We started our day today by getting to sleep in little bit as we didn’t have to arrive at school until 10 am. When we got to St. Ursules, we were ushered into the sports classroom so we could be taught different dances from the French Renaissance time period. We started off by standing in two concentric circles, alternating boy, girl, boy, etc. Throughout the hour and a half lesson we learned a Renaissance dance and the way that they walked. We also learned that not much is known about the daily life of the french during that time period except for the dances. When we were finished with the dancing, we ate lunch either in the school cafeteria or off campus at one of the many restaurants in central Tours. We had plenty of time for lunch, so some people started a game of basketball with a few older french students while we waited for the next activity. When lunch was over we took a quick tour of the Tours Cathedral before heading to the Musée de Beaux Arts (Fine Arts Museum). While we were there we had an hour tour with a very lively tour guide. We analyzed many paintings and learned that there are generally 4 types of paintings: religious, portraits, landscape, and still life. When our tour was over we walked around the rest of the museum for a few minutes before leaving with our exchange student’s. After we left, a few people decided to stop at Starbucks for tea and coffee and then head to some of the shops in downtown Tours. We went to several shops and stopped at a briocherie next to the train station. After that we all headed back to our houses for dinner.
While I can’t say that French Renaissance dancing is on my bucket list, I am impressed that it is a thing still being done. This day sounds very elegant from start to finish.