The second weekend will begin early Friday as we depart for our trip to the Dordogne, the gastronomic center of France where rare truffles are harvested by pigs and pâté de foie gras is produced.  (This is a good place to pick up impressive yet reasonably-priced presents for family and friends.)  On the way to the Dordogne, we will stop in Saint-Emillion , home of one of  the most sought-after types of Bordeaux wines. 

Here, we will tour the medieval village and the one-of-a-kind église monolithe, observe a wine presentation, and taste the local specialty macaroon cookies.  If time and traffic permits, we will also stop at the home of sixteenth-century philosopher Michel de Montaigne (one-time mayor of Bordeaux) on the way to our hotel in Marquay.  That evening, we will dine in Sarlat before taking the night tour of the medieval town , the first of France to be renovated in its entirety.  The following morning we will return to Sarlat to experience the old market there before heading on to the Château de Beynac and the Bastide town of Domme, both reminders of the Hundred Years War between France and England in the Middle Ages.  Sunday morning we will visit the only polychrome cave paintings in France that are still open to the public, the Grottes du Font-de-Gaume in Les Eyzies de Tayac, next door to Marquay, before returning in time for dinner with your family in Tours.  These remarkable works of art, over 16.000 years old, are consistently cited as topping the students' "wow list."

This complex of romanesque buildings was financed by Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and is still graced with her sepulchre and those of her husband, King Henry II Plantagenet of England and her son, King Richard the Lionheart (all of whom, incidentally, were residents of Chinon 250 years prior to the arrival of its most famous visitor, Joan of Arc).

Week three will once again include local excursions, to the Château de Chenonceau and the romanesque Eglise Saint Julien in Tours, as well as further discussions of the Princesse de Clèves.

Our final weekend together will once again begin early Friday, in order to arrive at the Mont-Saint-Michel in the late afternoon. 

After checking in to our hotel and making a cursory visit of the Mont itself, we will head off along the Brittany coast to the walled city of Saint-Malo (the home city of many of the colonists of New France in the seventeenth century) to walk its ramparts, stroll its beaches, explore the city, and eat dinner.  The following morning we will venture north into Normandy.  First we will make a brief stop in Caen, the city founded by William the Conqueror and home to the Men's Abbey and Women's Abbey where he and his wife Mathilda are buried, respectively. 

The nearby city of Bayeux is of course home to its famous Tapestry, and after an inspiring and instructive visit of the tapestry itself, we will see the local cathedral where the tapestry was originally displayed on festival days.  (The then-bishop of Bayeux was William's brother, and is even represented in the remarkable artwork.)  Before returning to the Mont-Saint-Michel for dinner, we will make a stop at D-Day memorial at Utah Beach , where thousands of American casualties are commemorated and where the bunkers are still visible.  Sunday we will take a guided tour of the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel in the morning, eat lunch on the island, and set off for home.

Time and weather permitting, we will make a further stop at one of the medieval cities of Dinan or Dinard before arriving back in Tours in time for dinner. Week four at the Institut is a busy time for students to exchange addresses and emails with their classmates from the Americas and Europe.  Our weekly local excursions will take us to the royal Château of Amboise and the Clos Lucé manor, where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years in the service of François I as official artist and military engineer.  Our final free afternoon will be spent at the director's home just outside of Amboise for a wrap-up discussion of the novel and the program and a farewell apéritif.