Town Mouse, Country Mouse

Last week was our spring break, and thanks to planes, trains and automobiles, I got to experience both a huge metropolitan city and a charming tiny town. For the first part of the week, I traveled with my friend Tim (also a Middlebury bordelais) to visit our friend Silvano in Rome. While I had already been to Rome with my family many years ago, it was wonderful to return to the city and see all the sights as a better informed tourist than I was when I was nine. On our first day there, we visited most of the big sights in the city, enjoyed a delicious pizza lunch, and lingered at sunset on the Spanish Steps, which was my favorite part of the day. Silvano is an Art History major at Middlebury, his family is Italian, and he has been in Rome for the entire year, so he was an expert tour guide. I loved all the brightly colored buildings in Rome--pink, orange and red facades-- that contrast starkly with the white stone of Bordeaux. The afternoon light in Italy was just amazing and made all the buildings glow with a warm and rich luminescence.

Brightly colored buildings in Piazza Navona

Silvano and me on the Spanish Steps

On our second day in Rome, we tackled the Roman Forum and discovered a beautiful little orange grove overlooking the entire city. The air smelled of some delicious flower (we couldn't figure out what), and we spent a while wandering the Palatine Hill and marveling at the views. In the afternoon, Tim and I were the very last two people admitted into the Vatican museums for the day, arriving just as the guards were closing the two huge doors. It was a perfect time to visit the museums since the crowds were much smaller than during usual morning rush, and although the Sistine Chapel was still packed with people, we took our time moving through the rest of the rooms. My favorite were the Raphael rooms, and we got to enjoy "The School of Athens" with hardly anyone else around. After the museum we joined Silvano for a picnic in the Borghese Gardens with bellinis (an Italian cocktail of peace juice and champagne), cheese, blood oranges and strawberries. We sat in the garden as the sun was going down over the Palazzo del Popolo and enjoyed a beautiful view of the city. That night we went to a charming little neighborhood hosteria and I experienced some of the most delicious pasta I have ever eaten in my life, penne all arrabbiata. While I'm as big a fan of French food as you will find, it was nice to take a break from the pate and baguettes and enjoy some pasta, gelato and bruschetta.

Middkids on the Palatine Hill

Coliseum

Our final day in Rome was my favorite, since Silvano took us to visit Orvieto, a small hill town in Umbria about an hour and a half outside of Rome. When we arrived, we took a funicular to the top of the city and walked around the ancient ramparts, which afforded amazing views of the surrounding countryside. Umbria means something like land of the shadows, and it was so cool to see the patterns of shadows and light on the fields created by the sun and clouds. The town is absolutely charming, filled with picturesque little alleys, blooming flower boxes and peaceful piazzas. After lunch, we climbed up to the top of the bell tower and enjoyed even more spectacular views of the city and its surroundings. We also visited the magnificent cathedral, which is modeled after the cathedral in Siena and is made from the similar black and white marble. On our way back to the funicular, we climbed down into an ancient Etruscan well, which was so cool. The well was dark and damp and slightly eerie, but standing at the bottom and looking up at the light was amazing. I have never on the same day climbed up a bell tower and down into a well, so now that's something I can check off my to-do list. We finished our stay in Rome with a big dinner with some other Middlebury friends studying in Italy at another neighborhood trattoria that brought us free limoncello after dinner. All in all, a fabulous time.

Umbria, land of shadows

View from the top of the belltower of Orvieto

Etruscan well--we climbed all the way down!

I returned back to Bordeaux and left the next day to join my family at their country house, which they go to for nearly every break. I took the train that morning and Hubert picked me up in Lesparre, a small town in the Medoc region to the north of Bordeaux. Their house is in Les Pigaux, a lieu-dit (the name for a smaller neighborhood or area within a town) and it is absolutely adorable. The Chaperons own half of the house and the other half is owned by a charming Australian couple who split their time between France and Australia. The house is very cozy, a true home away from home. And it's very secluded from everything around it, so it's a real escape from the rest of the world. When I arrived we ate lunch outside and then headed to the beach, where Marius, Tanguy and Hubert surfed and I sat and chatted with Valerie. Later that afternoon, we walked around town, got ice cream, and Valerie tried to buy a lottery ticket but couldn't find a store that sold them. I was missing them a lot after over a week apart, so it was wonderful to be together again and experience their beloved Pigaux.

Mon frere Marius a la plage

Pigaux, home away from home

The next day we packed up the house and loaded up the car to come back to Bordeaux, making a few social stops along the way. The first stop was to see one of Valerie's old friends, who had just bought a new beach house in Le Porge, a nearby beach town. We ate lunch with them and then hit the road again to go to Arcachon, the popular beach resort town, to attend the book signing party of one of Valerie and Hubert's friends who had just written a novel. The party was in the Ville d'Hiver at Arcachon, a beautiful neighborhood of gorgeous mansions just a stone's throw from the water. Before the reception began, I walked around the neighborhood and climbed up an observation tower which had great views of the ocean basin, the Cap Ferret lighthouse that I had visited a few weeks earlier, and the orange tiled rooftops of Arcachon. The book signing party was festive, and I got to meet some of Valerie and Hubert's other friends, and there was a delicious charcuterie platter set out at the end. And like any proper French gathering, there was more than enough wine to go around. Unfortunately it started pouring rain at the end, so we all had to run to the car, but even that was lots of fun. Valerie was teasing Hubert, the boys were running all over the place, and I just felt so lucky that I'm part of this family. We finally made it back to Bordeaux after sitting in a huge traffic jam of all the weekend beach-goers heading back to the city and ate a late dinner with all the leftovers from the Pigaux refrigerator. It was a fabulous weekend.

Unfortunately I've had to do a little work today to prepare for my exams this week, but I'm not too worried. After Wednesday, I will officially be done with the semester, and free to enjoy my last month in France. I've got some fun trips planned, so stay tuned! Happy spring!

The Past Month

Friends,

I am so sorry that I have been silent for so long. The past month and a half have been filled with lots of excitement, visitors and new experiences, and somehow the time just got away from me. So without further ado...

The second week of March brought my family's visit to Bordeaux, which was wonderful. My mom and dad arrived a couple of days before Abby, and we toured around Bordeaux and even spent a night at St. Emilion, which is a nearby town famous for its wine, situated smack in the middle of vineyard country. During the drive to St. Emilion, I realized that the Gironde departement is like the Kansas of France, except with vineyards instead of cornfields. Even fifteen minutes outside Bordeaux, you find yourself surrounded by acres and acres of vineyards and hundreds of different chateaux. When we visited in mid-March, the vines looked gnarly and barren, practically dead. However, by now I imagine that they have grown more leafy and lush. I'm going on a vineyard tour with a student group at the end of April, and I'm looking forward to seeing the progression of the vines. We stayed at an adorable little bed and breakfast just outside St. Emilion, run by a charming Dutch woman. If anyone is planning a trip to the French wine country, ask us for the name of this place! We also had a fabulous dinner that night in a wine store, where all the dinner tables are set up among the crates of wine, so to "order" your bottle, you get up, take a tour of the store, and a choose a bottle from its display.

We got back to Bordeaux to pick up Abby from her train (after nearly 25 hours of travel from Dartmouth, New Hampshire!) and then left for the weekend for the Dordogne region, which is about 2 hours east of Bordeaux. This region is characterized by the many prehistoric caves and grottos that have now been preserved and made into tourist sites, numerous small towns built right off the edges of cliffs, and the two winding rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne, that make the region so fertile for farming. We stayed in Sarlat, which is a gorgeous medieval town that is remarkably well-preserved and used that as our base to take driving trips further into the region. The highlight for me was visiting Rocamadour, a town literally built right into the side of the cliff. We parked at the "top" and climbed all the way down and then all the way back up. Unfortunately my mom has all the pictures on her camera, so you'll just have to trust me that it was breathtaking. On the ride back to Bordeaux, we also stopped at the Chateau de Beynac, an imposing chateau also built right into the side of the cliff that looks out onto beautiful views of the valley below and the Garonne River.

And the final highlight of my family's visit was when they all came over for aperitifs with the Chaperons. Even though they couldn't really talk to each other (the Chaperons speak only a little English), it was still so wonderful for both of my families to meet each other. It was very sad to say goodbye to my family, but the visit was perfectly timed in the middle of my stay here, so it divided up the time really nicely.

A couple of weekends later, I visited Cap Ferret, which is a peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean, with one of my French friends. Cap Ferret is a popular vacation destination for the Bordelais since it's right on the ocean, but it was pleasantly peaceful and not horribly built up like many beach towns in the US. The oyster fishing industry is still alive and well there, and we wandered through a tiny fishing village and saw lots of people out on the pier fishing for crabs. We also climbed up to the top of a lighthouse with had amazing views of the beach and the water all around us. We concluded the day with a walk along the beach, collecting shells and marveling at the sand that squeaked when you walked (something I've never encountered at home). And then, like any good francaises, we stopped at a bakery on the way home for a snack.

View of the bassin d'Arcachon from the top of the lighthouse

Street musicians in Bordeaux at a "nature et bio" festival

The next weekend I returned to the beach with Kim, but we went to Arcachon, the popular beach basin destination for many Bordelais. Saturday afternoon brought perfect beach temperatures, and it seemed like all of Bordeaux was in our little train. Everyone was squashed together like cattle, so the trip out wasn't too enjoyable, but it was absolutely worth it once we got to Arcachon. The town is a charming little seaside village, and the boardwalk is lined with seafood restaurants, little bars, and of course, lots of ice cream, crepe and "gaufrette" shops. We bought a picnic lunch and laid on the beach for the afternoon, watching adorable French babies run around half naked (or completely naked) and enjoying the sea breezes. It also happened to be Carnival in Aracachon the day we were there, so we we stopped to admire a bit of the colorful and vibrant parade.

Beautiful flowering purple tree in Valerie's garden right outside my studio

Carnival in Arachon

Bassin d'Arcachon

And this past week brought the end of classes at the university, so now I am officially on spring break! I celebrated the beginning of break on Thursday night with Kim when we made dinner at her apartment (which was actually just putting in a frozen pizza that Valerie had bought for me) and ate on her terrace, which looks out on the rooftops of Bordeaux and the spires of the Cathedral St. Andre and St. Michel. We watched the sun go down and marveled about how lucky we were to be in such a beautiful place. The other Middlebury students in Poitiers arrived for the weekend since we all had to take a French test to see our improvement with the language, so we spent the day together on Friday lounging in the jardin publique and enjoying the beautiful weather. On Monday I leave for Rome for the week to visit some Middlebury friends who are studying there for the semester, and I'm really looking forward to it. Although we visited Rome as a family many years ago, I'm excited to go back now that I know so much more about all the history and art in the city. Plus, I just loved Italy when we were there the first time, and I'm looking forward to lots of pasta and gelato.

I now have just a little over a month left in Bordeaux, and I can't believe how fast the time is going. Sometimes I feel like I just arrived here yesterday, and I already know it will be incredibly hard to say goodbye to the Chaperons. But, I'm also missing America and my family, so it will be great to get back. Needless to say, I'm going to take full advantage of my final month here, and there's still lots on my to-do list that I want to do before leaving. I wish you all the very best from France, and I promise it will not be as long for the next blog!