5/26/2024
Bonjour! Maeve and Molly here, ready to take you through our very low-key Sunday in France. It’s another jour de voyager, or day of traveling, as we wrap up our time in Nantes and head south, towards the city of Limoges.
After a quick hotel breakfast, we boarded the 10:45am tram that took us to the Nantes train station. We’ve all greatly enjoyed our time here in Nantes and have made so many amazing memories, all of which could not have been more perfectly captured than the way they were compiled in Dari’s vlog - make sure to check that out (linked under the 5/24 blog post)!!
We did so much in Nantes - from visiting and participating in French and Breton-speaking preschool and elementary school classrooms - where we learned about the language of Breton and its rich culture/history - to meeting Juliet’s sister’s family and having a picturesque dinner at their beautiful home. We expanded our wardrobes through thrift shopping, rode on three-story carousels, stood at the base of a giant mechanical elephant, wandered through a 15th century castle, ate baguettes for breakfast, ate sandwiches made with baguettes, ate hot dogs with baguettes as buns…
To put it shortly, Nantes was fantastique!
(That’s French for fantastic).
A (Fairly Dull) Live Update From the Train
I’m anticipating that we won’t have too much content to share today, so I figured I’d share a brief live update from our three hour train ride. As I’m typing this, the current time is 12pm. About 20 minutes ago (at 11:40am) we boarded the train, which will take us from Nantes to an hour-and-a-half pit-stop in the small town of Vierzon, where we’ll grab lunch. After that, we’ll board a 4:11pm train from Vierzon, which should put us in Limoges right around 6pm. From what we’ve been told, Vierzon is a very, very small town, so I’m looking forward to giving an update on how our short time there goes.
Anyway, back to the train ride. It’s a pretty quiet journey - I (Maeve) am sitting across from Eliot and Patrick, who are currently having a conversation about the Eurovision singing competition. More of us are listening to music, taking naps, and doing work. Not too much to update on beyond that, so I’ll check back in a bit later.
Vierzon
In Vierzon, we disembarked in various groups to find places to eat. Patrick was kind enough to watch all of our bags and suitcases while we adventured on our restaurant hunt (don’t worry, Juliet picked him up something to eat from one of the burger/crepe places)! Although word on the street was that most places to eat in Vierzon were closed on Sundays, we were still able to find some great food (such as savory crepes, burgers, potatoes, and sandwiches) to hold us over for the oncoming train ride.
Limoges
Molly here! Once we arrived in Limoges we made our way through the train station and immediately were greeted with the beauty this town has to offer. The train station itself is a historic building and made of remarkable French architecture that I could have stayed and observed for so long!
We walked through the town from the train station to our hotel- Let’s just say now I know why Juliet and Patrick recommended us to not pack 50 pounds worth of luggage! We shortly arrived at the hotel and were very excited with the balconies from our rooms- here you can see a view showing a bit of what Limoges is like.
After getting settled into Limoges we had a group dinner at Le Churchill Restaurant. With having a large group reservation, the restaurant provided us with a designated/fixed menu selection for our dinner. Many of us tried multiple new foods for the first time, including duck! This was a great experience for us to try something out of our comfort zones and embrace French culture through the food!
This long travel day allowed me to reflect a bit on our trip so far. While on the trains I really enjoyed looking out at the terrain along the way and seeing animals, peaceful streams and landscapes, along with interesting architecture and chateaux! I have found beauty in every part of France we have explored so far and I look forward to what is to come. Soon we will be heading off to bed to prepare for another day in the schools tomorrow, immersing ourselves in the language and culture of France!
Au revoir from Molly and Maeve!! We hope you enjoyed reading about our first day in Limoges!
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