Fall in Nantes

Autumn in France is GLORIOUS! Nantes has been enjoying some fabulous weather this past week, and I'm loving it! The leaves are changing colors, the air is crisp and clean, and the temperatures are dropping. All the Frenchies are starting to bust out their fashionable heavy coats and jackets, and I have officially brought out my scarves, gloves, and down jacket. I think the cold weather clothes are here to stay for some months until Spring arrives in l'Hexagone. I'm just hoping that I can hold off on turning on the heater in my apartment until at least mid-November!

The plaza right in front of la Cathédrale St. Pierre.

This week was busy and fun! On Monday night, I had dinner with N., C., and V., for V's birthday! We went to a delicious crepe place in Bouffay, and I thoroughly enjoyed the seafood crepe that I ordered. When scallops, mussels, and/or clams are involved (in this case, all three), I cannot refuse. C., N., and I cooked dinner at my place on Tuesday night, I had a delicious dinner with the English professors from school on Wednesday night at "Les Delices de Manu" right by my house (I had foie gras! And lamb! And molten chocolate cake!), and then I had dinner chez Anne-Marie and Andre on Thursday. On Friday, V. and N. came over and we cooked dinner at my place again. WHEW! So many dinners! I love cooking with friends or going out for dinner as a treat, so I really enjoyed myself this week. It's fun to be a social butterfly!

Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne - I took almost the
exact same picture in 2009 :)

Also this week, N., V., and I went to a different market that's here in town every Saturday and were surprised to find that it's significantly cheaper than Talensac! I think it will be a good alternative for me for weekend grocery shopping, although Talensac has certain booths and specialty items that just can't be beat (and it will always be my favorite market!).

On Sunday morning, a big group of assistants got together and went to see "Skyfall", the new James Bond movie. It came out in France on October 26th and doesn't come out in the USA until mid-November, so I was excited to get a sneak-peak and give a full report to my Dad- he LOVES James Bond! It was an awesome movie. James Bond is back, and with style, too! I think friends and family in the USA will enjoy seeing it. It's funny that it came out in France first, because usually Hollywood movies come out here 2-3 months after they're out in the States!

Good news! This week marks the official beginning of having real internet at my apartment! After 5 weeks of living in France, and two and a half weeks of having nothing but problems trying to get internet with SFR (the ISP), a technician from FranceTelecom dropped by my place on Monday morning and must have worked a miracle, because the internet FINALLY works!! Now, I can finally upload all of my pictures from Europe onto my Shutterfly website, and I can stop procrastinating with graduate school applications and can do work! Yessss!!

Now, the next big hurdle is seeing if I actually get paid for October of if I wind up having to wait until the end of November to get my salary... The absolute chaos may have only lasted two weeks, but evidently it takes over a full month to really get settled into a new country with all the comforts of home and what-not.

On Tuesday, N. and I went on a day trip to Angers, another larger town in the Pays-de-la-Loire region. What a beautiful city! It was a crisp, sunny day- the perfect way to see France. The first thing we did was explore the Chateau in town; we got in for free because we're 'legal residents' of France with our visas -sweet!- and we determined that the Angers Chateau is WAAAY cooler than the Nantes Chateau! One of the things they had on display was the "Apocalypse" Tapestry -- holy moly. First off, it's HUGE -100m long by 4.5m tall-, secondly, it was completed in 1382, and finally, the craftsmanship is unreal! If you come to France and visit the Loire Valley, stop by Angers just to see this thing, it's incredible.

The huge room where the Apocalypse Tapestry is on display.
The tapestry continues around the corner to the back right, and even a bit
further around to the left of this picture. HUGE!!

In the pleasant little garden in the main courtyard.

The gift shop had awesome cups, plates, and bowls with the most hilarious
and random French. I wanted to buy them all! This one says,
"I like to have mustaches".

After that adventure, we stopped by a wine shop with Loire Valley wines and we both bought wine glasses, and I also bought a bottle of wine from Saumur (the town I visited by myself a few weekends ago). Then, we had lunch in a beautiful, open plaza downtown at a place called "Le Pub". We sat in the sunshine, took off our coats and scarves, and soaked up the warm end-of-October sun while enjoying one of the best food combinations ever - pizza and beer! One of my all-time favorite meals, and one that I haven't had since I left the States! I had pizza in Italy, of course, but pizza and wine isn't quite the same level of deliciousness. ;)

After that, we did a bit of souvenir shopping (postcards and Cointreau- Angers is the home of Cointreau!) and then headed over to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in town (where we were also able to get in for free!). Then, we caught the train back to Nantes in the late afternoon. We both really enjoyed the city! I would absolutely go back to visit and explore some more.

An interesting (and big!) sculpture in the modern art section of the museum.

Cool sculpture in the courtyard!

I guess even in old-timey France they had plates with awesome sayings on them!
This one says, "Misfortune unites us". Yikes! haha.

Yesterday was Halloween, so of course we assistants had to see how the French celebrate the event. When I was here in 2009, Kris and I were in Nice for Halloween, and boy, was that a party! Lots of people were dressed up and many of the bars had decorations up and Halloween drinks on special. This year, there were only a few bars hosting Halloween-themed events, one being John McByrne's Irish Pub, which is absolutely a classic 'ex-pat' bar here in town. They were having a Hillbilly theme for the night, and they turned the bar into a veritable Southern Dance Hall! It was great! All the bartenders dressed up, they had straw on the floor, chicken wire over the bar, and country music blasting all night. I felt right at home!! Haha. I didn't dress up, but fortunately, neither did two other gals, and someone had liquid eyeliner, so we ran to the restroom and painted goatees on our faces and decided to be the Three Musketeers. I think it worked out pretty well. :)

Meet the awesome bartenders of John McByrne's! 

A gaggle of assistants! 

Halloween chaos outside of John McByrne's.

The Three Musketeers and... David Bowie?? 

Tomorrow, N. and I make our way to Paris for a long weekend. We'll be meeting up with a couple of my friends from the USA who are traveling throughout Europe for all of November, as well as with a couple of my French friends that live in Paris. After Paris, N. heads off to London to visit a cousin, while I head off to Edinburgh!! An old friend from when I lived in Texas just finished her Master's degree up there and I wanted to catch up with her before she headed back to the States. I've never been to Scotland before, but everyone with whom I've spoken says it's gorgeous and just wonderful. I am so excited to visit!!