Chartres : March 2016
Last Wednesday, I decided to skip English class for the third time. I did have a valid reason (I always do)! That morning, my group mate and I decided to visit the city bookshop to look for supplementary materials we could use for our group project. I know, why not any other time? She’s working and we hardly have some time to get together. Also, in all honestly, I was not feeling like going to English class, too. Ok, guilty!
At the bookstore, more specifically at the children’s section, we were looking around for children’s books we could use for our project. But before getting into that, we amused ourselves on looking at travel guides for kids! That was when Marion showed me her city in south west of France. I mentioned that we had time off in April and I was thinking what to visit next. She suggested I didn’t have to wait that long to visit; she was going back home that weekend and that I should come along with her. I was hesitant because I had things to do, I wanted to save the money I have left for the travel plans I had for the following week and… it started with three reasons and now I can’t remember what the third one was. Anyway, that night, she sent me more details of the proposed trip and I said, what the hell, yes, I’m coming!
She invited two other classmates but unfortunately, one of them couldn’t make it. I’m glad we get to tag Saba along. I admit, I was too conscious about my language insecurities in French and having another person with us would lighten the mood.
At 6h30 that Saturday, Marion came to pick me up from my dorm and off we went to pick up Saba from her apartment. After buying breakfast from a boulangerie, we went on the road from North-west of France to down South-west! But we weren’t heading directly to Bordeaux just yet. We stopped by the city of Chartres in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. I’m glad we did because I was starting to think I’d never get to visit the regions in the center of France.
Chartres is a city southwest of Paris. We did not spend too much time there. After getting inside the the city’s well-known cathedral, we went to the nearby café to get some coffees, hot chocolates and for Marion, two dry saucissons!
We had another stop to make along the way before heading directly to Bordeaux: Angoulême, although we had to skip it for the day because we were running late for the dinner party Marion was supposed to attend that night. Also, the car almost broke down. Well, not really. Since I know nothing about cars and what goes on in it, that’s the closest I can get to describing why we had to stop at Tours to let the car machine cool down. At Tours, we took the chance to grab lunch at Mcdo (where else!). It was the first Mcdo branch in France where I experienced meals being served in your desired seat!
An hour later, we were back on the road again. We reached Montpon-Ménestérol at about 18h, a town an hour away from Bordeaux, where we were going to spend the night. Marion was rushing us because we were running late. We grabbed our stuff from the trunk and when we got to the front door of her mother’s house, she realized, she didn’t have the key! We all burst out laughing. We made another detour to her brother’s house who lives nearby to get the spare key, get some drinks and enjoy good company for a few minutes.
Back at her mother's home, now armed with the key, we finally decided to not go to her friend’s party because it was another hour drive. All of us exhausted from the 12-hour car ride, we decided to call it a day, watch a French movie from the 60s while munching on some Croques Madames. By midnight, we hit the sack and went into deep slumber.
The next day, we would be exploring the capital city of the Aquitaine Region: Bordeaux! More on that on another post.