...pastures of undulating idylls

waiting to be consummated into writing.  Anticipation of abundance seeps through the holes in a hand woven basket full of memory.  Dissipating with weariness through the abrasion of stupor and inactivity.  Nothing remains but half impressions.  No acute carvings, just smudges onto a sandstone backdrop.

I went to the Loire Valley last weekend.  I have been meaning to give my trip the justice of detailing it in writing to its full glory.  I had so much I could say.  So much I had felt.  So, much I had absorbed.  So, much I wanted to record.  But, I gave into the idyllic/idleness and didn't.  It's funny that when you have all the time in the world, nothing is ever done.  This statement has never been proven false to me, yet, it remains just as tartly comedic every time.  I'm still trying to plan out everything as usual.  It's just that I don't have the motivation for implementation.  So, they just accrue and I just observe. I am trying to keep up this journal as well as a personal journal as well as correspondences.  I'm finally remembering how this can become much more of a strain than it seems.  I purge myself when I do these things.  Purging isn't all that easy.  It's straining.  (alas for the repetition of synonyms... rather, think of the shades rather then the meaning.)

My personal journal is the hardest for me to write.  It always takes way much more time and energy than I budget.  But, Hell! it's so necessary.  I'm constantly in my head again.  And it's really flourishing with all of the walking, the metro-ing, and alone time.  So, I have all of these things just always floating around in my head... then manifested into dreams, into naps, into subconscious thoughts.

But, here's the Loire:

We saw lots of chateaux.  Oddly enough.  In regards to the castle we stayed in, I actually slept in the stables.  Yeah, with hay and the horses.  It was really cold at night, but, we had many layers to cover ourselves.  We means John, Greg, and I.  The ride into the Valley was great!  We drove through pastures upon fields of green.   And every once in a while, a large patch of brilliant yellow would trumpet!

We got to the chateau in midst of ooo's and ahh's - as anticipated.  But, the pool was empty!  It was rather sad.  So, we decided to take a dip in the Cher river nearby.  It was highly anticipated.  But, fell much less of its assumed greatness.  We finally did this much later.  I actually had a dream last night about pools and hotels.  It involved the disappointment of a dry pool.  Then, the excitement to realize the following day (still in my dream) that there were two full pools.  It was a stupid dream.

We then had dinner aboard a ship that lazily cruised down the Cher towards Chenonceau.  It was really a 5 course meal that lasted for almost 3 hours.  We did our shamelessly tourist activities concurrently as we approached this most visited castle in France.  It felt very surreal and Mississippi-ish.  It was nice.  I would like to do this again later in my life. 

We got back and just relaxed in our stable room with some other students that dropped by to chat.  We actually followed the Bing rule of no alcohol in rooms.  It was startling!  But, yet still enjoyable.  Of course, this meant that we didn't go to be until 2am.  We had to wake up at 7:30 the following morning.  Not so fun.  But, you do what you must.  I mean, vacationing and enjoyment is tiring. 

The following day, we traveled to see the inside of Chenonceau and Amboise - it was only interrupted by a cheese and wine tasting in the Cave of Duhard near Amboise.  It was ridiculously delicious.  We only tried one varietal of wine (Vouvray from three time periods - two yrs old, ten yrs old, and 40 yrs old) with three types of cheese  (bleu,  comte, and chevre).  I brought two bottles, one as a gift to my host family, and the other for myself!  We, then, had free time for lunch and a visit to Clos Luce - the house of Leonardo da Vinci.  The town of Amboise is the complete expression of the adjective quaint!  The fortress castle provided a magnificent view of the Loire river and valley.  We returned to "our Chateau" and had two hours of free time. 

I walked to the Cher to sit and stare at the clear flowing river.  I sat near a levee of the river.  It reminded me of Vietnam and the river that I would stare at after dinner last summer.  It was so perfectly clear.  At the levee, the river picked up speed because of the different surface area beneath it.  But, it created a rapid pace that really just pulled at me.  20 feet upstream, it was only lazily moving forward, but at the levee system, it rushed, pushed, and erupted so forcibly onward.  Only to settle back to its previous pace about 40 feet downstream.  I saw fishes that were in this area of the river.  And it seemed very tiring to remain still.  Being a fish is constant work.  There's none of this idea of just allowing oneself to float aimlessly.  Just follow the river (my ass!).  They are born into constant motion.  They must always deal with it too!  Always having to swim, always exerting so much force to maintain control.  To establish life means constantly working against the flow of the river.  ....I felt like a fish.

I stared into the undulating river and felt dizzy,  I'd be a really bad fish.

That night, we had another 3 hour dinner with 4 courses at the chateau.  Servings were very modest but just enough.  Very European!  I sat next to our professor (Katchadorian) and was able to participate in good conversation all evening long.  By the way, alcoholic sorbets are ridiculously good!  It felt excessive.  But, I have been wallowing in excesses this entire quarter.  So, why complain now right?  I only have 6 weeks of this left anyway.  I might as well enjoy my youth.

Again, I had another non-alcoholic night of talk in my room with friends.  I didn't sleep until 2am again.  The castle was so much more personable at night.  I can't put my thumb on it.  Perhaps it was its lighted prominence being enveloped by the caresses of the dark surrounding forest.  Knowing that it's been here for the last five hundred years just made it so much fuller, so much more round!  It ballooned with context.  A ballooning that gave it life and intensity, Yet at the same time, a sublime subtlety.   Very late that night, we walked outside to look at the stars.  They shown just as they had five hundred years ago.  With the wind gently brushing through the trees around us and through us, I felt very alive and subdued.

We packed our stuff into the bus sunday morning and left to Chambord.  This hunting castle was my favorite.  It is surrounded by 11,000 acres of hunting grounds - now turned public parks.  The exterior was completely stunning.  The interior less so.  Again, so much history in this place.  I'll just leave it to your imagination.  Tangentially, our tour guide was this very nice woman that spoke slowly and enunciated like it was her job.  She did a great job.  Only if I could really pay attention.

We had lunch at the hotel de Chambord next to the chateau.  It was, again, really upscale, but nonetheless, delicious.   We had Loire valley pike!  Deliciousness indeed.  Afterwards, it was our chance for physical fun.  We could either row or bike.  I biked.  John bought a bottle of wine.  We biked around the castle grounds, found a great place to sit, and drank.  It was perfect.  My other friends "accidentally fell" into the water with their swimsuits.  They had fun.  But, I think I had more fun.  It was so nice.  If my allergies weren't so bad, I would have rolled around in the grass and wholeheartedly frolicked. 

To recap:
Chenonceau - elegant, feminine
Amboise - formidable, gritty
Chambord - fantastical, surreal

But like Nelly Furtado said, "all good things come to an end."  We got back to Paris around 8pm on Sunday.  I had dinner with my host family as we watched the elections results and after show.  But, I'll leave discussion of the elections to another post.  I feel like I've exhausted you.  So, I'll stop.

I'm gonna post my pictures very soon!  Just click on the link on the right panel.

A bientot.