Des Bonnes Journées

Chelsea & me at Château d'Amboise

Hello there!

Yesterday I took a day trip to Amboise to see the château with my fellow Canadian Chelsea and my other neighbors, Maarja and Agnes, from Estonia. The castle itself was less impressive than Chenonceau (most the original building was destroyed in the French Revolution and also by the Germans in 1940) but the scenery was incredible! Just like our last casual château Sunday, we had a perfect day. Château d'Amboise is built more like a fortress so you can survey the entire city and the Loire from all vantage points. The Chapel of Saint-Hubert at Château d'Amboise is also the resting place of Leonardo da Vinci (which I didn’t even realize at the time, what a horrid historian I am!). We had some time to kill so we sauntered around the town and indulged in the most amazing gelato I’ve ever encountered and passed through the quaint and delicious biscuiteries, chocolateries and pâtisseries! :)

Agnes, Maarja, Chelsea & me at Amboise

Today I decided it was time to faire le shopping so after my culture class this morning I went on a journey to see what I could find. While food is significantly less expensive here than in Canada, the same cannot be said for shopping. If I had a first-born child I probably would have had to surrender it in exchange. 150 Euro scarves! 200 Euro shoes! Mon dieu! Still, I could not get over the selection of stores and clothes that the French have at their disposal. Each autumn in Canada it seems we are subjected to the same blah mustard yellows, blacks and plums so I was overjoyed to see some fun colors like raspberry red, royal blue and dusty rose. However, being fashion-oblivious and barely over 5 feet tall with an acute weakness for pastries tends to make shopping rather trying. Hence, I am holding open auditions for a personal shopper- who’s game?? ;) In all, it wasn’t entirely fruitless as I acquired a poster for my apartment as well as three new tops from H&M. Can’t wait to ditch the American tourist look!

First crêpe in France! with Nici & Marie (Germans)
and Ivy & Sydney (Canadians)

Lastly, tonight, a few of my neighbors and I went up the street to check out the Café des Langues. Each Monday night a local café holds a drop-in to practice the language of your choice. We seated ourselves at an English-Français table and I met a lovely and helpful lady from Northern Ireland who spoke French quite well. The real treat was speaking for over an hour with a native French speaker! He was an older gentleman interested in improving his English so it was a gagnant-gagnant (win-win, that is)! I certainly intend on returning as often as I can, as the language café was a valuable and relaxing immersion experience and also a great way to meet new people from all over! 

Back to the daily grind tomorrow- 8 hours of class demain! Oh man, just a jour dans la vie! 

Z <3