June 1

June 1 was Pentecost Monday, which is a holiday in France. So, no school.

I slept late, took a shower, and ate breakfast -- bread and butter and Chocapics. Cassandre and I then went to the supermarket to buy food (sandwiches, candy, and drinks) for the picnic that day.

We met up with everyone at 10:00 at the Hotel de Ville. The English teacher, the French/Latin teacher, the history teacher, my French teacher, all the French kids, and all the American kids, and also Pierrot's parents. I went to St. Valery in the van with the other Americans, the history teacher, Alison, Noemie, and Charlotte. I talked a lot with the other American girls, and we also listened to music.

St. Valery is in the Baie de la Somme region. We did not see any of the seals for which the region is known, but the beach was pretty and we ate on some steps that led down to it. After the picnic, the teachers from France gave us a tour of the medieval town. Jeanne D'Arc was taken through St. Valery as a prisoner of the English, and there were multiple plaques that commemorated this. I took some very good photos of this town, both of a typical medieval town in France and of a typical town in the Picardie region, as St. Valery is both.

We then went to the beach at Cayeux, which is a pebble beach (and is pictured above). The pebbles were of all sizes, from very tiny to as large as my foot. I walked across much of the beach taking pictures and got as close to the water as possible without getting wet -- I was wearing socks, and wet socks are nasty. I also saw a white-yellow crab that was fairly large. I also saw some men playing petanque, a game similar to bocce, but I couldn't get decent photos such that you could actually tell what the men were doing.

The last thing we did as a tour group that day was visit the Chateau Rambures. It was built during the 100 years war but has been greatly modified since then. One thing that fasinated me is that it was built underground. Melissa thought that the big hole surrounding the castle was a moat, and it is, but not one that there was ever water in. The chateau was built underground so that cannons couldn't destroy the castle by damaging the base of it. Also, oil was not used to attack enemies -- oil was too expensive. Instead, heated sand was mixed with grease and that was poured over enemies.

The guide talked a lot about the modifications made to the chateau each century, which was very interesting. In some rooms, I only understood about half of what the guide said, but in some rooms I understood everything...

The guide explained that if a family had a simple coat of arms, then the family was old and very noble. If there are many symbols on the family's coat of arms, then the family hasn't been noble for long. In the 15th century, the English would ransom the captured men with simple coats of arms because they would have very noble families, but the captured men with complicated coats of arms would be killed.

On the way back home, I know I slept in the car, and I wasn't the only one. When we arrived again at the Hotel de Ville, I discovered that my face was slightly sunburned, especially my nose. My teacher, however, was far more red than I was.
At the house, I called my dad and we talked about sports. Strangely enough, he had to update me on the French Open, despite the fact that I was only 90 minutes away from Roland Garros by train.
For dinner Cassandre and I had spaghetti bolognaise and cake. Yum!
Then I wrote in my journal and tried to go to sleep, but for some reason it was harder than normal.