Medieval Eden

So, a long recap of a long weekend, shall we?

Friday, I went out with my friend Grace and my friend Evie, and we saw a 22h15 show of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in V.O (voix originale, ie IN ENGLISH). Let me paint you this picture: The three of us, exhausted from a week of hell, me almost straight from gymnastics, Evie out of a fight with her French parents, Grace as perky as ever, and we go to a theater in the center of town, absolutely crawling with people at ten o’clock at night, and we sit down close to the front because Evie doesn’t have her glasses, and are assaulted by a wave of body odor so viral that there are absolutely no words to describe it. I will let my silence create an image for you… So, on the verge of violent nausea, the movie starts. And, very quickly, I am dumbstruck by the brilliance that is this movie. For the two hours I sat with my neck craned to the screen and my hand over my nose, I was completely absorbed. It was amazing, without question. Just so good.

So I go home, and am in bed by one or onethirty, and just pass out. And I have my alarm set, but the next morning, it doesn’t wake me up. At all. I sleep right through it. It turns off on its own after one minute of ringing, so the rest of the family assumes I am now conscious, because it takes talent to ignore a bell like that one, and I end up sleeping for another hour and fifteen minutes, right until 8 am, and I’m supposed to be at school to meet the convoy at 8h15. And it takes 20 minutes to get there. And we’re picking up two other Americans on our way. So, basically, hell on earth. In any case, we made it by 8h30, everything was fine, we didn’t die. But let’s just say, stressful morning.

Followed by an amazing day. I slept the whole bus ride, which is about three hours long, and we take our first stop at the chateau d’Angers. It’s the least involved of the castles on our list for the weekend, from the late middle ages, very standard military. I could astound you with my knowledge of the evolution of chateaus through the early seventeenth century, but I will leave that for another day. So anyway, this is an old war castle, which was built for one of the Henry’s, and was later converted into a prison. The craziest part was crossing down into the dungeons, where the prisoners were kept. They carved things into the stone of the walls, with bits of metal or their fingernails. It was ridiculous, we could actually read these messages from 500 years ago. They were written in poor French, angled and misspelled, but simple and straightforward. It said things like “C’est pour nous punir que nous sommes ici” and “Je suis le dernier condmane” And I can’t impart to you just how creepy it is to read these ancient phrases in a musty tower with a dying flashlight, thinking of these tortured men, unsure if you can ever really understand what they were trying to say. But otherwise, the castle was very old, and straightforward. No delicately decorated rooms or interesting symbolism. Just protection against medieval warfare. But it was cool going to the top of the donjon, the tallest tower, and staring out across the town. The sky was perfect, and you could honestly see forever, past the ends of the city in all directions. It’s so strange because this great stone chateau is in the center of this thriving metropolis. It’s a ridiculous contrast. But anyway, my friend Susannah and I sat on the railing of this tower and looked over the edge, and watched little bits of rock get chipped off of the edge and spiral ten stories to the perfectly cultured gardens below. It was really wonderful.

Then we ate our picnic lunches in the gardens and hopped back on the bus for a schlep over to the Chateau de Villandry. Now, there is nothing absolutely extravagant about the building itself. It was interesting, and exquisite, but only average in the lines of buildings to come. However, the gardens. Dear lord, the gardens. Does anyone remember that random plantation we visited in Williamsburg in sixth grade? How amazing they were? Yeah, nothing compared to this. They stretched on for a mile at least, and there were flowers and mazes and fountains and pretty pictures and beautiful paths. It was like the garden of Eden, and I’m sure they did that on purpose. There can’t be anything like it anywhere else on earth.

The other cool thing about Villandry was the random donkey pen in one corner of the garden, with donkeys that walked right up to me and started nuzzling my neck. That was freaking awesome, by the way.

Ok, there are three more chateaus to describe, and two more days of events to recount, but I only have a few more minutes at the computer, and tomorrow we’re leaving for PARIS for a week or so. SO I’m gonna have to put all of this on hold, and hope what you have so far can tide you over for a little while.

Pictures ASAP as well.

I love you all, and I’m thinking of you.

Until Next Time, I’LL BE IN PARIS.

COUNTDOWN to return: 218 days