vacation summary

Students (and teachers) in France have so much more vacation time than in the States. The ten days in November is referred to as "la Toussaint," because it encompasses All Saints Day. Like Americans, they get two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's. And then, there's les vacances d'hiver, which falls sometime in February. There's no holiday to celebrate, but one friend told me that the two weeks in February exist so people can go skiing. And so the tourism industry really benefits from the winter sport enthusiasts, France is divided into three zones, and each zone has a different vacation time. My zone had the first vacation this year, which was a bit frustrating because my friends in the Paris region are off just as I return to work. While I didn't leave for a ski trip in the Alps like some people I know (a long drive similar to the one from OKC to the resorts in Colorado or New Mexico), I did profit from my time off from school.

The first few days were spent in Trier, Germany, with a side trip to Luxembourg and stops in Metz and Reims. I spent two days at home in Poix relaxing and spending time with friends, then headed off again on Friday to see Kara in Provins. From there, I took the TGV to Blois to visit Emmanuelle & Olivier (friends from Amiens) who were staying with her parents. There, I was treated like royalty with delicious food and tours of le Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire and le Château de Blois - two castles I've never visited.

Emmanuelle's papa drove us to Chaumont, about 16 kilometeres from Blois. Chaumont was a fortress built in the 10th Century by Eudes the First, count of Blois. The fortress was razed in 1461 upon orders from Louis XI. It was reconstructed by Pierre d'Amboise, who lived from 1445-1510. The facades kept their feudal appearance while being influenced by the Renaissance. In 1550, Catherine de Medici became owner of the castle when she traded it in exchange for Chenonceaux with her late husband's mistress, Diane de Poitiers.
The stables at Chaumont are quite luxurious and were equipped with electricity before the castle!

While Olivier worked, Emmanuelle and I spent all day Tuesday in Blois. The castle is built on a hill above the Loire River, and is smack-dab in the middle of town. The castle was built over time, and has four distinct wings representing four different periods: the Middle Ages, Flamboyant Gothic, Renaissance and Classical. The oldest part, which dates from the 13th Century, is the salle des Etats Généraux, one of the oldest feudal halls in France, and is also considered the largest Gothic civil hall still standing. Recently renovated, the colors on the walls and ceiling are impressive. The castle closes for lunch, so we walked back to her parents' apartment where yet another delicious meal awaited us. We returned to the castle in the afternoon to finish the tour and then visited vieux Blois in the late afternoon. The town was damaged in WWII, but most of the bombs fell on the houses along the river. The old town, set up the hill away from the water, as well as the castle, survived.