Lots of Info: Part 3

Sooo much to talk about, sooo I broke it up into multiple parts for my sanity and your convenience. Parts 1 and 2 cover general observations and classes. Part 3 will discuss my excursions.

There are lots of excursions/activities offered through the institut. Azay-le-rideau (it's a castle) is included through the USC program. The other castles I'm going to are Chenonceau, Bloir and Amboise, and Versailles (palace of the sun king). Tourraine (the area of Tours and the Loire (river) Valley) is filled with castles because throughout much of french history (like 3/4 of it) this is the area that french kings chose to live in. The thing to remember with french castles is that they are not and have never been private residences. If the king lived there, it was not just his home, but also the main governmental building. When the history books say a certain place was where court was held, they mean literally the king's court (all the important people) lived and worked in the palace. And even during those times, it was open to the public. Everyone, so long as they were dressed appropriately could go in and see just about any part of the building. That's why Versaille is so huge.

Imagine if the White House was where the President and his family as well as all the Congressmen and their families lived and took care of the nation's business, and on top of that, anyone wearing a suit and not smelling like rotton eggs could come in and watch Obama brush his teeth. That's what Versaille was like in it's hayday. Crazy.

In addition to the castles, I'm also going to Mont-St-Michel and St. Malo. Mont-St-Michel is a huge cathedral on an island in the atlantic ocean just barely connected to land by a road. St. Malo is the nearby area. Crazy cool. That's actually tomorrow.

Oh and not next thursday but the thursday after I'm going to a wine and cheese tasting here at the institut. yay goat cheese.

The institut also has a bunch of free activities. Like yesterday we went to the Musee des Beaux-Arts (Museum of Beautiful Arts) which was very cool. 17th/18th/19th century art (I don't really know). Both paintings and sculptures. Yep.

So that's about it..working on the get-pictures-on-facebook thing...Have a good weekend!