My options were Pornic, Angers and Rennes. I talked to my classmates, and they all recommended Pornic, which is a town right by the beach. I looked it up online, and it didn't seem like there was much to do there except walk along the coast. Another problem was that my schedule would have been very strict-- I had to leave at 11:40 and come back at 6:45. There were no later trains and no earlier trains, so if I got bored, I was stuck. My classmates didn't know much about Rennes, and my France guidebook didn't have a lot to say about it either, so I crossed that one off the list.
I ended up hopping on a train to Angers at 11:45 and got into Angers around 12:30. It was rather chilly when I got there (probably close to 50 degrees F), and also kinda gray. That made me very glad I chose not to go to the Pornic-- beaches on cold days aren't usually a lot of fun. My first destination was the Office of Tourism, as I needed a map and a few ideas of what I could do. My France book had some suggestions, but I figured the tourism office would know more. Everything in Angers is labeled really well with directional signs on almost every corner. On my way to the tourism office, I was surprised to see so many road barriers up in the middle of the street. Then, I realized that Angers is working on putting in a tramway system. Makes the area look really congested at the moment, but I'm sure it will be great for the city when it's all done.
Found the office and got a map and a city pass for 12 euros, which would get me into several different sites for free during the day. My first stop was the Chateau d'Angers. It's surrounded by 17 watchtowers and doesn't look terribly pretty from the outside.
Once you get in, though, there's a really nice garden, and then on the roof, there's actually a small vineyard that I assume actually produces wine during the season.
You can climb to the top of the watchtowers and just overlook the city, which was nice. There was a group of guys up on top of the tower at the same time I was there, and one of them offered to take my picture with the city in the background so that I'd actually have a photo of me in Angers. They left the tower for another part of the building, and when they spotted me still on top of the tower, they yelled and waved. Goofy guys.
There was also a "Chatelet" or gateway which I thought had beautiful architecture.
The chateau also has a museum of very old tapestries. They are held in a really dark room, so it's kind of difficult to see them well, but I assume it's to protect their coloring from light. Obviously couldn't take pictures there.
Last stop at the Chateau was the chapel. I expected some ornate architecture and stained glass, but it was actually rather simple.
After the chateau, I walked around for a while until I found the center of town. Once I got there, I felt like I was right back in Nantes. Very busy with restaurants and clothing stores and bars all along the street and people walking very quickly to get wherever they were going. While a lot of the buildings look similar to those seen in most of France, there was one that looked quite different. Ironically, it's also on the cover of the map/guidebook from the tourism office.
I stopped for a ham and cheese baguette, and then made my way to the Jardin du Mail. Nothing terribly exciting there, but it was nice to sit and rest near the fountain there for a while. I also saw a tiny little pony, and it was just too cute!
Next stop was the Natural Science Museum. When I walked in, the three people at the desk kind of gave me an odd look, and then their eyes lit up... thought that was kind of strange, but continued on. The first part of the museum should probably just be called the Taxidermy museum. They have rooms and rooms just dedicated to stuffed animals. I first walked past a stuffed lion, cheetah and various other wild cats. They also have a room full of stuffed birds, and I had to take a picture of the swan.
There was another room dedicated to explaining how the taxidermy process works (not exactly my cup of tea), and then there was a room full of insects. That was enough for me.
The next stage of the museum was the prehistoric period, which I thought would actually be really interesting. Instead it was a room full of cases containing rocks, fossils, sea shells and shark teeth. The guy from the front desk followed me in, and I asked him if it was a slow day. He just laughed and told me I was the first person to come in that day (it was the middle of the afternoon), and I assume I was probably the last as well. He told me that most people don't come to Angers to visit the Natural Science Museum... sadly, I can understand why.
I walked back through the main part of town and made my way to the Musee des Beaux-Arts. Wasn't entirely sure what to expect, and I'm not typically much of an art buff, but I had a couple hours to kill until my train back to Nantes, so I figured, why not? The special exhibition was an artist called Robert Malaval. I'd never heard of him, but it was actually a great collection. They separated his works into different periods of his career, starting with his work in paper mache and other sculptures. He also had a collection dedicated to the Rolling Stones...quite different. He moved from the Rolling Stones to a set of pieces that seemed like they were created to celebrate Easter, with all sorts of pastel pinks, blues, yellows and greens. Finally, there was a collection created with acrylic and sparkles. I really enjoyed those paintings... it's the type of art that I would actually decorate my house with someday.
I spent another 30 minutes wandering the other parts of the museum, and it was the typical religious and historical artwork that never does much for me. The last room I found, though, really made me smile. It was modern art, most of which was by an artist called Daniel Tremblay. Lots of sculpture type art, but some paintings. One that I really enjoyed was an outline of a man and woman kissing, but the outline was created by b'dazzler-type gems. On each end of the canvas, there was a crow biting one of the gems. It was goofy, and I don't know exactly where he was going with it, but it made me laugh. A huge piece in the middle of the room was called "Call of the Wild" by Bill Woodrow. Essentially it was a hood of a car bent into a strange form, and then a bear rug created out of plastic in the middle with microphones near the head. Again, just silly, but creative. This is a link to the guy's web site and then just search for "call of the wild" under sculptures if you want to see what I'm trying to describe. http://www.billwoodrow.com/dev/sculpture_by_letter.php?page=2&i=4&sel_letter=c
It was just about time for me to get back to my train, but I made a quick stop at the Cathedrale Saint-Maurice to get a picture. I'd seen it from the top of the Chateau, but wanted a better look.
Got back to the train station with about 10 minutes to go before the train departed, and then I was on my way home. It was a little strange to visit a city with no idea of what I would do for five hours, but all in all, it was a good day (minus the taxidermy).
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