Blogs from Centre, France, Europe - page 35

From under the Eiffel Tower to the most beautiful Gothic Cathedral.... Phil and I continued on and took a day trip to the infamous Chartres Cathédrale de Notre-Dame(a special merci to the Dimons!) The cathedral is a must see on any visit to France. Only about an hour by train from Paris, and you can see one of the most (if not the most) beautiful examples of Gothic architecture in Europe. There are over 130 stained glass windows (most not even changed since the 13th century) I recommend taking a guided tour or renting the audio tour of the church, we did, and we learned quite a lot about the symbology behind the stained glass and the stone sculptures. It is really a magnificent example of medieval Gothic architecture! Unfortunately we could not take photos inside ... read more

This past weekend I took a short visit with Katie and Kelly to Tours, a city between my town and Paris. I love highspeed trains, the ride only took 45 minutes! We just stayed for one night but we packed in a lot of fun times. Tours lies in the beautiful valley of the Loire river and is a jumping off point for visits to chateaux in quaint medieval towns. We went straight to the small town of Amboise, about 10 minutes from Tours. Amboise is small and intimate with cobble stone streets and sidewalk cafes, chocolatiers, boulangeries, and chapels. I felt like I had traveled back in time as we climbed the pathway to Chateau d'Amboise. http://www.chateau-amboise.com/ Originally built in the 15th century, the castel has goen through extensive renovation and deconstruction throughout the centuries. ... read more

We waved goodbye to our English friends being shuttled off in taxis to catch the Eurostar home. We ended up sharing a taxi with the Canadian couple also going to the train station. We were all heading to Tours where they would be picking up a car and us looking for the nights accommodation. We found a one star hotel but could not check in until 2:30pm, 4 hrs to kill. So we wandered the city. They have a beautiful gothic cathedral but at this point I couldn't tell you which was which, there are so many in Europe! We then wandered to the center of town and decided it would be ok to spoil ourselves one last time with fine french food. We decided to go for crepes. I had a goat cheese crepe of ... read more

I promised to start this time with Puppy, so here she is in all her summer glory outside the Guggenheim Museum in Balboa. As she lives there permanently I’m not sure how she is clothed in winter but she was a beautiful sight the day we were there. After visiting with her (and the rest of the artworks in this wonderful museum) we headed north to Guernika. By expressway it was about 50 kms but we took the slow way through torturous coastal mountains and it took us nearly 3 hours to get to this small valley town. Guernika is the Basque town that was unexpectedly bombed heavily by the Germans in 1937 on a market day as a practice run by Goerring. The bombing was targeted on the market, the school and the town not ... read more

It's so weird that my time in France is coming to a close. Everyone is packing up to leave and I still have another month, but I know it will come too soon. C-Pat and I are headed to Paris when we are finished with exams on Wednesday to have one last hoora before our families get here and she leaves. Planning on staying at 3 Ducks Hostel which should be fun. Benny A came to visit and we had a QC reunion with lots of reminiscing and wackyness and my nickname is now HC Bones. I am thinking about heading to Stuttgart, Germany to visit an old friend towards the end of June. This would be pretty intense considering the World Cup will be going on. This week (in addition to studying) I have taken ... read more