Day #2: A Tour of Tours

So this morning we had a tour of the city of Tours. I really like this town a lot. There are about 180,000 people living within the city limits and a total of 300,000 living in the suburbs surrounding the city. It's also a center for students: there are 30,000 students. Our hotel is right off of one of the main streets (Boulevard Heurteloup) and down the center are tree-lined walkways for pedestrians. It is so visually pleasing! The picture at the top is Carleigh, me, and Mary-Kate in front of the Hotel de Ville. There's a beautiful square with a fountain and flowers in front of this 19th century building, designed by the same guy who did the Gare de Tours (Tours train station) and the new Basilica St. Martin, Victor Laloux. The picture to the right is the the gare. There are four large statues in the front, designating the four destinations one could reach from the original train station: Nantes, Toulouse, Limoge, and Bordeaux (all cities in France).

There is, of course, a cathedral in Tours. It's La Cathedrale Saint-Gatien and it is much shorter and narrower than many of the other cathedrals we have seen. It appears to be taller than it is because it is so narrow. This poor cathedral has seen a lot of conflict; between the Hundred Year's War, the French Revolution, WWI, and WWII, it has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. Inside you can see stained glass windows from every century since the 13th century. It's neat to see how the styles have changed throughout the years.

We also saw the new Basilique St. Martin, which was built in the 19th century in the roman-byzantine style. The original basilica was destroyed, but they rebuilt the new one to overlap with tomb of St. Martin so that the crypt was not moved.

So after the tour finished around 11:30am, we headed to Les Halles (the city's covered market). Les Halles in Tours are spiffier than those in Dijon. Carleigh, Jennifer and I bought a baguette, some Chaource (cheese which Carleigh recommended and I really enjoyed), raspberries, a mini quiche, and drinks and took them to Le Jardin de la Préfecture (a park near our hotel). It was a perfect lunch! Afterwards I read some more of my book ("La Dame a La Licorne"). It's a French translation of the book by Tracy Chevalier, who also wrote "The Girl with the Pearl Earring." I've been enjoying it so far and I think it's been good for my French vocabulary.

Speaking of French vocabulary, I've taken on a new challenge. I am going to try and see a French film once a week. My goal is to not only get more exposure to the French language/culture in context (in case I'm not getting enough by living here). But I'm also hoping that after seeing 8-9 films I might have some kind of perspective on French cinema. Who knows? I'm always game for a new project/adventure. This afternoon I saw "Les Regrets" (yes I know, it seems like a very dramatic choice). There was definitely a lot of drama. It was directed by Cedric Kahn. I am throwing this information out there in case you're interested, but I am not pretending to be an expert. I had never heard of Cedric Kahn before today. He also directed "L'Ennui" (1998). The movie itself was really interesting. I was pleased by how much of the dialogue I could understand. The theatre was similar to the one I went to in Dijon, although slightly larger. Again there weren't very many seats and they were covered in a red, felt-like material. I went to a 5pm show and there were only 3 other people in the theater with me.

Now it's time for dinner!

This is the tree-lined walkway which runs down the center of the Boulevard Heurteloup.