Périgueux!

So believe it or not, I actually didn't do any traveling for like a month and a half after Christophe came to visit me. Turns out I actually do study... Imagine that. Anyways, because of the crazy way the French school system works, three out of my five classes ended a week before my spring break from my other two classes. It's complicated, but I ended up with one week of spring break. (Some people had two, and some people finished completely in the middle of April - whaaat. It all depends where you took your classes.) 

Anyways, this week was during the month where it rained nonstop. Like seriously, it was pouring rain every single day - if not all day, then at least for a few hours. There was a lot of hail too. I stayed inside for most of it, but I figured I should leave the house at some point during my spring break, so I intensively studied the weather forecasts and determined I would take a trip to nearby Périgueux on Wednesday.

Périgueux is only a little over an hour from Bordeaux by train. It's a smallish town, mostly known for foie gras (I'll take a pass on that one) and the Cathédrale Saint-Front. I was only there from noon to around 7pm, but I had plenty of time to go on the two suggested walking tours on the map I got from the Office de Tourisme. And despite all my careful meteorological research, the weather still ranged from drizzly to raining the whole day, which was kind of a drag.

The sandwich I had for lunch.
There was string around it.

I had hastily jotted down directions to the Office de Tourisme the night before, but not really anything else. Irresponsible lack of planning spontaneity FTW! Luckily, the Office de Tourisme was pretty much a straight shot from the train station. They made me pay 0.50€ for their map though, which was annoying. Bonjour, I am stimulating your almost completely tourist-based economy here!! But the map had two clearly marked suggested walking tours, so it at least gave me a good path to follow.

Quite frankly, Périgueux in the rain was pretty dreary. It was still a pretty town to walk around in, just nothing too too notable. (Except the cathedral, which was pretty awesome!) Here are some pretty pictures:

The Cathédrale Saint-Front was modeled after the Basilica di San Marco, which I saw in Venice. It's pretty unique looking because of the roof, which is made up of domes and a lot of small towers. You can see the towers and domes poking up from behind buildings from most parts in town. And the domes look really cool from the inside looking up too! There's also a lot of cool stained glass (of course) and some neat chandeliers. And like almost everywhere else in Périgueux, there were only a few people there, which was nice. 

After touring downtown and the cathedral, and getting some lunch, I spent the second part of my time in Périgueux touring old Roman sites. In desperation for a clean bathroom (the public ones were not happening¹), I also broke down and paid for² a ticket to the Musée Vesuna, an archaeological museum, which was actually pretty interesting.  They have a whole floor that's set up to mimic an archaeological dig, with platforms to walk around on, which is pretty cool. And I was able to use their bathrooms twice, so totally worth admission. I guess.

Here's some of the other Roman sites I saw:

And some other stuff:

A nice park!

Creepy pencil! Reminded me of this.

And before I knew it, I was headed back to Bordeaux! If you're only spending a couple weeks or less in southwest France, I wouldn't really recommend stopping by Périgueux unless you're super into old Roman sites or domed cathedrals. But since I was there for 9 months, it was definitely a nice day trip. :]

Check out this awesome pig! Reminded me of Bacon Bit! :D

À bientôt!

1. Come on Périgueux, it's 2012!!!
2. What?? Aren't museums supposed to be free for students?!!