À Poitiers

Friday was our first excursion for our program. The plan was to go to the city of Poitiers. Poitiers is a city rich in history. It has churches from many different periods in French history, and it has really quaint narrow streets.

We started out very early. I woke up seriously at 5:45 AM. I am not a morning person, it was very difficult to pull myself out of bed. I then headed down to the lobby of my building to meet the rest of my class. On the way I stopped to buy a coffee out of the little machine. I knew it was going to be a good day when I put in 0,50 euro and got 0,70 euro back. So basically I got paid to drink the coffee, it was fab. My group then walked over to the metro station to take the train to Gare Montparnasse. At the train station we met up with our professors and boarded the TGV in the direction of Poitiers. The TGV trains (or Trains à Grande Vitesse) are the French High-Speed trains. It was fun to ride, but we left so early that it was dark out and we couldn't see our surroundings. Once the sun did rise it was nice to look out at the French countryside. The ride was so quick too, just and hour and a half to Poitiers.

The first views of Poitiers are really cool. Its built up a big hill with a fortified wall. The wall was built a long time ago to protect the city from outside attacks. As it has modernized, however, the city has sprawled outside of its walls. The stuff of interest was within the walls, however. We walked up some stairs and down a few narrow streets to get to the square where we were to meet our tour guide. We were about 40 minutes early for our tour so we were allowed to go off and get a café.

I talk a lot about drinking les cafés in Paris, but I think I should make a few comments about them. In France they brew coffee very finely. Like to the point where it is pretty much an espresso. So, when you order un café, you are essentially ordering an espresso. If you want the equivalent of an American Coffee you need to order un café american, which is essentially just a watered down version, and very small. It's hard to find a large sized coffee here, the only place I've seen it is at Starbucks, where it costs 5 euros.

After un café we regrouped and started the Tour. We started out at Église Notre-Dame-la-Grande. It was started in the 11th Century, and completed in the 12th Century, although the chapels were worked on in the 15th and 16th Centuries. The church is built in the Romanesque fashion. It is famous for its façade, which tells many important biblical stories. The people of Poitiers also believe a legend that dates back to the year 1202 when the English laid siege on the city. It was said that every night the mayor would collect the keys to the city gates and sleep with them under his pillow. A clergyman of the city was promised a lot of money by the English if he stole the keys, but when he went to get them from under the mayor's pillow they were gone. The townspeople looked everywhere for them, and ended up searching Notre-Dame-La-Grande. There they found the keys in the hands of the statue of the Virgin Mary. After finding the keys the English were miraculously defeated, and now the Virgin Mary in the church holds a set of keys in honor of that miracle.

The second stop on our tour was the Palais de Justice. This was our only governmental stop on the tour. We were searched as we entered, as the building still serves as a governmental center for the town. A highlight of the searching was when a classment of mine sheepishly pulled a corkscrew out of his pocket at the checkpoint. The guard on duty laughed and replied "mais c'est necessaire..." (but it's necessary). The Palais de Justice houses a room that is very important to French History in the early Middle Ages. At that time Poitiers was the capital of the empire that was held by Eleanor of Aquitaine. The highlight of the building is a great room that was built between 1192 and 1204 which was intended to be the main room of the Palais. It was known for sometime to be the largest room of its kind in all of Europe (50 meters long by 17 wide, very high ceilings). It has had some problems with fires in the past, but many of the original stones are still present. A newer window was put in during the 19th Century, but the grandeur of the room is still present. Outside the Palais there is some other historical points that are important to note. There is a statue of Joan of Arc that commemorates her visit to the Palais at the begin of her quest (or whatever). There is also a wall that was part of an original palais (that was destroyed, more or less) that dates back to the 3rd Century. It sort of looks like a pile of rocks now, but if you study it hard you can see the different layers that are presnet, and the different methods associated with each layer.

Next on the tour was the Cathédrale St-Pierre. The construction was begun in 1162 under the eye of Eleanor of Aquitaine and her husband, Henri Plantagenet (Henri II). Unlike Notre-Dame-La-Grande, this cathedral was built in the more Gothic style, and has many striking similarities to Notre Dame de Paris. Also unlike Notre-Dame-La-Grande, the interior of St-Pierre is much lighter, due to the much larger windows that were used during construction. The grand east window is one of the first stained glass windows in the world, and you can tell because the colors of blue that are utilized are much lighter than later windows. The East wall of the cathedral is notable because the outside has many intense dents in it from centuries of warfare. What is lucky is that the grand eastern window never got hit.

The final stop on the tour was Église Ste-Radegonde. This church was built in the 11th Century, and commemorates a patroness, Radegonde. Radegonde was born a princess, and was eventually forced into marriage with Kind Chlotar, a son of Clovis. She was able to secure her release from the King and became a nun in Poitiers. It is said that she perofrmed numerous miracles and I think the Tour Guide we had talked about dragons. I was so hungry and cold, and maybe a little exhausted that at this point I was having a hard time understanding the tour. Radegonde was buried in the church, but the guide sheepishly told us that during the Great Wars of Religion the protestants raided the church and the bodies that were buried there are all gone. Those darn protestants. That was sort of the running joke of the entire tour.

After the tour our Professors took us to a very nice four course lunch at a restaurant in the old part of town. The first course was an appetizer, and I had a sort of melt thing. It was a fresh piece of slightly toasted (maybe rye?) bread with chevre (goat cheese), apples and bacon. It also came with a small salad that was fresh greens and mandarin oranges. The main dish was chicken breast marinated in a sweet sauce that they said was terryaki, but I think they think terryaki is something else, because I actually liked it. It also came with mashed red potatoes, that were to die for. I picked tiramisu for dessert. It was very creamy and generally really good. After we had coffee. I love the french method of eating lunch and dinner. Take your time, talk to other people, enjoy your food. Instead of slamming it and demanding the check.

We were given some free time afterwards. A group of us went to buy umbrellas at a "2 Euro Store," and then we headed towards the southwest part of the old town. There we poked our heads in another church, Église St-Hilaire, and then we wandered into a large park, Parc de Blossac. In the middle of the park there was a small zoo with some really random animals. They had lots of birds, parrots, geese, and even parakeets. They also had Senegalese goats, which we fed sticks too. At the far end of the park there is an overlook that looks down the large walls into the valley below. It is a gorgeous view of some of the newer parts of Poitiers, and Le Clain (a river). After a quick photo op we headed back to our group, the TGV, and home.

PHOTOS FROM POITIERS:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009731&l=61385&id=1599570086