The most eventful thing that has happened recently was the Toussaint Break. All Saints Day, the day after Halloween, is a very big holiday in France so the schools get 2 weeks off for it. It was weird only working for 3 weeks then having a 2 week break, but I definitely am not complaining. For the vacaion, I took a week-long trip around Northern France with 3 other American girls and it was really a lot of fun! Here are the places we went:
First stop on the trip was Rennes, the capital of Brittany. Unfortunately, I missed the train due to my bus not running that morning... gotta love France. Luckily Rennes is only about 1.5 hours from Nantes so there are a lot of trains going there and I hopped on the next one 3 hours later. It was frustrating missing my train and not getting to ride their with my friends, but I met up with them eventually and it all worked out. We only spent one night in Rennes, but it was a relaxing night of walking around and eating crêpes.
Half-timbered houses - Rennes is famous for having many of these.
The adorable crêperie we went to (the darker timbered house).
Yummy galette with ham, egg, and cheese and cider at the crêperie we went to. My favorite French food!
Rennes' château. Older than the one in Nantes but not as pretty.
The streets of Rennes.
Next, we took a bus and a train to get to Bayeux, a town in Normandy. I would call Normandy the Wisconsin of France; they were very proud of their cows. Only Normandy also has a beautiful coastline with cliffs and beaches. Bayeux is a pretty small town, but it is famous for the Bayeux tapestry, which depicts the story of William the Conqueror and the Norman conquest of England. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the tapestry because photography was forbidden. The main reason we went to Bayeux is that is it very close to the D-Day beaches. Someone from our hotel hired a taxi driver to drive us to several WWII sites and he actually came to all of them with us and was able to tell us a lot of interesting information.
Bayeux Cathedral
Our hotel was recommended by Rick Steves!
Pointe du Hoc - the first D-Day site we visited. It's situated between Omaha Beach and Utah beach and the German guns there threatened the Allied landings on both beaches. The U.S. sent Rangers to destroy the German weapons here early on D-Day. Due to weather, the Rangers were 40 minutes late and the Germans knew they were coming and moved their guns back. The Rangers scaled the cliffs, found where the weapons had been moved, and destroyed them. Only 90 of about 225 Rangers survived, but they succeeded. There were supposed to be 500+ more Rangers joining them there, but they instead landed on Omaha beach and probably helped avoid a disaster there.
Cliffs with barbed wire at Pointe du Hoc.
Me at Pointe du Hoc. It was weird thinking about how beautiful it was, and also about all the men who fought and died there.
More of Pointe du Hoc.
The memorial for the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc.
Lots of barbed wire.
Pretty flower at Omaha Beach.
American memorial at Omaha Beach.
The American WWII Cemetary.
There were many graves for unknown soldiers.
The last place we visited was Arromanches-les-Bains. The British set up a Mulberry Harbor here to get cargo to the beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy.
Cannon at Arromanches.
After our day/night in Bayeux, we headed to the Champagne region. We stayed two nights in Reims, famous for its cathedral where the kings of France were coronated. It was absolutely beautiful! One of our days there we also went to Epernay, a smaller town nearby that is famous for its champagne. We visited 2 champagne caves: Moet & Chandon and Mercier. We had tours in the caves and learned all about how champagne is made, the history, and the difference between traditional champagne and vintage champagne. It was unbelievably fun and informative! I even bought 2 bottles: a Rose from Moet and a Vintage 2007 from Mercier. Unfortunately, I was feeling a bit under the weather during this leg of the trip, but I still really enjoyed it.
Reims Cathedral
The cathedral's gargoyles are all different types of animals. This one is a cow.
Kings of France.
The cathedral has really cool stained glass windows.
These stained glass windows were designed by Marc Chagall. It's a little blurry unfortunately.
The cathedral is also known for its smiling angel (all the way on the right).
Avenue de Champagne in Epernay!
Moet & Chandon: probably the best and most well-known champagne.
Inside Moet's caves.
The numbers tell how many rows and bottles are in each area.
Gift from Napoléon who was a frequent visitor of the caves.
Light showing the sediment inside the champagne that gives it flavor (not in the champagne when you buy it).
So much champagne!
These vintage bottles have clearly been here for a looong time.
A true bottle of Dom Perignon always has it written at the bottom of the bottle. Reeeally expensive champagne that I someday want to try.
Mold at the top of the caves.
The different sized bottles of champagne one can buy.
Our samples!
The Mercier caves.
Champagne is so beautiful.
Barrel of champagne that Mercier brought to the World's Fair in Paris.
Me in the Mercier caves. We rode an electric train.
The 3 different champagnes we tried at Mercier: A Brut, a Vintage 2007, and a Rose.
Me with my vintage purchase outside Mercier.
The last stop on our trip was Orléans, a town a couple hours from Nantes in the Pays de la Loire region. The town itself is famous for Joan of Arc, who defended it. The reason we came to Orléans, however, was to see the nearby château Chambord. It is the largest château in the Loire valley and was built to serve as a hunting lodge by François I. I have wanted to see this chateau ever since we learned about it in French class in high school, so it was really exciting finally getting to do so. It was incredible!
First glimpse of Chambord.
It's so big!!
The autumn trees made it look even prettier.
I was so happy!
Gorgeous.
I can't believe it was hardly ever used.
The entrance.
The famous double-helix open staircase. The two staircases ascend 3 floors and never once meet.
Inside of the staircase - it's so cool! It is likely to have been designed by Leonardo DaVinci.
View from the second floor.
At the top!
The beautiful woods and river. Made me wish I liked hunting.
So that is it for my Toussaint vacation. I am back in Nantes now and I will be sure to update this more often!
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