June 10, 2025
When we arrived to Angers late last night, the boys were thrilled to find a cupboard filled with puzzles and board games and begged us to play with them. We promised to play a round with them the next day and this morning we kept our word. Their choice was a board game where bunnies race up a hill to claim a big carrot at the top— similar to Candyland. The only difference being the players could select a “carrot” card which spun the carrot and had the potential to boot bunnies off the hill or launch then off a drawbridge. The boys especially loved the sabotage aspect of the game and we all played while loading up on toast and coffee to fuel a day of exploring.
I had the idea of getting PokemonGo to play with the boys on our phones a few weeks ago. I didn’t really know anything about the game other than you had to actually walk around places to find the Pokemon. Since this stretch of France is mostly castles and art, I figured we may need a little extra motivation to get the boys to walk around and see historical sights. Of course, the game was a massive hit on day one and the boys are completely obsessed. There were stretches during the day when the four of us would be huddled over 2 phones on a sidewalk picking up pokemon or battling these mysterious teams I don’t yet fully understand. The boys have also taken to incessantly asking for our phones which is an unfortunate and annoying side effect.
Our first stop was up the hill a bit to Boulangerie Corneille– a baguette, 2 croissants, clafoutis aux cerises, 2 chouquettes was just 7 Euro and we were all pleased with our treats. Unlike the States, most bakeries do not also serve coffee, so we then went in search of a proper coffee shop. Kyle and I were thrilled to find one that had cold brew! It was served in a small paper cup with one ice cube and no lid, but we were still quite happy.
Next, we went to an impressive playground at the base of old Angers and tucked against an ivy covered wall. We weren’t there long before a rugby toss game led to a humongous (9.5 out of 10) meltdown. This one took some time to recover from, but thankfully we were able to turn it around and continue exploring the town.
We then ventured back up the hill to check out the castle (Château d'Angers).
“The Château d'Angers has been established since the 13th century, medieval period, on the rocky promontory overlooking the Maine, its imposing walls and 17 defensive towers make it the emblem of the city. The Château d'Angers houses a treasure: The Apocalypse Tapestry commissioned by Louis I of Anjou around 1375. At some 103 meters long, 4.5 meters high on average and with 75 scenes, it is the largest collection of medieval tapestries in the world!”
The boys mostly enjoyed walking around the grounds of the castle and had lots of questions when we arrived at the dungeon. We made our way to check out the Apocalypse Tapestry which Kyle and I didn’t know was here but felt important to check out as it is a Unesco Heritage site. Seeing the tapestry is definitely the thing I would have hated as a kid, but Kyle and I enjoyed walking along the huge tapestry trying to imagine what the crazy story was and Ollie shared a few theories too. Len actually explained what an apocolypse was to Ollie, “You know, like Zoopocolypse!!” Zoopocolypse was the movie we saw in Cape Town on Oliver’s 7th birthday.
For lunch, we walked to a charming creperie nearby. Thw boys were pleasantly surprised that the “crepe enfants” was a crepe covered in sugar, whipped cream AND gummy candies. We figured/hoped there would have at least been one fruit on the plate. Kyle and I had buckwheat galettes; his filled with a sausage with mustard and mine with 3 types of soft cheese and tomatoes. There were also a few rounds of Uno and cider served in earthenware mugs.
We then walked back towards the Maine River to cross one of the bridges to check out the other side of town. We lured the boys with the prospect of finding “water type Pokemon” by the river. I wasn’t fully sure what that meant but the lure was well timed to combat post-lunch whines. We threw the rugby ball back and forth for a bit while walking along the river, too.
We stopped back at the apartment briefly to drop off a few groceries before heading out again in search of a carousel. Sadly, the carousel is a holiday attraction and Len was pretty bummed when we showed up in the square and it was nowhere to be seen. We turned it around by walking a bit more, playing a bit more PokemonGo and then having snacks and drinks outside at a pub.
Later on, we ventured out for dinner and stopped at one of the closest restaurants to our house to ward off evening grumpiness. While playing Uno at dinner, on a green card, Ollie lays down a 4+ and says slyly, “Its still green” to stick it to me after a few rounds of last place performances. The kids killed time by sprinting back and forth across the path between rows of restaurants. They were desperate to play PokemonGo at the table, but I convinced Kyle that we have to save the game for the most vital of bribes and not to sit through the rest of tonight’s dinner. This decision brought Ollie to tears.
While the sun set (close to 10pm!) , we had grocery store ice cream pops on some steps across the narrow street from our apartment. We learned the steps were part of Montée Saint-Maurice , a huge famous church with a giant crucified Jesus facing our windows. We all played a few more rounds of PokemonGo and happily ate ice cream pops to end the day.
