On Tuesday, the weather was miserable: pouring rain that
lasted all day. That did not stop me
from bicycling the 11 miles to Chambord, a massive château that King François I
ordered constructed as a super-hunting lodge.
Leonardo da Vinci, who François had given shelter in France, had a hand
in the design, including the massive double-spiraling staircase. This staircase is constructed a bit like DNA,
where there are two ascending spirals that will never meet. Chambord, while impressive,
was not my favorite château that I’ve visited.
It is simply too large to be effectively lived in. It had been gutted during the French
Revolution, and many of the massive rooms still stand empty despite others having
been refurnished with period (and often the original) furniture.
Yesterday, I took the train back to Montpellier, spending
most of the day traveling. My host-dad
picked me up from the train station. As
my host brother and host mom are not back yet from their vacation, my host dad
and I made dinner and dined together.
After that, we spent the evening watching television.
Today I went to my internship and finished recording the
last of my radio shows. I am not
completely done with my internship, which is a load off, but a little disappointing. My Irish music radio show has been playing
the last three Sundays, and the last episode should be airing next Monday. Amazing to think that something I put so much
time into is over so quickly, but my boss was happy with my work, so that makes
me content.
This weekend I will be working on two papers for the classes
that I took at the University of Minnesota Bureau, one is about modern day
French immigration and the other is about the impact of Irish immigration to
France during the 1600s, the migration of Catholic soldiers known as the Wild
Geese.
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