Wednesday's excursion was indeed heavy on castles, bringing the final FREX16 count to seven. But as we told the kids, this is what the Loire Valley is known for, and you there's no such thing as complaining about seeing too many castles. 

Our first stop on the day was at Chenonceau, widely known as the Loire Valley's most beautiful as it straddles not the Loire but the Cher river. This château is one of the rare ones that's actually furnished as it would've been in the XVI century, and tells the story of the rivaly between Catherine de Médicis and Diane de Poitiers. It's also known for its beautiful floral bouquets that add a nice touch to the faded tapestries and such. We ended the visit with a picnic lunch on the castle grounds, then pushed onto the castle the Diane ended with, Chaumont.

Just 20kms north of Chenonceau is Chaumont which was a new addition to the regulary French Exchange itinerary. The castle ground are very striking and are approached first by walking to the stables and such. The interior of the castle is remarkably less interesting and at the time contained a modern art installation which was not very popular among our group. The students were eager to move on to the final castle visit of the trip, the Clos Lucé in Amboise. 

The Clos Lucé is generally known as Leonardo da Vinci's castle. The architecture isn't very spectacular; in fact, it's dwarfed by the imposing Amboise castle which is really a fortress overlooking the Loire. Instead, da Vinci lived the last four years of his life in a hôtel particulier (mansion) that now contains sketches, mock-ups, and (new since I was last there) video and 3D recreations of his most fantastic innovations. It was quite amazing to see how this man imagined the world 500 years ago. In the end, though, some students were more eager for coffee and ice cream in the town center, while others stayed back to stroll through the da Vinci sculpture garden. 

Our final excursion of the 2016 edition of this trip was to the troglodyte cave dwellings that are typical of the region due to the sandstone bedroom. 30kms outside of town, a guide gave us a 30 minute overview of how farming communities had dug their dwellings into the small caves of the area and used the surrounding land to raise animals and grow grapes and other crops. Then the site provided us with a short worksheet to guide us through the other rooms and chambers making them look carefully at farming tools or other artifacts that described how life was up until 1962 when the last "cave dwellers" left the troglodytes. 

On the way home, we took a quick detour to step inside our last Romanesque cathedral fo the tour, Notre-Dame de Cunault. It's an enormous and beautiful cathedral in the town square of the smallest and quaintest French village. What's great about this church is that it seems to be manned by no one, and we're always the only visitors inside. It was a very nice way to end our sight-seeing in the Loire Valley.

As I write this, the students (and teachers) are all at home beginning to say their goodbyes and furiously trying to figure out how to jam everything into their suitcases while staying under the weight limit!

As they say in France, à demain!

On Tuesday afternoon the kids divided into groups and three as we asked them to prove to us that they knew their way around Angers. They had two hours to complete a 36-question scavenger in which they were asked about local landmarks and trivia. By design the kids had to ask around for directions, interview locals, etc. And it all had to be captured on film, at least to gain the maximum amount of points. In the end, the scores were very close among the top five teams, but Bailey, Rianna and Simone squeaked out a win one point victory over Jake, Elena and Paget who were half a point ahead of Kerimal, Sofi M. and Dani. 

Saturday: Most of our exchange students took us out shopping in downtown Angers or in the main shopping mall, Atoll. Most shopping areas here have some stores that are also found in the US, but with different merchandise  Three students' correspondants had basketball games so they attended their matches. By the end of the day, the French students had organized a ''petite soirée'' for us, with dancing and all. 


Sunday: We took a rest day from the busy week we had. It was a sunny day so most of it was spent outside. Also most people went out to eat with their families for lunch or dinner. In France, eating out is lengthy. Each course is brought out separately and is appreciated with time. A lot of time is left between courses to properly digest and socialize. There was also a comic book convention that a few students attended with their families. Also, Kerimal went ice skating. We are having a great time.

Today's excursion was pretty straight-forward: a day at the movies. Of course we had scheduled the warmest day so far (57 degrees F) to be indoors, but alas we can't control everything. The movie we chose was "La Vache", a heart-warming comedy about an Algerian man selected to participate in the "Salon de l'Agriculture" (the farmers' expo in Paris) in the category of "Best in Show" in the bovine category. The only problem: he had to cross the Mediterranean--with his cow!--and then walk--again, with his cow!--from Marseille to Paris. Those that, ahem, stayed awake, for the whole show really enjoyed the movie and I think our trip now has an official tag line: "C'est la faute à... LA POIRE!" You'll have to ask around about its meaning, but it's especially meaningful given that we're in Angers and its hinterland, the Anjou, which of course is famous for its... Anjou pears! 

On Friday we traveled about an hour to the east to visit the medieval fortress of Chinon, where famous names like Henry II of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Joan of Arc all once laid their heads. The guide of the castle took place outdoors, but the guide had pity on us in the cold and wind and let us explore the castle after 45 minutes. Fortunately, the castle had great video installations which explained key moments in French history, such as the passing of the crown to Richard the Lionheart, Henry the III or John Lackland. By the time the teachers were done with the visit, we found all 27 students keeping warm in the giftshop trying out the bow-and-arrow sets for sale!

Next we drove a few kilometers down the road and had a nice picnic in a park, followed by an intense game of tag under a strong February sun. Mr. Kimball was quite sore after the game, and was accucsed by some of being too competitive :)

After lunch, we took a tour of the Fontevraud Abbey. It must be said that the Brookline students were getting every question about medieval French history correct (at what age did Eleanor of Aquitaine die, how many children did she have), and then the guide finally caught on that we'd just visited Chinon and therefore the answers were fresh in our minds. In addition to seeing the tombs of the most famous of the medieval kings and queens of France--and England, at the time!--we learned a lot about monastic life between the 12th and 15th centuries. Needless to say, I don't think we have any future monks or nuns in our group. 

Lastly, we stopped for a quick walk around the small city of Saumur. The forty-five minutes we planned were long enough for 24 of the 27 students to find the one café in town with free wifi, and then we were back on our merry way back to Angers. 

Just a few images today from yesterday's adventure to Les Machines in Nantes.  Take note of our two students in the bird baskets.

​We have left Paris and what a great 48 hours it has been. Driving into the northern countryside of France was a beautiful ride seeing how the crowded streets of Paris quickly turned into lush green fields used by dairy farm cows. It was a different pace in Bayeau where we heard the story of William the Conqueror from 1066 while looking at the longest tapestry in France. Then, it was off to our hostel in Cherbourg where we ended our Friday adventures.

Early on Saturday, we went deeper into the villages up north to explore the complicated unfolding of the military plans regarding D-Day. Here we all had a review of what events led to the outbreak of the war and why this battle on the beaches needed to occur. We had an amazing narrated tour after our visit to the first museum in Cain while riding to the American cemetery, and then the group took a trip to one last beach. That location showed us the remains of a "floating road" and some remnants of the temporary docks created by the Allies in order to resupply the troops for several months after June 6, 1944. When your kids come back, ask them about how the code names for each of the beaches were chosen, about the use of "clickers," and/or the nemesis of mobility, the hedges. I'm sure they can fill you in on some of those details. 

Sunday is a day for visiting some wonderful castles and then finally meeting up with our host families that evening.