Un petit voyage à Saumur

What a great weekend! I got to travel a little and relax a little, the perfect mix. The weather even cooperated! It's been quite rainy and chilly - we even had a tremendous thunder storm a few weeks ago that rattled the windows and woke me up! - but this weekend it was sunny and nice. I don't mind the gray skies, though - it reminds me of Seattle! :) I just remember to take my parapluie with me everywhere, and I'm fine...

Friday night I went to a French film at the local artsy cinema, and it happened to be the film's premiere in Nantes, so the director and starring actress were there, and they talked about it afterward. It was fascinating! The film itself was intriguing - it's called Brodeuses, which means 'embroiderers,' and it was about a young unmarried pregnant woman who finds a job with an isolated and depressed older woman doing intricate needlework, and how their interdependent relationship grows closer over the months through this shared work. I liked it a lot, but the dialogue was extremely hard to understand. It definitely helped hearing them explain the effect they were trying to achieve afterwards... You know, subsidizing the arts is a tricky business but I have to say, it's refreshing to see something so professionally done that was the vision not of some Hollywood executive based on audience polls and projected revenues, but of an independent (and relatively young!) French woman who had something she wanted to express.

Anyway, Saturday was the trip to Saumur, which - I discovered - is a marvellous little town. It is dominated by a 9th century chateau - naturally added on to and modified over the centuries - and is situated on the banks of the Loire. We also visited the Comblier distillery, where Triple-Sec was invented some 150 years ago, and got a really interesting tour of how various liquors are manufactured. We visited the church (another St. Pierre) and had a scrumptious lunch. We didn't have time to see the mushroom museum but apparently the mushrooms of Saumur are world-renowned - although by a misleading quirk of fate they are known as 'champignons de Paris.' It was a free trip for me too, because the conductors never punched my eurail pass. How convenient!

Sunday I was invited to play board games at a friend's house, en français of course, which was a challenge! It was fun though. I also did plenty of homework... grumble, grumble. No, actually it's nice to have plenty to do these days.

At any rate, all in all, it was an ideal weekend. I am looking forward to next weekend as well, when Dad and Colleen are coming to visit!