The Local Castle

6 February 2011

Today we are going to the local castle.  That’s right…I said the LOCAL castle!!!!  The first Sunday of the month, all of the museums and castles in France are FREE =)  As the girls and I round the corner of Boulevard Foche, we can see the beautiful, old Chateaux d’Angers.  It is absolutely exquisite.  Once inside, we are faced with gorgeous gardens and are given a map of the chateaux.  As we enter the various rooms of the chateaux, each room looks older than the last.  The cold of the stone walls envelops us as we pass through rooms and hallways of medieval splendor.  The next stop on our tour is the cathedral.  It is just as I expect it to be:  an artistry of old, stone walls, encompassing stained-glass windows.  After the cathedral, we head toward the final leg of our cathedral visit:  the walk around the walls of the castle.  As we mount the staircase to the top of the castle, we find ourselves standing about 50 meters above the ground, overlooking the city of Angers.  We can see EVERYTHING from here:  the river, the shops, the roofs of now-familiar buildings.  The view is absolutely breath-taking!!!!  As I stand on the castle walls and gaze out over my new home, I am completely in awe.  I cannot imagine a more beautiful place in the entire world.  As we make our way around the wall, the view becomes more beautiful with each passing step.  I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.  For the first time, I feel like I am really in the France of my dreams  =)