We’ve made it back to Angers from our trip to the SF Bay Area and are looking ahead with excitement to what comes next for us this fall as the seasons change and we seek new opportunities to further integrate with the community and culture of Angers, France. Here’s what we’ve got planned for the
We’re back in the U.S. for a couple of weeks to see family, eat some spicy food and the best deep dish pizza this side of Chicago, and grab a few things from our storage place to bring back to France to make our place feel more like home. We brought two large, empty suitcases
For Greg, each summer is an opportunity to maximize his cycling adventures and see more of the world than can be viewed from the window of a moving vehicle. This cycling summer culminated with a new adventure: a tandem bike ride! Not only that, but a 100km (62 miles) tandem bike ride, plus the to/from
This foot bridge, located a few miles south of Angers over the Maine River in Bouchemaine (translates to “mouth of Maine”), was a key access point for the United States Army’s 5th Infantry Division to help liberate the city of Angers from German control on August 11, 1944 during WWII. Greg found this while on
The French have elevated COMPLAINING to an art form, a competitive sport even; at a minimum, it’s a favorite pastime. Don’t get me wrong, we love France, but there are definitely things here that have tested our patience and made us grumbly at times. We’ve reached the phase in our time in France that is
I set out for a walk yesterday morning while Greg was out biking. I captured this photo from a bridge over the Maine River that runs through the middle of Angers before connecting with the Loire River farther south. You can see the Angers castle in the distance and that gorgeous church tower in the
Finally, the heat wave that has been smothering western Europe since late May has fizzled and we are being treated to a pleasantly warm (around 75-78F most days) and lovely summer in Angers. This is a city that has many events and exhibitions going on simultaneously and seems to execute on them flawlessly. It’s been
We finished out our French countryside trip last week with a visit to “Le Mystère des Faluns,” another troglodyte cave system created by workers in the 18th and 19th centuries who mined limestone as a building material. It’s now an underground museum / art installation that you have to see to really appreciate. Much of
We rented a car Monday and headed south from Angers about a hour to the French countryside. Along the way, we stopped at this incredible site, Château de Brissac. This fabulous chateau has been owned by the Cossé-Brissac family since 1502. The title of “Duke of Brissac” has been handed down for over 500 years,
SUCCESS!!! The Château d’Angers will be the view from the kitchen window of our new apartment for the next five months! Granted, it will be from a longer distance, at an angle, and we won’t be able to see the grounds from where we are, but all the same, there will be a castle in