Grace the Walking Germ

Bonjour mes amis!!!

Since I've gotten to Saintes, I've gotten sick and been doing work for studio...kind of. Actually, I've also been enjoying the open-air markets and the endless supply of freshly baked baguettes. I'm in this strange daze right now...for all you who've endured all-nighters actually doing work. But, today's entry shall be short.

So, Saintes is actually a city that has strong Roman roots. Most of the historic artifacts date back to the Roman times, but much of it was destroyed during the War of Religions. There's a lot of old Medieval architecture and many traces of Christianity, and even though the city is growing and slowly changing with contemporary times, the people of Saintes are very persistent in preserving and using the historic architecture of the city. The population is about 27,000 and everyone speaks French...of course there are a few people who are from Scotland and other parts of Europe who were swooned by a hot French homme or femme and were displaced through marriage. It's a quaint little town, and for future reference, if there are those who would like to visit France, I would recommend you skip Paris and venture out into the small regions like La Rochelle, Nice, Bordeaux, and of course, Saintes!

This is the street I live on with 13 of my peers and two instructors. We live in a row house-like building/school/home which has 5 floors including a basement. It's a really old house...and quite quite lovely. I shall post pictures of the interior later....


Here's our front door. And my friends.


Here's my room. The lighting is terrible because we don't get direct sunlight into the east side of our building because of the closeness of adjacent buildings, but we do get a brilliant reflection of light that comes from the limestone on neighboring buildings as well as the mayor's mansion on top of the hill right above us. I share a room with Gabi. :-)


Here's the Cathedral in our neighborhood. I'm not sure how old it dates, but its bells still strike on the hour. The day we arrived, there was a small wedding and watching the exit of the newly weds while colored confetti floated skyward, made the attraction of Saintes all the more romantic.


Saintes is divided by the Charente River. It supplies richness to the city, which is why Cognac is infamous here.


Old people fish here...DAILY. And surprisingly, there are good-sized fish swimming in that water.


Here's Rue Arc de Triumph.


It leads to the triumphant arch that's been preserved since the early ADs. Very Roman.


There's also an Ampitheater east of Saintes. Also a Roman contribution.


Here's the St. Eutrope. Among the many cathedrals in Saintes.


Aside from architecture and historic artifacts, Saintes is also known for it's open air markets. They're open every day of the week except Mondays and each day, the market moves around Saintes, offering local goods and produce...like OYSTERS! Saintes is close to the Atlantic coast and so many local merchants buy fresh seafood early in the morning and sell it fresh at the markets.


Here's some rotisserie poulets.


And the tomatoes...I've never seen such a variety! I never believed it when people said that tomato was a fruit...but after having some pineapple tomatoes and rose tomatoes, I believe.


Here's some more produce. I can live just on veggies...and lucky me, they're so good here!!! Mom, you would LOOOOOVE cooking with these....


And of course, of the meatlovers, here is the meat counter.


Look at the greens! Gabi and I bought those yellow sunflowers to brighten up our room. Only 5 euros for a bouquet! With flowers that cheap, it makes sense that the French are considered romantics. They can afford to buy flowers for their loved ones!


And les pains....crunchy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. Très bon...


And for our studio project, we've been given the opportunity to design a music center for the city of Saintes. The city actually loves USC school of architecture and supports the program tremendously. There's even a city-wide gallery at the end of the semester to display student work.

So, our site is actually next to the Abbey Aux Dames, which is an old cathedral that's located on the other side of the Charente from where we're staying. It's a beautiful building with intricate stone relief.


The Abbey Aux Dames has so many great places to enjoy the view of the city.


And up in the bell tower, the views reach all the way to the other end of Saintes. Surreal as ever.


So, welcome to Saintes! Please pray for me and my friends...we're all catching each other's cold. A lot of us weren't able to pack warm clothes because of baggage weight limits! So, we've been doing some major layering...LOL. We're off to Paris on Monday, but a chill weekend to come!! YAY!