Friday, April 18, 2008

Day two-Vendome

Day two in Vendome-

The kids all looked well rested today and happy this morning. The kids were separated into groups and went on a scavenger hunt in Vendome. They had five spots to find in the city. One place was an old, ruined castle on top of a hill. The view from the top was beautiful but the hike to it was long and uphill. There were three churches they needed to find. Holy Trinity Abbey founded in 1032, Church of St. Mary Magdalen, and Saint James Chapel . They had to find the Hotel de Ville (city hall) and sketch the statue in the park. They had to find carvings of some men on an old building that is now a bar. There was some kind of tree that was unique that Jori called the Monkey tree. The scavenger hunt gave the dancers a chance to learn about Vendome and spend time with the host dancers.

Vendome has a wonderful street for shopping. On Friday mornings there is an open air market with all. kinds of different vendors. Rachel and Brooke bought matching coats, Brooke’s is Black and Rachel’s is white. Rachel added some shoes and earrings. Alex bought hot pink shoes, sunglasses and a big red purse and spent enough money to get free earrings. Sarah bought her first pair of sunglasses. Shannon purchased shoes and a scarf. The kids enjoyed all the different stores and learned that sizes are very different in France. Sarah found a size 16 pair of pants that equaled 00 in the USA. They thought the prices were great, hence all the shopping they did! Lee and Diane bought some fresh fruit to have back at the hotel. There were also meats, cheeses, vegetables and seafood available.

After rehearsal in Lunay, the kids went back to have dinner with their host families. A small group of the dancers went out to a “bar” in Vendome to have some “drinks”. The kids there were looking a little weary by 9:30.

Tomorrow they will travel to Troo to see the troglodyte (dwellings in the hillside). They then have a run through and dress rehearsal in Lunay.

Lee and Diane were successful in taking a taxi to the TGV to pick up their rental car. In the afternoon while the dancers were rehearsing, Lee, Diane, Kathryn and Alice took a drive in the French country side looking for a winery. We ended up on some narrow back roads that went past farms. We saw a typical old French man who was so cute! We finally found a winery , tasted some delicious wine and even bought some! Once back in Vendome we stopped at a small shop to get a corkscrew. It was a unplanned exploration of the area.
res to
I'm sorry there aren't any pictures. I have tried a number of times to upload pictures and it's not working. I'll see if I can get them to upload to Snapfish tomorrow night.
Diane

3 comments:

Deedra said...

Hey Guys - Go easy on the wine tasting ladies!! (Or you could bring some home for those of us less traveled). All sounds tres magnifique, especially all that shopping. Keep the good news coming.
Deedra

Bonny said...

Hi glad to hear all is well, of course my kid went shopping, its her middle name. I am glad she found some good bargins, sounds like you are having a wonderful time, Wine tasting, driving in the French countryside, WOW how chic...good memories...have fun Bonny

Cheryl said...

Hello to all!
We did some wine tasting around here last night, too! It was the New Moon dinner and it was well attended. Thanks to Kristin Canders who was in some way responsible for about 90% of the guests, many of whom were her very friendly family. The food was delicious, and Paul Noonan did a good job of talking over the crowd as the evening (and the wine) poured on.
Best of luck with the performance today!
Cheryl