C'est La Rentrée

It's back to school!

This week my students have been learning how to greet each other, exchange names and pleasantries and other small talk like where they are from.  I gave a homework assignment to write out a dialog demonstrating their understanding of this vocabulary.  I was absolutely amazed at some of the artistic dialogs that my students produced.  Here are 3 of my favorites!

This student created his dialog using two of my "assistants" from class - Canard (duck) et Nico le Nounours (bear).  Amazing how accurate they are!

 Can you see the resemblance?

I have noticed this student's elephant jewlery all week, so wasn't surprised to see she had done hers with elephants on a French flag.  They are from Asia and Africa, so scientifically correct as well!

This student also did a comic strip, love her artistic style!

Let the bag weighing begin

We are up and fed and on the way to the airport! Weighing bags to make sure we are under the limits...

Last Day in France

No photos today - I have been downloading camera cards like made from the kids yesterday to free up space on their memory cards, and I have filled up my harddrive and can't download any more photos from my own camera today.  No worries - I will post again once we are back in the states and I can download to a larger hard drive.

Bittersweet today as we headed into our last day here in France.  From our hotel in Caen, we headed toward Rouen, which is about halfway to Paris.  Rouen is a large port town even though it is not on the sea, but on the Seine.  It is the closes port to Paris.  During the World Wars it was heavily bombed and the center of town was greatly damaged.  They have rebuilt it in the medieval manner in which it was first built.  There's a lot of half timber houses that are a combination of wood and cement, and it looks like a swiss village a little bit.

We started of with a walking tour into the center of town, where we passed through the fresh market, selling all kinds of fresh fruit, vegetables, cheeses, seafood and meat.  Right outside the market area is the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in the 1400s.  We talked about how the king betrayed her and she faced an unfair trial and saw the memorial to her bravery and courage.  Next we walked up the cobblestone streets to the cathedral.  Along the way we learned about how the houses had a narrower base at the bottom to cut down on the taxes and allow for more room at top, and the gutters down the middle of the street where the sewage ran.

The cathedral is rather gothic, and has two spires of uneven height.  The front façade is being renovated right now so it wasn't quite as dramatic as the others we'd seen.  This cathedral has been bombed and also through the hurricane of 1999 that ripped off a bell tower and put it through the roof of the cathedral.  It's also where Monet painted his first Impressionist works of the sun playing off the front of the cathedral.

After our tour we let the kids loose to find some lunch and to shop.  The kids loved being able to go into "real" French stores that actual French people shop in, not just touristy shops.  Almost everyone had a bag of goodies when we got back on the bus.  A lot of people stopped for macarons, which are all the rage right now sort of like cupcakes in the US are.  We even saw them made into wedding cakes.  The kids also got to choose their last lunch on their own.  Some got sandwiches, others did make a stop at McDonalds.  Mr. Waid and I popped in to see who we could catch, and found 5 of them, and several others admitted they had been there too.  They said it tasted even better than at home.  Perhaps it's because the French equivalent of the FDA strictly prohibits preservatives and other additives in food so everything here is always very natural and fresh.

Then it was another shortish bus drive down to Versailles.  This is the grand palace started by Louis the 13th, finished by Louis the 14th, lived in and enjoyed by Louis the 15th and where Louis the 16th and Marie Antoinette were arrested and returned to Paris during the French revolution in 1792  We waited in line for the bathrooms (Versailles has only 3 sets of toilets for 15,000 vistors!) and then picked up our tour guide Frédéric.  "Fred" is a history teacher here in France and the kids were enthralled at this history lessons as he showed us around the outside grounds of the palace.  The gardens had started to bloom and the fountains were on as well.   It's so immense and vast and the kids were all struck by the hugeness of it all.

Then it was inside to the King and Queen's apartments, the famous Hall of Mirrors and the other drawing and waiting rooms.  It was massively crowded, as Easter weekend is one of the biggest travel weekends of the year in France, and so we didn't have quite as much time to fully take it in as we would have liked.  But the kids definitely got a feel for royal life!

Back on the bus and back into Paris, straight onto the Avenue Foch, the widest boulevard in Paris and one of the wealthiest.  Prices start at about 20,000 euros ($30,000) per square meter (3 feet).  Orane told us that only people from Qatr and other wealthy nations can afford to live here now.  We drove past the Arc de Triomphe where there was a small ceremony going on at the tomb on the unknown solider and then got off the bus for dinner.

The kids were thrilled to find out they could choose their dinner tonight, as it was a cafeteria-style restaurant (but with better food).  Many had beef tips, a few had chicken, others had roast pork or turkey.  Everyone was just happy to see a meal without ham!  It was back on the bus then and onto the hotel near the airport for tomorrow's early flight home. 

The kids are excited to be heading home, but many of them said they would love to stay here for longer.  Right now they are missing their families, mom's cooking, friends, and comfy beds.  But I think everyone is leaving with a fondness for France and it's people, and memories of a trip that is unforgettable.  I am so grateful to all of the parents who have entrusted me with their children and allowed me the privilege of showing them the world.  Every student has told me how much it opened their eyes, made them appreciate what they have, brought history to life, and some told me it was life-changing.  My first visit to France changed my life - and I'm so excited to know that these changes are happening in my kids too.  They are so grateful for the opportunity to be here, to see the beaches of Normandy, to meet the French people in the small towns.  They have been so wonderfully behaved, so gracious and kind and patient and excellent ambassadors of Mooresville High School. 

We have had 2,000 visits to this blog since we left for our trip a week ago - and I hope that many of those who have followed our journey will be inspired to take a journey of their own.   I am signing off for the night, in hopes of helping my husband pack our suitcases under the 50 pound weight limit!

À demain et à la prochain!
Mme

No pictures tonight...

No post tonight...our hard drive space is full up and no way to download photos :) will attempt a non-picture blog post shortly if the wi-fi connection speeds up!

Sent from my iPhone

In front of the cathedral in Rouen

So busted!

Found 5 students the McDonalds in Rouen :). They claimed its for more time to shop!

Day 6 Recap - Normandy

Today was a totally different feel for the kids.  We started off after a breakfast of cereal and fruit at the hotel toward the landing beaches of Normandy.  Our first stop was the American Cemetery on Omaha Beach, where more than 9,300 American service men and women are buried.  On the morning of June 6, 1944, in a carefully planned invasion, the allies came ashore to beat the Germans back and eventually reclaim Germany.  However it was a stormy day, and they faced fierce resistance from the Germans who were able to fire on them from high on the cliffs as the troops unloaded on the beaches and stormed up to the cliffs. 

The cemetery is quite sobering.  It is filled with white crosses and stars (for the Jewish soldiers) lined up in rows stretching to the beach where they landed.  There's a memorial at the site with a reflecting pool with a beautiful statue and maps of the landing.  It is surrounded by a wall featuring the names of the soldiers whose remains were never found.  The kids were very somber as we walked around, feeling it truly come to life and imagining the soldiers as they got off the boats knowing they faced near certain death.  Many compared it to Arlington, and it was difficult for them to take it all in.  I think it made the whole war so much more contextualized for them, as it's not the war of their generation - but they were able to compare it to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and make those connections.  It really is a sobering experience to walk through the cemetery and while it is tranquil, it's also very sad.

After exploring the cemetery, we went in to the visitor's center which has amazing exhibits of the planning that went into D-day and the logistics that had to be covered.  The kids were fascinated with the personal stories of the soldiers involved in that day and we could have easily spent the entire day learning about it.  If you ever have the chance to come this way, I highly recommend you make this a stop on your itinerary.


Next we took a short bus ride through the Normandy countryside to the town of Arromanches.  This was not a landing beach - because the Allies had other plans for it.  As soon as the landing occurred, engineers began building an artificial port here to allow for supply ships to support the advancing troops.  It was absolutely vital to the success of the campaign.  They built the entire port in England, steamed it over and assembled it in the sea within 2 days of the landing.  At the museum we learned about how they built the port using old ships they sunk, huge concrete sea wall breakers and made a steel road that adjusted for the tides and allowed the heavy vehicles to be driven over the sea onto the beaches.  We toured the little museum and walked down onto the beach as well.  While not as sober as the cemetery, it was still very profound seeing the vast area that had to be covered and protected.  While we were here we had some lunch and did some shopping too.

Our next step was Omaha beach, not far away.  There are 2 large memorials here to the soldiers who died fighting for freedom.  Many students walked out onto the sand and collected bottles of it to take home.  It was very obvious here how flat and wide the beach was, and how at low tide when the soldiers landed they was no protection for them as they advanced toward the hills and cliffs to face the Germans firing at them.  All of the buildings along here had been destroyed in the pre-landing bombings so the buildings there now have been reconstructed and many are quite substantial as this is now a wealthier area.

Our last stop of the day was at Pointe du Hoc.  This is a cliff that juts into the channel and allows for views of both Juno and Omaha beaches.  The Germans had heavily fortified it and believed it to be unassailable.  However it was key for the Allies to get control of this area and to destroy the long-range guns the Nazis had trained on the landing beaches.  The Army Rangers were tasked with this challenge - as they disembarked they faced 125 foot cliffs that had to be scaled in the rain, loaded down with equipment, as the Germans fired on them.  They used rocket-propelled ladders to attach to the top of the cliffs and then climb up.   Sometimes the ropes gave way, sometimes they were cut by Germans.  Once they reached the top they were able to destroy the weapons, which had been hidden, and retake the point.  But reinforcements could not arrive for 2 more days and by that time only 90 of the 225 men who had landed were still alive.


This area is full of craters from the pre-bombing, barbed wire that Nazis had installed to prevent an invasion and bunker remains of where the Nazis hid to fire upon approaching soldiers.  The kids seemed to enjoy the chance to explore this area, which is still very rugged, and to imagine what the Germans must have seen that morning.  It was also very clear how rough and rugged the cliffs are that the soldiers had to scale.

Next it was on to the hotel in Caen (where the President of France is also staying tonight to give a speech - alas, he is not in our hotel!).  We checked in, got the wi-fi password and then had dinner at the hotel tonight.  We enjoyed spaghetti bolognaise (with a meat sauce), salad with ham and cheese, and a dessert of sponge cake with mixed fruit topping. 

Everyone is tired tonight after a long day and tomorrow is our last full day in France.  We'll be heading to the cathedral in Rouen to learn about Joan of Arc and how she was burned at the stake, and then finishing up with a visit to the chateau of Versailles and then back to the Champs-Elysées for our final dinner.

On American soil

Graves leading to Omaha beach

Among the gravestones

At the memorial

At the American cemetery

Over 9,500 graves here of Americans

Recap Day 5 - Bretagne and Normandy

Today we headed over breakfast at the same restaurant where we ate yesterday and enjoyed our breakfast of croissants, bread, fruit, ham and cheese.  After breakfast we crossed back over the river to board our bus to leave to Loire Valley and head up to the northern part of France.

Eating crepes

It took about 4 hours to reach the Mont St. Michel, which is on the border of Bretagne and Normandy.  This is an abbey that was built early in the 8th century when the archangel Michael appeared to Bishop Aubert and asked him to build a structure on the top of the rocky mount that juts out from the coast.  Over many centuries the abbey and monastery grew, adding fortifying walls, a chapel, a garden and even a village at the base.  Due to the incoming tides the island would be separated from the mainland at high tide.  There is now a small two-lane road that leaves the abbey accessible at all times, though they are in the process of tearing it down and visitors will have to be ferried in via special buses over a new bridge.

About half way up...

We started off at the base of imposing mountain and gave the kids free time to grab some lunch and shop on the way up to the base of the abbey.  The narrow cobblestone streets are filled with souvenir shops and restaurants and it's very picturesque.  While Mont St. Michel is famous for its seafood and lamb (the sheep graze on the salt-water soaked grass and have a particular taste), our kids all opted for crepes or croque monsieurs or pizza.

We met at the base of the abbey to begin the trek up about 18 gazillion steps to enter the abbey.  It's an amazing view from the top, with the beaches stretching toward Normandy and the tides swirling around the island.  We viewed the gardens and rooms of the old monastery (of course more stairs!) and then headed back down the pretty streets for yes, more shopping and more eating.

Then we got back on the bus to drive into Bretagne.  This region of France was a constant source of friction between France and England.  As a result, the "Bretons" have a fierce pride of their region and consider themselves neither French nor English.  It is a region known for it's apple cider and crepes, made from buckwheat typically and filled with ham, cheese and other savory things.

We stopped next at St. Malo, which has a very interesting history.  It was bombed heavily by the Allies in World World II to prepare for the Normandy landings and much of the city was destroyed.  It was later rebuilt in the historical style and now looks like the original city did.  The buildings here are made of granite as opposed to limestone and have dark black roofs.  The old city it walled and we headed up to the ramparts to walk around the old city.  St. Malo was also known as a pirate city as the King legalized pirating and encouraged pirates to loot the ships sailing through the channel.  The tides come in quickly here as well, and can crash over the walls at high tide.

The kids had more time to visit the cathedral where Jacques Cartier (who explored Québec) is buried and shop in the many stores of the old city.  The kids seemed to like the non-toursity shops and found bags, scarves, food (of course!) and lots of other gifts.

We met back at the gates of the walled city to walk together to tonight's dinner, which was at a creperie.  We enjoyed ham and cheese crepes served with salad and for dessert crepes filled with a rich dark chocolate sauce.  Then it was a quick walk through the windy town to the bus for a 10-minute ride to the hotel for tonight.


Tomorrow we will be off to the Normandy landing beaches!

At the Mont St Michel

Andrew on the jetty to the island with the French flag.

Heading up to the abbey

Students by the sea

The abbey is surrounded by the English Channel and behind the students are Normandy cliffs.

Outside the Mont St Michel

After the tour..and about 18 gazillion steps.

Dinner in the Cave

 
For dinner we visited the Caves de Moines, which is built into the side of the hills along the river.  This caves came about in the 1100s because they were used to cut out the limestone that built the chateaux and cathedrals of France.  It was a laborious process of slicing the stone out of the earth and in it’s place left a series of caves and trails that are about 7 miles long.  Our tour guide told us how the stone was harvested and then moved on to what the caves are used for now - mushroom production and snail raising!

In the dark, humid and cold tunnels, we learned about how mushrooms are harvested.  The first kind are the champignons de Paris, which are like balloon mushrooms.  They were grown first on the floor, then in iron beds and now in bags.  It is actually quite a complicated science that takes several months for the mushrooms to grow.  We also saw them cultivating blue stem mushrooms as well as Shitake mushrooms and oyster mushrooms.  It was all very creepy to see all these mushrooms down there but it the perfect condition for them.  France is the 2nd largest producer of mushrooms after the US and this particular cave sells all of its mushrooms to restaurants for use in cooking.

This cave also raises snails, which are ideal because of the lack of winter.  They lay eggs (which are even more expensive than caviar - $5,000 for a kilo (2.2 pounds) of eggs.  Snails are also sold to the restaurants for escargots.
After our guided tour we headed to the cave’s restaurant for a taste of the local specialties we had learned about.  The first course was a mushroom tart served on a bread shell (like a half of ciabatta) and with melted cheese on top, along with a green salad.  It wasn’t a huge hit with the kids but most at least tried it.  Poor BJ thought that was all there was for dinner so even though he didn’t care for it, suffered through the whole thing because he knew he should eat when offered.

The second course was more of the same bread, hot from the stone oven, served with salted butter and a pork pâté spread.  You cut open the bread, shove in the cold butter and/or meat spread and let it melt together.  This was by far the most popular course of the meal.  Not everyone was a fan of the pork spread, others said it tasted like NC pork barbecue! 

Meanwhile, each table ordered a plate of 6 snails so they could try the escargot.  More than half the kids tried it and nearly everyone who tried it liked it, much to their surprise.  They reported that it was a bit rubbery and tasted heavily of garlic.  A few even kept their shells as souvenirs.

The next course was a bowl of white beans with chunks of pork in it.  Liam decided to add the beans to the pork spread and butter inside his roll and make a sandwich of it.  Not as many people enjoyed the beans though.

After that the 4th course was cheese (we think it was brie) melted on the same bread shells we’d had throughout the meal.  No one was a particular fan of this and they were disappointed because they thought that was dessert. But to their surprise and delight, we were soon served a 5th course of apple tart.  Most everyone liked this one too.

Although it was a bit different, and a bit cold, it was certainly a unique experience.  Not the best meal of the trip, but likely the most memorable!

Lots more pictures of today on my Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.324393240953866.75415.100001495784044&type=1&l=f2c300ec0d

 

Secondary programming note:  Tomorrow we are driving to the Mt. St. Michel in Brittany on the edge of Normandy.  I don't know how much Internet access I will have for the next day or so.  Do not panic if the posts are not as frequent or often.  Your kids are still eating, sleeping and having the time of their lives! :)  I may be more limited as we get to the end of the trip because I'm almost out of minutes on my plan ;)  We are going to try and recharge but I need to conserve a little bit and take advantage of WiFi when I can find it, which will be less often.

The Chateaux of the Loire Valley - Day 4 Recap

Today was another busy day.  We started out the morning with breakfast at a restaurant in town facing the hotel.  There was a buffet with bread, ham, cheese, hard boiled eggs and fruit and also some orange juice.  We sat right in the town square where the market was setting up for the day, since Wednesday is one of the traditional market days in France.

After breakfast we hiked up the hill through the medieval city of Loches.  It is so quaint and typically French with cobblestone streets, shops and people out and about.  The kids say they are enjoying being out of the hustle and bustle of Paris and that is more like the home they are used to.  Everything seems cleaner and more “French” they say :)  I have told them Paris is Paris, and while it’s great, this is France, and this is what is what I love!

After a rather steep climb through the medieval city we arrived at the Donjon (dungeon).  This dungeon was a royal fortress and prison built in the 1100s.  It was primarily defensive in nature.  There’s a tall tower that was the safe place in case of attack.  The weapons of the day were boiling water, bow and arrow, spear and later, cannons, shot through tiny windows of the tower.  Then two walls of ramparts that surrounded the fort and another moat.


We walked down a small stone spiral staircase to reach some cells where prisoners were held.  Since this was a royal prison, most of the prisoners were those of the King.  During the medieval times there were only about 8-10 prisoners at a time in the complex.  One of the most famous prisoners, Sforza, was held in prison for 4 years, and painted the walls of the cell out of boredom.  Upon his release, he dropped dead on the grounds of the fort...Later the prison was used to house revolutionaries, at times up to 60 people in a single cell with only one small window for fresh air.  Several groups of students climbed all the way to the top of the donjon tower and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the city below.

After a quick 5 minute walk to the other side of the city, we entered the king’s chateau.  This was Charles the 7th’s chateau, and was only two rooms when it was first built.  This was where Jeanne d’Arc came to convince him to give her an army to fight the British and convince Charles to reclaim the throne.  Then Charles the 8th added on to the castle and installed his mistress, Agnès Sorel, in the castle.  It was quite the contrast to the luxury and frillyness of the chateaux we had seen yesterday.

Then a bus ride to the city of Amboise, on the Loire river.  There is another famous chateau here, built by Charles the 8th as well.  This was also greatly influenced by the Italians because of the King’s many trips to Italy.  We took a photo stop across the river of the chateau, which sits high on the hill.  Leonardo da Vinci also spent time here as a guest of the king and is buried here in the chapel as well.  We let the kids loose in town to grab some lunch.  Many stopped at some pizzerias to try out French pizza, others had paninis.  Several of the adults had lunch at a jazzbar créperie.  We had buckwheat crepes filled with ham, cheese, fresh cream and some with potatoes.  We followed up with dessert crepes with melted butter and sugar.  Yummy!

Back on the bus again for the ride to Chenenceau, a privately owned chateau that has a tragic history.  Henri the 2nd took back this chateau from his tax collector, whom he believed had embezzled money from him to build it.  It was designed by the tax collector’s wife and truly has a more feminine side than the other chateaux we have viewed.  After Henri took it back, he gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who lived there and added on to the chateau and built a beautiful garden.  After King Henri died, his wife, Catherine de Medici, demanded the castle be returned to her and Diane de Poitiers was exiled.  Catherine added on more to the castle, including her own garden (only queens had the right to grow roses in France!), and also finished the large ballroom gallery that spanned the river Cher.

The inside of the chateau is decorated with furniture, tapestries, fresh flowers (changed every two weeks) and even had fireplaces lit.  The kids said this was their favorite so far - probably because it is the most homey and cozy feeling.  We were able to tour all 3 floors, and the kitchens in the base of the castle.  On the top floor is the “black bedroom” where one of the later queens of France had it painted black to mourn the death of her husband, for 14 years!

After the inside tour was done, we headed back out to the gardens to explore.  Several students enjoyed walking the labyrinth maze of hedges and racing to get to the center and back out again.  Then the essential stop at the gift shop and vending machines for drinks/snacks and then back on the bus again.  More napping ensued :)

Dinner was quite an event, and one that deserves it’s own blog post.  Let’s just say it was an experience.....