i'm trying to Let Unconquerable Gladness Dwell

My mom mentioned this saying that hung in FDR's office in an email to me a few days ago. She also wrote that "Life can be challenging, but a grateful heart and a positive outlook can keep you strong and content." Sorry, Mom, but it's too good to keep to myself. I've been reminding myself of these little morsels when I have to practically babysit the two boys who are also working ("working") here, when I'm lonely, and before I go to bed when I'm thinking about my day...

. . .

A few days ago I finally got to explore the area a little. Jonathan was taking the guests touring that day and invited me to go along. Our first stop was the Abbey of Fontevraud!!! (click here for an explanation) This was my #1 thing to see while in France. The effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine (click here) is there, and she is my favorite person in history. [To put it briefly, she was a fiercely independent woman, was queen of France and then England, demanded respect for women, and lived to be 84 in the 13th century!!] She spent the last few years of her life at this Abbey. I was excited to go because of its tie to her, but I had read that it is the largest monastery in France and unique in other ways, so I was interested to see what it was like. Turns out it's GORGEOUS. In fact, I liked the Chapel of St Mary better than Notre Dame in Paris. It's made of all white stone and is incredibly well lit with sunlight.

The really well-lit part at the end of the chapel is the choir, which has lots of windows and was absolutely incredible. The effigies (Henry II and Richard the Lionheart are there too, as is Isabella of Angouleme) are right before the choir. Here's Eleanor:

I've seen pictures of it a millions times before, but to be there in person - and to walk where she walked - was in.cre.di.ble. Here are a few more pictures of other parts of the Abbey:

Looking into one of the courtyards

The choir of the chapel.

Self-portrait of sorts

.....Carousel animals. I know. The French have a tendency to do things like this - they put weird exhibits in historical buildings, I guess to trick people to going to visit them. This one involved very realistic animal sounds played in surround sound while the animals randomly went up and down. The overall effect was rather creepy.

After the Abbey, we went to a couple of wine tastings and visited a beautiful village (Candes St Martin) that sits right on the edge of the Loire.

. . .

This weekend we visited several different markets. On Saturday, Pascal took the boys and me to the weekly market in Saumur. The market itself wasn't all that different from other markets I've been to in France, but it was great to see some of the city.

Spice merchant's wares.

Chateau de Saumur.

Beautiful rainbow!

Bridge over the Loire connecting the halves of the city.

On Sunday, we went to a Marché aux Puces - literally "Market of Fleas," which I personally find slightly more unnerving than 'Flea Market'. This market was, honestly, not very exciting at all. What was very exciting, though, was that I got another bedroom upgrade! At this rate I'll probably be living in the chateau by the time I leave. I now live in a room right off the dining room in the Moulin. It has a very Mediterranean feel, and a door that leads outside:


Beautiful bathroom, which I have all to myself! This is, like, 1000 steps up from sharing a bare-concrete floor bathroom with 5 males.

Even the radiator is beautiful.

Me wearing Napeoleon's jacket.


Just kidding. It is really old though. Jonathan gave it to me as a gift for working here.


This isn't related to my room, but it's adorable.... Bernard rescued a baby bird from the cat a few days ago, and we're nursing him back to health. The wound on his head seems to be healing and his wing is usable now.
We feed him baby bird food - which just happened to be lying around the office - but it comes in pellets and since he's such a baby we have to make it into mush and feed it to him like this:
And guess what?! I was in the newspaper on Saturday! There was an article about the village picnic last week. The other guy in the picture is a friend of Jonathan's.