Vannes, Carnac, and Angers

Last weekend, we did not have class on Friday, so I took a little trip to the west of France.

On Thursday, I took the TGV train from Paris to Vannes (a special experience all on its own, my ears popped when we went through tunnels, it was so fast). My CouchSurfing host met me at the train station. She is a young woman who lives in Vannes; we chatted over a drink back at her apartment, then about a dozen of her friends came over. There was another CS, from Australia, staying there that night. It was very exciting for them to have an American AND an Australian all the way out in Vannes; her friends were great. People were up until 3 am, but I went to sleep at 1, because I was so tired from the week.

Friday morning, after breakfast, my CS host and the Australian took a car out to the coast, about 20 minutes away. Breathtakingly stunning, with rocky cliffs and huge waves. Then, after eating sandwiches on the beach, we explored the Carnac stones, which are lines and circles of over 3,000 stones, older than Stonehenge. Found a dolmen and a very tall menhir as well. We had a cup of coffee at a little place along the bay, watching sailboats.

They dropped me off at the train station around 5pm, and I headed to Angers. After a little train mix-up, and getting lost in the city, I found the bar where I met my next host, a student at Catho, where my parents studied when they were in France. After stowing my bag behind the bar and grabbing a pint, we went to a cafe to meet up with some of her friends. Then we went to a couple more bars, including a reggae bar (where we met some more friends) and an Irish pub. After getting back to her apartment, we had a little bit to eat and then went to bed. In the morning, we walked to Catho to see the campus, and then made lunch. She cooked, but I brought the tofu. Then, we drove over to see the cathedral and the chateau (a real castle from the middle ages). The castle is enormous, with towers, a moat, and bridges. We got in for free, because I just kept my mouth shut while she spoke, so they thought we were both French students. There are gardens on top of the walls, and a display of famous, long tapestries. After we got a cup of coffee, we headed across the bridge, to go to the top of the opera house, to get another view of the castle. Then we walked along the river until it was time for me to get my train to Paris. We definitely became quite good friends, and should be meeting up again later in the summer.

My train got into Paris with just enough time for me to run home and drop off my bag, then go up to a theater on the opposite side of Paris to see a play on Foucault, with the other Philosophy students. I ran in just in time. Afterward, we all went out for couscous, where we chatted for a couple of hours, and drank a lot of wine. Then the students went back to an apartment to drink and chat. I made it onto the metro, but realised I would miss my connection (the metro closes down at 2am on the weekends), so I stayed at my friend's apartment. The next morning, she had to leave at 8am, so the other friend who was stranded and i went out for breakfast. I got home at 2pm. Crazy weekend.