Le 1er Octobre 2008
Well, here I am in the “ville aux cent clochers”…that is to say…Poitiers. I have orientation tomorrow, so I am currently holed up at the hotel central. It’s not bad, really. For 45 euro, I have my own room with a shower AND toilet…That’s something to be excited about, especially in Europe. I must say that is decidedly more peaceful than a hostel. Actually, the hostel was full, so I didn’t have much of a choice. I kept scanning the crowds today, hoping to spot some other assistants, but I only heard English once…and they turned out to not be assistants. There is some kind of festival going on in Poitiers today. I think it’s the festival les Expressifs…haven’t really figured out what they are celebrating yet… They have a circus tent set up in the middle of the centre-ville right next to hotel de ville (the city center and the mayor’s office). Of course, my hotel would be located in the centre ville, so I’m hearing lots of festivities. I ducked into the tent for a moment to enjoy a song or two, but there was enough smoke in there to create a fantastic, hazy lighting effect for the musicians. When I came out, I could see the cigarette smoke issuing out in plumes…well, maybe not quite plumes, but you get the picture. Well, let’s start with the beginning of my very long day, shall we? I stayed at Malika’s again because for some reason there is no hot water in my apartment. I had more adventures in dining…this time I tried Scallop (surprisingly good) and cooked oysters. I still don’t like them. The first time, Malika had me try them, they were raw. I think if I had known this, I couldn’t have eaten them. They tasted like a big gulp of seawater to me. Delicious. Of all the shellfish I’ve tried, cooked scallops and mussels are the best. Oysters, I’m sorry, guys, but you just don’t make the cut. I’ve also tried rabbit since coming. The first time I saw rabbit being sold in the grocery store, I thought they were cats! They are sold skinless…which means they don’t have their cute bunny ear s anymore. It wasn’t too bad at all. I vastly prefer rabbit to shellfish. What else has Malika made me try? Langoustines. They are a mix between lobster, crayfish, and shrimp. They frighten me. Malika just boiled them a bit and handed me a langoustine. What was I supposed to do with it? So she ripped its body to pieces and handed me a smidge of meat from what I supposed was the tail. Pas mal (not bad). She then proceeded to eat the mush out of the head cavity. That, I could not do. Anyhoo, back to Poitiers.
It just hit 8 o’clock and I heard the chime from a bell tower. Poitiers is truly the city of 100 bell towers. Malika dropped me off the high school this morning just in time to catch the bust to Surgeres. There is absolutely nothing in Surgeres other than a train station. (Just heard another bell tower chime the hour). From Surgeres, I took the TGV (train a grande vitesse…a.k.a. very fast train…or VFT) to Poitiers. Poitiers is a VERY old city situated on a tall hill in between two rivers. So, I climbed a million stairs to the heart of the city and was able to find my hotel without any problems. All this accomplished by noon. What to do with myself now? Explore, of course! I timed how long it would take me to get to the CRDP (the place of orientation) and then I continued to follow signs along windy medieval streets that pointed out the direction of a museum. Along the way, I found something even better…cathedrales! I love cathedrales…oops…I think I spelled that the French way…oh well. The first church was truly remarkable for its age. The Baptistery of Saint-Jean was built in the 4th century…so old!!! I guess it’s one of the few remaining early Christian sites in Europe (pulled that line straight from a brochure). Of course, it was renovated in the 12th and 13th centuries…otherwise it might just be a pile of rubble. The next church, very close to the first, was the Cathedrale Saint-Pierre. It was my favorite by far. Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, and probably founded in part by Eleanor of Aquitaine, it was a beautiful Gothic cathedral. What beckoned me in, however, was the organ music drifting out of the church. I didn’t have to be asked twice to be out of the rain and into the Cathedral. The nice thing about catholic churches in Europe is that they are always open. You can waltz in whenever you feel like it. Cathedrale de Saint-Pierre is beautiful and full of light…so different from the dreary Notre Dame de Paris. True, Notre Dame de Paris and Chartres are much bigger Cathedrals, but Saint-Pierre’s vaulted ceilings draw your eyes toward heaven, just as they were meant to. After spending a very long time in Saint-Pierre, I set out looking for Notre-Dame-la-grande, Poitiers’ most notable church. Welp, to make a long story short, I got lost. I guess I had passed Notre Dame without even realizing it. I was expecting a much bigger church than Saint-Pierre, but it was just the opposite. Notre Dame la Grande precedes Saint-Pierre. It has the understated, but no less grand architecture of the Romanesque period. The interesting part of Notre Dame la Grande, is that she has no windows in her nave, making her decidedly darker and much more mysterious than Saint-Pierre. All of the walls and pillars were repainted in the 19th century, giving this church much more color than the stately stone of many other cathedrales. Most cathedrales were originally painted…inside and out. Can you imagine all the stonework on the outside of Notre Dame de Paris being painted different colors? You can still see the paint in the crevices of stone on many cathedrales. Disney did history a grave disservice by portraying the cathedral as having no color in the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Having finished with Notre Dame la Grande, and deciding that the map I had was largely useless in a medieval city, I got lost again. I eventually found my way back to my hotel, where I watched some very entertaining French game shows. The French version of Wheel of Fortune is way more fun than ours…Vanna dances…and the host is lecherous. Having finished Persuasion (Jane Austen) on the train ride, I decided to see if I could find any books in English at the numerous book shops, knowing full well that it was only a matter of time until I lacked reading material. Poitiers is a university town, so I was able to find quite a few English books. Namely, a Steven King sci-fi (Gunslinger), Kim by Rudyard Kipling, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (I’ve read ‘em already, but I’ve always liked ‘em.), and the Red Badge of Courage, which I’ve also already read. I’ve also got Northanger Abbey and a Louis L’amour western. I should be good for a month. Hopefully. If you have any books you feel like sending my way, I would welcome them exceedingly. I’ve probably written more than enough at one go, but I know that if I don’t write everything down pretty nearly after it has happened, I lose most of my first impressions which are so much fun for me to read later on. Anyhoo, time to start winding down in preparation for tomorrow…A demain!
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3 comments:
Hey Girl!!
Sounds like fun! I love getting lost when you're just meandering around. Hope you adventures continue to be as fun as this one.
You crazy reader! I love it!
Did you see any really sheer cliffs while you were there by any chance? I saw what looked like some from the train window when we passed by (like houses sitting directly along the edge of a 90 degree drop that went down what looked like 50-100 feet) and was kinda curious what the deal with that was. Is this where the stairs/hill come in to play, heh?
But onee-chan, if disney had painted Notre Dame, then Esmeralda wouldn't have stood out so much in those magnificent surroundings!! That, and they probably didn't know what colors to use. But at least the bell tower was portrayed as colorful and full of light, no? Never mond, disregard my commentaries, as I am tired and it is late.
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