Since my time is winding down, my classmate Laurant was kind enought to plan one more trip for me and some of the other classmates. He suggested that those of us staying in Nantes should take the 12:05 train from Nantes to Clisson (only about 15 minutes), where we would meet him and his daughters for lunch, and then go to visit a medieval castle in the town. In total, 14 people said they would participate in the trip.
When I got on the train, my classmates were nowhere to be found. Got one text message from Pan, who said that she would meet us at the restaurant.
When I got to Clisson and met Laurant and his daughters, I found that I was the first to arrive. At least no one here can ever accuse me of being tardy. Four more of my classmates (plus one child) were set to arrive by car around 12:30, and our reservation at the restaurant was for between 12:30 and 1. We got ahold of the classmates coming by car, and found out that they would be arriving late. We tried to reach our other classmates, but none of them got back to us. Pan missed the next two trains to Clisson, so she said she would meet us after lunch at the castle. Needless to say, it was a bit of a logistical nightmare for Laurant.
When the car full of classmates arrived, there were only three classmates plus a child. Apparently the fourth had gone out the night before, had a little too much fun, and wasn't feeling so well yesterday morning. Poor guy.
We finally sat down at the restaurant at 1:30. They had prepared a table for 14, and there were only 8 of us. The host didn't even seem upset by it... but they did tell us that we would have to order off of the menu du jour because of the reservation we had made. For my appetizer, I ended up getting potage (thick soup) made up of pureed vegetables that had a distinct mushroom flavor, and was served with a side of homemade crutons and shredded emmental cheese. It was delicious. My main dish was asparagus wrapped in chicken served in a mushroom sauce with green beans. Also very good. For dessert, I ordered the house specialty which was a muscadet cake with a dark chocolate crust and a side of creme anglaise. The cake itself was very light, but also very flavorful. For 15 euros, it was a pretty good deal.
Our next stop was to the castle of Clisson. It had two parts, one of which was constructed 1,000 years ago. Much of it has either been destroyed or fallen apart since then, but what we were able to see and walk around in was quite impressive. I'm getting a bit tired of all these castles, but the fact that they're still standing after 10 centuries is still amazing to me.
Our tour guide was a cute older French man who was very excited about the castle. He showed us a well where 18 people were thrown down and drowned as punishment for crimes, and he said that he got to be there when they excavated the skeletons in the 1960s. Not the most pleasant of stories, but a part of history nonetheless.
He also showed us the "kitchen" which were two huge fireplaces. They were the original brick ovens, but could hold an entire cow to be cooked. Crazy!
The rest of the tour showed us the more modern part of the castle, which is still several centuries old. Here's a 500-year-old oak door that is still in tact today.
Overall, it was nice to get away from Nantes for a while and to see the historical castle. Unfortunately, once I got home, I had several assignments waiting for me.
So far, my individual assignments for both Human Resources Management and Organization Behavior are finished. Now I just have to start some group papers and get them done before my mom comes in less than 2 weeks!! I'm so excited for her visit, and I'm sure that all of this work will make the time fly.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment