Happy in Angers

You might remember the town Angers, if you've been reading my blog for about 2 years. :-) I studied abroad there in 2005, and Zach and I visited on our last Europe trip in 2008--blog post here.

We left Paris on the third day of our honeymoon after checking out the Garnier Opera House and took a train to Angers, which is about two hours southwest of Paris, near Nantes in the Loire Valley. We arrived in the evening and checked into the Hotel du Mail. The hotel had a modern lobby and hallway, but it was a charming historical place.




Our friends we were going to visit were tied up for the evening, but it was our first evening to be just the two of us, so we decided to explore and find a place to eat. We walked for a bit and ate at a place called Les Varieties. It was kind of a French diner with a "variety" of food. :-) We had fish soup, omelettes and salad with the first beer I ever liked, Kronenburg's 1664. I didn't take my camera, or I would have posted the photos. :-(

After dinner we walked around a little bit before it started raining, so we called it a night.

The next morning, we packed our bags and left them with the front desk and decided to see some of Angers' sights before we had to be back at the train station in the afternoon. Here is the front of the hotel :-)





This is the oldest building in Angers, called Maison d'Adam. It was built in the 1500s.


Next we visited Angers cathedral, one of my favorite cathedrals I have seen in France. Check out the fountain--frozen in this photo!










After we finished looking around the cathedral, my former host dad, Max, called us to invite us to lunch at his home. We'd just bought baguettes(tres french and less than a Euro. :-)) so we brought them along when he picked us up!



Max and Patricia Charbonel were my host parents, and they are some of the most hospitable people I've ever met. Language is never a barrier, thanks to Max's trusty english/french dictionary. :-) I was definitely rusty, but it's easy to converse with them all the same.







We enjoyed a lovely lunch with them, including this homemade(Max is a retired chef) apple pastry with cream.



Our friend Marie, the sister of Claire in Paris, came over to see us for a bit as well. It was great to see her!



On the way back to the train station, we saw the Fiat 500--the car I really really have a crush on. It's smaller than the mini-- and it's coming to the US in 2011!


So ended our too-short time in Angers. :-( We boarded the train, met back up with Stacy and Jason and started the most interesting adventure yet... in the next europe post. :-)