Living in Angouleme
Jul 21st, 2005, 10:24 AM
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Living in Angouleme
I'm 22, from Boston, and was just accepted to a teaching post in Angouleme for 9 months. I'm curious about the city and what to expect. Any suggestions about the culture of the city and the social scene would be appreciated. What affect does the cartoon festival have on the culture of the town? Where would be a nice area to look for an apartment accessible to 21 Rue d Iena 16017 Angouleme Cedex?
Jul 21st, 2005, 11:23 AM
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Congratulations!
I was in Angoulême though only for 1 night the last Sunday in November. I first liked the looks of the town perched upon its hill when I went through on a train the previous year. That's why I planned a stopover for November's trip. Here's a link to my trip report. The Angoulême section is about a quarter of the way into the thread.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34546163
The town was completely dominated by the food festival that weekend. It was a lot of fun. As the festival is an annual event you may want to have friends and family visit that weekend. The couple of small museums in town were closed so I didn't bother to try the comic strip museum. I think it's on the north edge of town. There's a comic strip festival too which should be interesting. One of the two festivals has an antique automobile race around the city's ramparts. I don't remember which one.
The main road out of the train station was being heavily reworked when I was there. Lots of pavers and new tree plantings were being put in place. That should all be done now.
The location is very nice. You'll have access to TGV trains running between Paris (2.5 hours) and Bordeaux (1 hour) making either an easy weekend destination. Buy prems fares ahead of time and watch for last minute deals on www.voyages-sncf.com to keep costs down.
La Rochelle, Poitiers, Saintes, Cognac and the Loire Valley are all easily reached by train too.
I don't have any social life or housing information. Just to warn you there probably won't be much advice about Angouleme here. You've picked a pretty obscure part of France to ask about.
I was in Angoulême though only for 1 night the last Sunday in November. I first liked the looks of the town perched upon its hill when I went through on a train the previous year. That's why I planned a stopover for November's trip. Here's a link to my trip report. The Angoulême section is about a quarter of the way into the thread.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34546163
The town was completely dominated by the food festival that weekend. It was a lot of fun. As the festival is an annual event you may want to have friends and family visit that weekend. The couple of small museums in town were closed so I didn't bother to try the comic strip museum. I think it's on the north edge of town. There's a comic strip festival too which should be interesting. One of the two festivals has an antique automobile race around the city's ramparts. I don't remember which one.
The main road out of the train station was being heavily reworked when I was there. Lots of pavers and new tree plantings were being put in place. That should all be done now.
The location is very nice. You'll have access to TGV trains running between Paris (2.5 hours) and Bordeaux (1 hour) making either an easy weekend destination. Buy prems fares ahead of time and watch for last minute deals on www.voyages-sncf.com to keep costs down.
La Rochelle, Poitiers, Saintes, Cognac and the Loire Valley are all easily reached by train too.
I don't have any social life or housing information. Just to warn you there probably won't be much advice about Angouleme here. You've picked a pretty obscure part of France to ask about.
Jul 22nd, 2005, 10:35 PM
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I think you will become addicted to Angoleme, but I advise you try to stay on top of the plateau rather than down below where the railroad station is. We were only there for two days, but ran all over (OK, we walked) and found that the part near the central market is the best, oldest, most charming, with a great street life for a 22 year old across from the market each night, with live music most nights. The upper part further downslope (as opposed to right down the cliff where the train is) is mostly middle eastern and less well kept. I'm curious, what have you been hired to teach, and at what level? I think you will also enjoy the people who do the cartooning as they are young and creative. If you love history, you will also love the entire area. Do you speak French?
