (which is today) but there wasn't anywhere to park so we flew kites at school instead. I remember talking to my friends Julie and Francis. We didn't know that Francis was going to go too until that day. We talked about how fun it was going to be being together in France getting to experience a new culture. We were so excited and we had no idea what we would do there; it just mattered that we were going.

Next came the paper work process: getting our applications submitted; signing the correct documents; going to the orientations; filling out forms for our VISAs and passports; saving money; buying luggage; buying clothes; buying the plane ticket; packing everything; leaving; and arriving to France.

This blog has now become full circle. My first posts on here were talking about the VISA process and how to start it and I've been to France and back and now I'm chilling in my apartment back in Austin getting ready for my orchestra performance. Life is really something.

I don't know if this will be the last post because there are some pictures in the archives but for now I guess this is it. Thank you for following this blog and reading my words. It has been a pleasure keeping up this blog and I know that I have something that I can always look through if I want to reminisce. It has really been a joy.

Au revoir pour maintenant mes amis. (Goodbye for now my friends).

-nessa.

[jai-lapeche]

It's been a minute.

I almost forgot this blog existed (I know my bad). It's almost been a month since I've been back in Austin! I think one month will be this Wednesday and I am going to have a post about what it was like in France compared to now and the thing that gave me the most culture shock when I got back. Also I want to be able to share some pictures with you guys that I haven't uploaded. The only thing left is to get the okay to do so! (Meaning I have to stop being lazy and e-mail the right people to do so). Just wanted to have a little update if you have been following along with this blog (I don't know who you are) but thank you so so much.

Plus tard mes amis. -nessa. P.S. Still don't know correct French lol

[jai-lapeche]

Amboise, Blois and Cheverny (Part 2)

Next up was Chateau de Blois. This one was right in the middle of a city and it was so so pretty. Apparently a king was murdered here (GASP) and we got to stand in the room.

There were bedroom chambers of the kings and queens and wings dedicated to them. We saw the grand ballroom that had a huge fireplace and got to walk up fancy stone spiral stairs.

We didn't get to stay long but we saw some cool stuff.

All three of the building had different architectural styles in Classic, Renaissance and Gothic.

The building with the Classic style wasn't finished on the inside. It was the only part of the chateau that had not been finished as planned centuries ago. Inside, there was a staircase leading to another section but there were no doors. Though the whole building is equipped with windows, I believe it is fairly empty.

It's blurry sorry :/

The building right next to it (Renaissance style) had a little museum of parts of the chateau and statues.

This was the building with the Gothic style. There was a bunch of cool things in here too.

This was a church right across the street from the chateau. Our busses were parked here.

Once we got back on the bus we were headed to our last chateau, Chateau de Cheverny.

This was my favorite out of the three because this felt the most homey. The family still lived here which I thought was pretty cool. We were only let in the part that was the museum and we got to see old rooms that were used in the olden days. There were paintings of Medusa and other Greek Mythology themes all over the place. The wedding dress of the bride who was married there in 1997 was on display too.

They even have a league of blood hounds that they use to hunt with. We didn't get to see them though. It was too cold and they were put away in their kennels. Usually in the summer time and warmer months they are out. People on horses walk them (at least that's what was on this one picture I saw).

There was an armor room too.

The place that we were allowed in was pretty small so we were back at the beginning of the museum and we sat down in fancy chairs in the parlor.

I really had fun at this last excursion. Though they were all castles they were all so different from each other and I liked that.

Of course I will miss going on excursions every other weekend just about and being in France in general. I'm so happy to have documented all of where I got to travel and my important experiences. I want to be able to look back at this and feel good about it.

Anyway, I hope to have a few more posts about my time here (reflections and what not) and some pictures that I took around in Angers that I didn't really upload anywhere but just had in my folder on my computer. I feel like I should have some kind of pictures of Angers if I had pictures of every other excursion.

Plus Tard!

-nessa.

P.S. Part one in case you missed it [x].

[jai-lapeche]

Amboise, Blois and Cheverny (Part 1)

Oh I'm such a bad blog person. I promised this post weeks ago but alas  the stress of packing and going back home hindered me from even thinking about blogs and making blog posts.

However, this was our last excursion and it would be really sucky if I didn't tell you about it.

We had to wake up early for this excursion like always and it was cold cold cold. Also there were only about seven of us from our group; everyone else decided to sit this one out.

I'm glad I got to go because we got to see a side of Leonardo Di Vinci that people rarely get to see. We got to see his beloved home plus the chateau where he is burried along with a chateau that is still lived in today. Chateau d'Ambois, Chateau de Blois, and Chateau de Cheverny welcomed us all.

First stop was Chateau d'Amboise. This was the chateau where Leonardo Di Vinci lived and worked at nearby Clos Luce. It used to be a really vast chateau, almost like a small city. However the majority of it was destroyed and never restored. There was only a small portion that was saved which was the chapel and two areas that were turned into museums.

Leonardo is buried on this ground and has his own tomb statue. He was buried in the chapel but he was moved outside.

I really wish this chateau was a lot bigger and that more was too it. Plus it was REALLY foggy and we didn't really get to see it in it's glory. It was still pretty gorgeous though.

Our French teacher told us that this building had two distinct architectural styles and if you look close enough you can see the difference. One side of the building, the blocks are square and fare. The other side there are small arcs over the windows and the style looks tighter.

The red is what used to be.

These are some of the rooms of the royal family. Plus I'm pretty sure I saw a spirit.

After looking at the rooms we went back outside. There was a music box too.

We walked up this tower thingy that used to be for the carriages to take things up to the Queen and king.

Then we were on our way to Leo's house, Clos Luce; it also happened to be right up the street. Some of the fog disappeared too and we got to see more of the city.

His house was very lovely and we got to see all of his inventions.

Then we got to see the inventions! Leo really mastered the "simple machines" but they didn't look so simple to me. There was the parachute, airplane, first automobile, swing and draw bridge, army tank, cannon, plus many more.

The bike is on the left and the automobile is on the right.

It was really pretty outside and there were roses.

Part two continued here [x].

[jai-lapeche]

Wait..It's Over?

Ah, the semester has finally come to an end and it's time for us to go back to America.

I have to say I'm a bit relieved that I can go home but incredibly anxious about packing/leaving in general. I'm sure some well deserved sleep will help.

Also I know I'm missing a post. My bad. But, once we're settled into the hotel on Saturday and I'm feeling better I will definitely post about our last excursion. I also want to share some pics with you guys about my time at Jean Villar but I have to send pictures off to get approved before that happens.

Anyway, I would have to say that I enjoyed my time here though I wish I could've gotten more out of it. I really hope I'll be able to come back to Europe in the future because London is calling my name this time around.

-nessa.

[jai-lapeche]

Normandy

This was probably by far my favorite excursion. The others were lovely, but nothing can compare to the beauty and sentimental feeling this day brought. I really hadn't seen anything this beautiful before.

If you don't know the history about Normandy you should Google some things. Basically D-Day was an extreme portion of our history as Americans and the history of Germans, the French, and everyone else involved.

Hitler and his peeps were up to no good and the Allied forces had to stop it. The Allied forces landed on the Normandy Beaches (and many many other areas) on June 6, 1944 and fought for freedom. So many lost their lives, but there were several factors in favor for the Allied forces for them to succeed beyond expectation. WWII ended and people were liberated. I don't know what else you can ask for.

Now, after that small history lesson here is what we did that day.

This excursion was a little confusing for me at first because I had no idea where we were going. All I understood was that we would be going to the Normandy beaches and I really thought we would be on the beaches all day. However, we stopped by a really awesome museum that had amazing pieces and remnants of D-Day and what that meant for everyone involved.

I took a few pictures inside of the museum but most of them did not turn out as well as I would've liked since it was so dark and I thought it rude to use my flash. These are the ones that came out the best.

After having lunch in the museum we headed to a section of the Normandy beaches and the American Cemetery. This was a really emotional place because you could see hundreds of white crosses scattered across the lawn. It really made you think and put things into perspective. I also wondered who these people were, other than troops in the war; I thought of their families and their children and the families and children these people could have had. I know it took everything in them to fight for people they had never come across before. That's a really strong and brave type of heroism that many do not possess and I thank every single person in the military/naval forces/etc. who continue to do this now. You are greatly appreciated and will forever have a place in my heart. I could not do what you do and I thank you.

A short time after we headed to the beaches. I was happy that it was not freezing and the sun came out to play. I luckily had my rain boots so I took advantage of that and hurried off into the water. I imagined how cold it was since I could not feel it through my boots. I got to test if my theory was correct when I went looking for seashells. The waves were perfect and as I looked out into the blue it blew my mind that soldiers were once standing where I was right now and that these waves were a completely different color than the crystal ice blue that I saw before me. I didn't want to think about it too much but I couldn't help it; it happened and it was real. I was glad that the beaches didn't look the same way they did that day and it was all the more deserving reason for it to be as beautiful as it was that day.

Next, we arrived to the most beautiful part of the excursion. Pointe du Hoc. This was a section of the Omaha Beaches where soldiers climbed the walls into area that several German soldiers were already based. The barbed wire from so long ago was still there, along with the same trenches and craters that were created by bombs and explosions alike. I did not walk into the craters in fear of not getting back out again, but I'm sure it was a very heavy place to stand.

It rained a bit but right after, two gorgeous rainbows appeared across the sea. That guy who freaked out about the double rainbows was right; once you see one you don't know what to do with yourself and you wonder, "how can this happen?" We saw the start and end of the arches and we were sure there was a pot of gold nearby.

The sun was setting and it spread a golden blanket around us. It was so vibrant and the perfect color. Once again, I was happy for the beauty this place possessed after such a traumatic event.

All, in all I learned a lot about this excursion and I am REALLY happy that I did not miss it. It was a long day but oh so worth it. If you ever get the chance you should visit all of these areas and experience everything for yourself. I hope that the day you go is as beautiful as the day I saw (my camera did not do it justice).

Appreciate those in the armed forces, even if  you don't agree with violence being a tactic to fix problems. Respect them simply because they're fighting for the lives of people they don't even know. Remember that and ask yourself if you would do the same thing.

Plus Tard.

-nessa.

[jai-lapeche]

Wowzerz

Well it is almost time to pack up and leave France and head back to the States.

I leave on Saturday to Paris and then Sunday morning I fly out. I'll probably make a huge post on reflections and what not and the things I've learned and what not.

Also I have promised myself (and my sister) to finish all of the posts that I have neglected to post on this here blog. Since the semester is over and I have nothing else to do, I have plenty of time.

I'll be posting about Normandy really soon so look out for that (plus many more).

-nessa.

[jai-lapeche]

Disneyland Paris!

Yay, Disneyland! This was seriously the best part of the trip. I felt like a kid again and I thought I was going to cry when I heard music from Pocahontas (that's my favorite Disney movie along with Wall-E and Dumbo if you didn't know).

And did I mention it was the 20th anniversary for Disneyland Paris? Now for pictures!

Those buildings look real right? They're not; everything seen here are props (besides the people) and fake wooden buildings, slanted to give the illusion.

This day was rainy and a little cold but it didn't last. Well the cold lasted all day but we got some sunshine. The wait for the rides weren't terrible at all; the longest we waited was probably 45 minutes. We also got to do everything we wanted. We went to Walt Disney Studios first since it was the smallest of the two parks. The first ride was the Magic Carpet ride.

We were movie stars. Genie said so. Next up was Crush's Coaster. This ride was super fun. As you can see in the picture below, you and three other riders get in a turtle shell and get sent off into the darkness. It's all fun and games once you realize the drop isn't really a drop. Everything before that? Fear.

After that adventure, we walked around some more. We got to see the Tower of Terror. We all contemplated getting on it because we were all extremely happy but I don't like vertical drops; they're no good. I took a picture of the ride anyway though.

The Armadillo from Armageddon. We got on Aerosmith's Rock 'N' Rollercoaster next. I thought I was going to pee my pants once we got on the car. I saw how fast it shoots you off and I thought my stomach would be in my back surely, but it wasn't that bad. I've actually gotten on worse rides.

The inside was REALLY cool. They had guitars signed by bands and vintage posters for concerts and everything.

Yay, lunch time. We ate in the Tiki Tiki portion of the cafeteria. It was Lilo & Stitch themed so we just had to. They were already starting to put up Christmas decorations.

After getting nice and full off of fries, cokes and chicken sandwiches we headed off to Disneyland Park. Oh it was gorgeous.

So, this was the best part of the day. Disneyland Park still had Halloween decoration in the midst of newly adorned Christmas decorations. I think that's a pretty good combo if I do say so myself. We really turned into little kids once we entered the gates. We walked into a Halloween Winter Wonderland and we loved every minute of it. This is when I commenced running around like a five year old.

First we went into the shops and the ceiling looked like the picture above. It felt so much like Christmas that I wouldn't have minded hearing Christmas music. We went into this building right before the entrance to Frontierland that contained even more shops, a place to get glass figurines engraved, and something about America. After that, we were on our way to the Haunted Manor in Frontierland.

The best part was the Haunted Manor for all of us. It was such an awesome ride! First you walk into this room where there are walls with paintings and they look fairly normal until the floor starts to drop slowly and you really see what's going on in the paintings. It's very scary. Then the room opens to the actual ride and there are cars for you to sit in and take a tour of the Manor. You see ghosts dancing in the ballroom and eating at the dining table. We see the bride in her room powdering her face and disappearing before our eyes. As soon as you get used to your surroundings you enter the graveyard and then you're dragged into a grave and down, down you go. You see caskets and random skeletons crawling through the dirt. Eventually you're on your way to the exist but not before being visited by a few ghosts. Lastly, we traveled through a room of mirrors and we saw our reflections along with a ghost that has been controlling the cars all of this time. It was a nice adventure.

Then we got to look in the graveyard right behind the ride to find out where all of the ghosts came from.

Next, on our way to Fantasyland we stopped by Adventureland and saw a pirate ship. Too bad there weren't any pirates around to steal treasure from.

In Fantasyland we got on the Carousel and the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups. I wish I had gotten on Dumbo the Flying Elephant but alas we did not have a lot of time left before the park closed. The teacups, however, were magical enough. There were a lot of colors and a lot of spinning.

Now for the castle at night.

We had so so so so so so so so so so so so SO MUCH FUN! I can't wait until I get to go to Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida. It's gonna happen, I just know it is. And then I'll take advantage of all the rides and eat tons of cotton candy and become a five year old once more.

I really hope all of the pictures ignited a little bit of magic in all of your hearts.

Plus tard.

-nessa.

[jai-lapeche]

Paris!

Yes, for our Fall Break we were able to go to Paris and Disneyland. We started our journey on Thursday November 1st on the wrong train. I had a feeling that it wasn't the right place. I mean we were really wrong.

Mistakes happen when you pronounce Marne La Vallee (emphasis on the "e") the way you pronounce Laval.

Well, if you guess, we ended up in Laval, France (which was very close to Angers but REALLY far from Paris).

I mean the sign just looks wrong.

Laval is a nice place and all but it was not where we wanted to be.

Luckily the friend (Patton) that came along with Julie and I was able to buy our tickets for us to get to Marne La Vallee (where Disneyland awaits). We were also refunded for our return tickets which knocked down the price about ten euro or so. Plus, since we bought reduction cards for train tickets we ended up getting about twenty or so euro off the tickets each. Not bad huh?

We eventually got to our destination about two hours or so later. We arrived at the Marne La Vallee train station (which was literally right outside of Disneyland; you walk out of the station and there is Disneyland right in front of you). We thought our hotel was on site but we had to take a tram that would get us to our hotel in about ten minutes. It was a very effective way to travel.

We also found out that same tram (RER I believe) could take you to real life actual Paris in about 25 minutes, so we decided to go to Paris kind of last minute. The trip was just supposed to be for Disneyland, but since getting to Paris would be so easy we thought why not.

And I'm so glad we thought that way. It was beautiful even on a cold, rainy day.

We walked around a bit and eventually got to the front part of the Tower. There we saw a really pretty carousel.

The tower is really big and I couldn't get a good angle to take a good pic up close. This will have to do.

Took this one from across the street.

It doesn't look like we did a lot of walking but we did. By the time we got off of the subway, walked to the Tower, and walked across the street it was time to eat. We decided on a really nice looking Italian restaurant. The best thing about it (besides the pasta) was the blast of heat at the entrance.

I had pasta and dessert.

Then we walked even more. This time we had a particular place to go and that's Arc de Triomphe. This is that one part of France that everybody sees in movies but doesn't know what/where it is. I took some pics on the way there. Now, this is what I call a long walk.

This was a statue outside of a museum that you see a bit of in one of the pictures above. There was an EXTREMELY long line and we were thankful that we weren't in it.

And there was more walking. Excuse my glove, it made a few appearances in my camera. I wasn't able to see it because I'm working with a broken LCD screen. It's really hard to see through black fuzz and spider web glass.

This is part of the Berlin wall. So awesome.

We made it!

The Arc de Triomphe is a very important part of history. My friend Patton informed me (from what I remember/paraphrasing here) that this arc contained all of the names of the families and soldiers that had to do with a battle and Napoleon. All of the names were engraved here in remembrance and honor. It was beautifully covered. I tried to photograph as many walls as possible.

Here lies the unnamed soldier. This memorial is for those lost in battle.

Next it was time to walk to the Notre Dame. We thought we were going on the right track since we hadn't had any trouble getting places all day. We had been using a map and the common sense three girls can possess while navigating a foreign city. We weren't particularly lost but we were no where near the Notre Dame. It was a ten/fifteen minute walk away from where we were.

We thought this was the Notre Dame and we got our hopes up. I remember saying, "that doesn't look big enough" and I was right. It was still a nice church anyway. It had a nice sun dial at the top too.

I have no idea what this next picture says, it just looked cool.

We asked a civilian for help and were put in the right direction. It was nice to know where we were going. We ended up being behind the Louvre in front of a church. It had some pretty interesting statues/art pieces on the walkway. This one (and the one called the Three Politicians) are my favorites.

Next we walked past the old prison where Marie Antoinette was beheaded. It's something totally different now. Then, we got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle and I could only get one good picture of that (it was terribly dark outside and not suitable for picture taking).

I really wish I had some shots of the Notre Dame but by the time we got there it was pitch black and my camera doesn't like taking night shots (especially on flash) so you'll just have to imagine what it looks like. If you need reference watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Disney and it's a pretty accurate description of what it looks like. The most accurate from what I hear.

From reading this I hope you got to escape to Paris, too. That's all for now and hopefully tomorrow you get to see what happened at Disneyland because I'm much too tired now to post those pictures up. It's nearly 1am over here.

Plus tard.

-nessa.

[jai-lapeche]

Ah, Oui

I will be making posts here soon! I've been very lazy about updating but I can at least tell you what to expect:

Really awesome pictures from Disneyland Paris.

Really awesome pictures from Normandy.

Really awesome pictures from really awesome caves.

And hopefully really awesome pictures from my AMAZING week volunteering with kids.

France has gotten busy lately but I haven't forgotten to take pictures at least. This will happen soon, and since it has been a while it'll be fun to look at what I've documented from the past few weeks. Yeah, I guess I'm a little excited.

Plus tard!

-nessa.

P.S. We had a REALLY nice time today having a Thanksgiving dinner at our professor's house. It was so kind of her to invite us and to cook yummy food. I have plates to last me til Sunday. Ugh, so good. 

[jai-lapeche]

The Saints (Part 2)

Mont-Saint Michel.

And what a great mount it is.

This is one of the most unique chateaus I've come across. It was an entire island, complete with civilians and businesses.

We were able to watch a documentary before the travel, and we learned a few things about the mount.

Since Mont-Saint-Michel is literally an island, in the olden days (and nowadays if tourist want the full experience) to get to the mount, you would walk through the tide when it was low enough to travel. There are spots of quick sand but they aren't too dangerous if you're careful. It is best to walk through it all barefoot. It's all about getting the full experience. We did not get to do that and I was thankful because I hadn't the proper attire.

There are four parts that make up the whole of the chateau. The bottom portion used to be for peasants while the tops were for the higher ups. At the very top of the mount you can see a golden statue of St. Michel (known as being "God-like").

It takes 365 steps to get to the top top top and yes we climbed them all.

The two parts of the chateau that got to me the most were the pillars surrounding the garden and the room that looked like it had no windows. There are specific names but I have forgotten them.

The garden area surrounded by the pillars had something to do with threes and sevens. The architect was able to use math and construct something beautiful multiplying three and seven and the other numbers that go into the multiples of three and seven. The garden also represented God's love.

The next room that looked like it had no windows was also an architect wonder. People wanted the room to be illuminated with light, but without windows. How to do this? Have windows of course, but construct them in a way where it just looks like there are no windows. When you first walk into the room you see light but no windows. When you walk a bit further you see how the windows are tall and tucked into the sides of the walls. Portions of the walls jut out creating the illusion and hiding the windows. You can't tell where the light comes from since you are not able to look out of all of the windows at once. You are only able to see a few windows at a time.

The other interesting part about the chateau is the gorgeous church. My friends caught sight of a few nuns. Service was not in process while we visited, but many tourists have been able to sit in during mass. Early every morning, the nuns and monks take the 365 step climb to pray at the church before tourists arrive. They do this to be at complete peace. The rest of the church/abbey is beautiful as well and here are some of the shots I think were the best. The lighting was tricky in some areas, but I made it work.

And this my dear friends is Saint Michel. This replica is of the golden statue that's at the top top top of the chateau. Pretty nice huh?

Leaving the mount was just as pretty as getting there.

It was a really awesome time and I'm so happy that I woke up in time to make it. I would've been so upset if I had missed it.

Plus Tard!

Next time I'll have a post about my vacation in Paris/Disneyland! You'll definitely enjoy that one.

-nessa.

Part One in case you missed it (x)

[jai-lapeche]

The Saints (Part 1)

Wow, it's been awhile. Let me catch you up on things.

A few Saturday's ago, October 27th to be exact, we were blessed with a chance to see some pretty awesome Saints. Saint-Malo located in Brittany and Mont-Saint-Michel between Brittany and Normandy France, right on the border.

The first stop was Saint-Malo. We got there after a three hour bus ride and it was quite beautiful despite the heavy winds and really cold temperature. Saint-Malo is a harbor/port and a lot of trade goes through there I believe. At least that is what it is famous for. We walked along the chateau a longways and took pictures of the sea down below. The water was very blue and if it wasn't so cold I would've gone down and touched the water. Also, if it were summer I would've tried to swim.

We also got to walk around the city a bit. It was very pretty and there was this AWESOME chocolate shop. They basically sold Nutellax10 chocolate in these jars called Real Chocolat (Click here for the website). They had a few samples going about and I tried the original and caramel flavors. I would've bought one of each if I had the means.

After walking around a bit we were feeling hungry and in need of a sit down. We stopped by this cafe that let us eat our packed lunch (those who brought one) as long as we bought a drink. Some of the girls ordered a crepe or galette. They're pretty much the same thing except crepes are usually sweet based and galettes have a mixture of things (from what I have heard about them at least).

Soon after it was time to go. We waited for our bus for at least twenty minutes. It would have been worse but we found a tree that blocked most of the wind so it was more bearable.Next up was Mont-Saint-Michel which was about an hour and a half away from Saint-Malo.

Part Two Continued Here (x)

[jai-lapeche]

Another Wine Excursion?

Why, yes there was another wine excursion and this time it was on a school day. Oh yeah.

This time we were lucky enough to visit while they were picking grapes to be pressed into wine. We didn't get to see them actually pick grapes but we saw them put some into the machines.

The name of this winery is Domaine De Bablut Vignobles Daviau (I have no idea if it's in the correct order but that's what's on the card). It was established in 1546 (WOW) and has been making wine in Angers (technically Brissac) ever since.

I didn't hear much because I was in the back most of the time but I believe this place produces a lot of wine all over France and it is well liked. We learned a little bit more about how wine is made. The guy/tour guide told us that that all grapes are clear and what makes the wine have different tastes is from the type of grapes they use. To give color to it (either rose or red) they leave no some of the skin for the darker grapes. For the rose they only leave in just a bit and for the red, it's everything. We also learned that the wine that they barreled two years ago is about to be bottled. We also got to see the machine that labels the wine and there is a worker who makes sure the bottles are nice and neat and ready to be bought.

Almost right away we got to the wine tasting. The room was very interesting and bottles lined the walls. The sign on the door said cave and that's exactly like it was.

Inside it was very dim so it as hard to take good pictures but I managed to get a few and pictures of the wine we got to taste.

These are the wines we got to taste. The first one was a white wine (I think) and it was pretty good. It had a nutty taste afterwards but it was very bitter. The second one was a dark, dark red. This one have a VERY weird taste. It didn't remind me of the other wines I've tasted and I thought that was very interesting. The guy pointed out that this was a type of wine to eat during a meal so the taste kind of makes sense. It leaves an after taste to brighten the flavor of the food you're eating, making eating food even more fun. Who would've thought? Also he talked about why people's mouths get dry from wine. There's a certain protein in the red wine that blocks off saliva production in your mouth. Cool huh? Next was a rose which still had a bitter taste but not as bad as the red wine. It was a lot more mild. The last one we tried was an incredible sweet white wine which was my favorite. It didn't have a bad after taste or anything like that. It was just right.

Oh and did I tell you I was gifted ( by someone in our group) with the last bottle of wine? I'd say that was pretty awesome.

The rest of the pictures are from around the winery. It was very beautiful and my camera did not do anything justice. Enjoy.

This was right across the street. I thought it was pretty.

We had a really nice time! It was great to have another perspective on how a winery can work and distribute wine. Sooner or later they'll be a post about our fancy dinner with the alumni and the president of St. Edward's University. Fancy, I know.

Plus tard!

-nessa.

[jai-lapeche]

Saturday Morning

Saturday Mornings are the bees knees in Angers. Why you ask? Well that's because all of the local farmers and other merchants alike set up their tents and put their best of the best out for sale. Though we arrived four hours after they opened we still got to see plenty of people selling things. The market we went to is a two to five minute walk from our resident. It takes up a parking lot, a back lot and two main streets. People were selling chickens (yes chickens), paintings, furniture, clothing, food, appliances, jewelery (many of which were handmade), shoes, fish, fresh produce and much more.

We walked around fairly quickly considering what was left after the morning rush but I mostly took my time wanting to take pictures and really look at things. I wasn't in any kind of a rush so I just wanted to dawdle. I did get a few good pictures but I didn't want to look like the creepy person walking around with a camera taking random shots. I got a picture of some hats, jewelery, a chicken that stared right into my camera, ALIVE crabs, and the fresh produce. I really want to be able to experience the market early in the morning so I may have to go back next Saturday to catch what I missed.

And now the pictures (there's quite a few). Enjoy!

This place had a lot of coats and some awesome t-shirts. I bought one for 10 euro and it was made in Italy. True story.

To be honest this part of the fish market smelled wonderful. I know that's weird and probably startling but I just love seafood. The smell of the craw fish made me really hungry. Maybe I'm a mermaid or something.

Those crabs were ALIVE. They were moving around and stuff!

Cool cheese. The casings are so artsy.

These boots were awesome. I wish they had them in my size.

Yay fresh produce!

These olives were very pretty. I know I don't like olives but I wanted to eat one of each.

Honey! And look there's even pollen for your flowers (the beady stuff at the far left). It took one heck of a bee charmer to get all of that pretty golden stuff.

Look it's a heart!

I don't know what these are but they look fancy.

Now THIS was my absolute favorite part of the day. We met this wonderful lady named Sarah Bijoux and she had a table of the cutest handmade jewelery I've ever seen. They were all pretty much made out of clay. She had different things like cookies, coke bottles, gummy bears, macaroons, licorice, and spoon (yes spoon) earrings with dollops of cream with strawberries (if you were wondering yes I did buy that pair). She also had rings that went along with the earrings/necklaces/bracelets. And she was selling them for a VERY reasonable price. They were all so neat and she painted them all so carefully. I really wish I had taken better pictures but her website has better pictures to look at to get the full effect on how wonderful these  things actually were.

It was such a fun day and I know next time to go earlier to get a better experience. I wonder if I'll wake up every Saturday morning to go. Nah, sleep is fun.

Plus tard!

-nessa.

P.S. You should really check out Sarah's website! Everything makes a great gift and they're just too adorable anyway to not look at at least.

[jai-lapeche]

Velo Cite: Mid 3rd Week

Today we did something adventurous. Something that very few people can claim to have success with. We accomplished quite a feat.

We rode our bikes in the street.

Now I know this may seem a fairly simple task but not in Angers. The city is said to be very "bike friendly" but I guess friendly means driving in the bike lane with your car, walking in front of my path (automatically making yourself a target), and scaring you to near death by driving your bus right behind me (that hasn't happened to me yet but I've seen it done to cyclists) among various other insulting gestures.

So yes we successfully (I say that term loosely) rode our bikes to and from school today. I will make myself learn how to navigate better but for now my butt cheeks need to rest. They're a bit sore.

Plus tard.

-nessa.

[jai-lapeche]

Taste The Landscape (Part 3)

This is in front of the chateau and the inside is even better.

We finally got to taste the wine. There's a whole process to it as well if you want to get the ultimate experience. It's all about taste, not just drinking the wine because it's wine. The first wine pictured here is an off-dry white wine called Les Caillardieres. I could tell that it had a nice quantity of alcohol so I didn't like it very much. It still had a wonderful taste and when I smelled it, it smelled just like white grape juice which is almost the same thing. If you wanted to buy this by the bottle it is (or close to) 17 euros. Oh that's another thing. You know how in America all of the good wine is expensive? Well come to France and for a bottle of the best is never going to be more than 25 euors. Never (if I'm wrong and you know it feel free to correct me).

To properly taste wine you hold the glass by the stem as to not warm the wine if you held it like a cup. First off, you gently swirl the wine by holding the stem and moving it in soft circles on the table or you can hold it up in your hand. This makes the air get into the wine making sure it opens up. Next put your nose in the glass and sniff well inhale the scent rather. Now this is really going to open up your senses and make tasting it even better once you recognize the different flavors by smelling the wine. Your olfactory system in your nose is triggered and wets your appetite.

When you taste the wine you take a sip and chew it. All this means is kind of swishing it around in your mouth by moving your jaw as if you were chewing food. Once you do this for a while you can either spit it out (in the provided spit buckets they give you and encourage you to use) or you can drink it. The owner explained to us that whenever she tastes her wine she always spits it back out because tasting is the more important than drinking it.

Now the wine is imbedded into your taste buds and you can really get a hold of the flavor. The first wine we tasted is meant to be consumed along food which is any wine really unless specified otherwise. "If I were to have a fish I would drink this wine. All I would have to do is cook it with olive oil so it would not dry, and some lemon. I would not add any spices because the wine adds it for me." Wine just makes food taste better.

This is the next white wine we were given called Clos du Papillon which is a sweet white wine. This bottle runs close to 19 euros I believe. This one was a bit better than the first. It wasn't as bitter but then it wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be either. But all in all not bad. This one had a bit of a honey scent to it.

I was hesitant to taste the red wine because I know they are very bitter. This one was actually very sweet for a red wine. Tentation is the name and it is a sweet rose wine. I ended up buying a bottle of this one. It was only 10 euros. I can't remember if it was this one or the one before that tasted like a hint of caramel and honey. It also had a very berry taste to it. Quite delicious.

There was another on the list of wines that we could buy that we didn't get to taste. She told us that this wine wasn't a native of France but from a different place. I don't remember what she said but under neath the name verdelho of Madeira is written. It is called Eau de Pluie (rain water) and is the cheapest wine they offer at 8,90 euros. It's pictured below.

It was clearer than the others but not as tasty. It was very mild. Though I couldn't taste any flavors in it, it was still pretty okay. The other wine I ended up buying is called Les Coteaux and is supposed to be like the Clos du Papillon except with a lemon tint to it. I like lemon so I figured this one would be nice to have as well. One red and one white.

This picture below is a showcase of all of the wines they have and the soil of where the vines grow. Told you the soil was important.

I really enjoyed my time there. It was such a great experience and now I can say I own some fancy french wine. Whazzap up.

Plus Tard!

-nessa.

Part one if you missed it (x). Part two if you missed it (x).