Day 3: To Market We Shall Go!

Today began as a cold, rainy morning. But, our spirits are not dampened and we're loving our time here. Once we had all gathered at the high school, our French host brothers and sisters went to class and we headed off for our welcome meeting with the Mayor-ess of Montdidier. The students walked with Mme Dangreville while Madame Worster drove Madame Robillard over to the town hall.

The mayor, Madame Christine Le Tyrant, has been mayor of Montdidier since 2001 and she was recently re-elected for another term. She is very gregarious, very proud of Montdidier, and always happy to share the town hall and a bit of her French perspective with students. She offered us sweet bread and beverages, asked us about the tornado devastation in our town, and helped to put the students at ease right away. In this picture (above) we are all gathered in the great meeting hall upstairs at the Hôtel de Ville (town hall) with the mayor in the center and Madame Dangreville kneeling in front. This is the room where city council meetings still take place.

            

The most beautiful aspect of the Hôtel de Ville, which was rebuilt in 1936 after having been destroyed in World War I is the Art Deco style on display. This statue of a woman (on the left here) is the "Marianne", a symbol of the French nation that can be found in every government office in France. You may notice she is wearing the cap of a French Revolutionary.


A nice employee of the Hôtel de Ville agreed to let us walk up a very steep series of stairs to the belfry tower so we could have a panoramic view of the town.

Here is Riley on the stairs. It was pretty scary!

And here is the view of Montdidier from the belfry.

These are just a few of the stairs we had to negotatiate.

Katie is standing with the oak carving of a character called "Jean Duquesne", which used to sit at the top of the Hôtel de Ville, before it was destroyed.

After the visit at the town hall, we had an hour of free time in the center of Montdidier where there are lovely shops, delicious pastries and sweets, and today was market day, so we could wander and enjoy the open-air market (especially since the rain had subsided0.

 

Jacob got to meet a Vietnamese food seller in the market!

This wonderful artisanal cheese maker recognized Madame Robillard from last night's newscast, so of course, she had to buy a round of her favorite cheese, Époisses.

On the walk back to school, we made a stop at the war monument honoring soldiers from Montdidier who died in each of the World Wars, the war in Indochina in the 1950s, and the war in Algeria in the 1960s.

Madame Worster drove Madame Robillard back to school in Madame Dangreville's minivan --- Thank goodness, because it had started to rain!

We spent the afternoon in classes and the evening with our host families.