Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Nantes!

This weekend, I went to a fest-noz with a few friends, which is a tradtionnal Breton festival with live music and dancing. It's got a lot of Celtic influence so it was sort of like Celtic line dancing. My friend's host mom drove us to it, and it was a gym full of all sorts of people dancing for the night. We danced for about 3 hours, so we did a good job. I was pretty proud of how quickly I picked up the moves. I guess all of that showchoir was worth it....right. We'll probably go to one or two more this semester! It was a nice change of pace and fun to do something sort of bizarre for a night. It was probably the only exercise other than walking that I'll ever get here.



The next day we went to the Museum of Natural History, which is literally a block away from my apartment. It's so strange to have such an impressive building right in the middle of a bunch of apartment buildings. The ground level had fossils and gems, things like that. Then there was a big staircase with walls lined with different types of wood. Upstairs was a two level room with zoology stuff. Part of the floor was glass so you could see the whale skeleton from downstairs. It was only 2 euros for us, so it was a good way to spend Sunday since nothing else is open. This upcoming Sunday is the first one of the month, so museums are free. We'll probably go to the Musee des Beaux Arts.



 

Yesterday after class, my friend Alex and I braved the cold and took a quick walk around Nantes. We've been exploring for a few weeks now, but we never remember to take pictures, so we hit up all the spots we wanted pictures of. This is le Château des ducs de Bretagne, complete with a moat! You can walk around the courtyard (middle picture) and all around the outside of the chateau, and then there's a museum inside that I haven't been to yet. I'm a big fan of the ducks that are always in the moat. When it's warmer I'd like to walk around the moat.


Just around the corner from the chateau is the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Nantes. It has a lot of modern stained glass from the 70's which is interesting. Last time I stopped here there was a man giving a free tour, so we tagged along for a little after he insisted. It's pretty big inside and more impressive than the other random churches hidden around the town.



We were freezing because it's humid here, so the cold permeates every layer you have on, so we just went back to school. Place Graslin with the Opera House is right by our school and my apartment, and then Place Royale is near the shopping and on the way to the tram and bars, so I pretty much go through these two squares every time I leave the building!

 


2 comments:

  1. you must update everyday so that i can pretend like i'm there, thanks. <3

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  2. I've always wanted a moat with a drawbridge, but I guess it would look silly here. I also agree that you need to update everyday so that we can pretend that we are there as opposed to bitter cold IL with tons of snow. That's all.

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