Summary
Took the scenic route west further into the Loire Valley. Rural France at its finest – more beautiful rolling fields, dense forests, and tiny flower-filled villages. Our dawdling put us into Blois for lunch around 2:00 where we had to work hard to find a kitchen still open. On to our final destination of Amboise and what we heard upon check-in is that we’re in the oldest hotel in the city. The location couldn’t be better, right in the perfectly preserved Old Town on the quai of the Loire. Our windows look at the château across a quiet street. Seizing on a break in the rain we went walking only to have it start again at our furthest point. Despite umbrellas and raincoats we were pretty drenched by the time we got back to the hotel. Nothing to do but enjoy a glass of Sancerre in our room before dinner at a nearby crêperie.
Details
We try to observe all of the important holidays: Easter, May Day, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, etc. In that vein, Happy Star Wars Day, May the Fourth be with you!
Here it continues to be cloudy, rainy and foggy. It’s time to move along.
At breakfast the diners at two adjacent tables have struck up a conversation, Brits and Americans. The US contingent asked if the Brits have any plans to celebrate our upcoming 250th. They laugh and say they don’t, and comment on what a young country the US is (dig).
We eat, pack, pay and head out. It’s two plus hours to our next destination: Amboise. We opt for the slower D (departmental) road rather than the faster A (autoroutes, where you pay a toll). Back in OUR day (in the late 1990s) there were also lots of N roads (National). They were free and frequently paralleled the autoroutes (for cheap skates, or for when an autoroute had to be shut down). Most N roads have since been demoted to D routes.
One thing that strikes us as we drive is how pretty it is. It’s not like we’re in Sancerre and it’s pretty, and then it’s shabby or industrial as we cross over to pretty Amboise, it’s all pretty good looking.
We see various kinds of trees, many natural but often planted in widely spaced rows and columns. Often we can see where the trees have been culled or taken down close to the road. The resulting logs, of varying diameter, are all stacked neatly into long, tall walls of wood.
At one point we come up to a temporary stop light. Traffic is down to a single lane and we’re stopped to give the oncoming traffic a turn. Our lane is blocked by an enormous grinding machine. A huge arm picks up a log (or three) and drags them to a big opening where a chain conveyor belt pulls the wood into a humongous chipper/shredder. The shreds are ejected, most forcefully, into a long, open top 18 wheeler. Such ingenuity and industry!
Around two we’re getting peckish. We drive into the biggish town of Blois and park. We find a number of places obviously open with people eating and menus that interest us. “Table for two for lunch?”, we inquire. Ah, non, we’re closed til dinner. Three tries, three “non’s”. We end up in a dingy kebab spot which is fine. It’s a kebab place. We were happy for the food and the owner is happy to have any customers at all.
30 minutes further along we’re in Amboise and we are parking down by the Loire. Across the street is our hotel and behind that is the king’s castle (The Chateau). This will do nicely.
A beer? Yes the hotel has a very nice looking bar, alas they’re looking for a bartender, so for now the bar is closed.
Stuff dropped, we head out to explore with all our rain gear on or in hand. It is barely raining but could restart any time. And… there it goes. We’ve made it a good kilometer or so from our hotel and it’s really coming down. I left my umbrella many cities back and so have just my vented hat and raincoat. The coat keeps the rain off my upper torso and funnels it directly down to my pants (and insides of my pockets). It’s miserable. Thankfully we have a costume change for dinner.
I buy a very cheap umbrella, 10€. The cashier ladies stifle laughs at how miserable I look as they take my money. Hopefully this cheap ‘parapluie’ will survive rest of our trip. For now it’s doing its job.
We eat at a fun crepe restaurant for dinner. Between us we have one bowl of DIY French onion soup (soup with a bowl of grated cheese and a pile of croutons), one savory crepe and one big mozzarella and tomato salad (made with a big yellow tomato). The big couple next to us each has a bowl of soup, a dinner crepe and a dessert crepe. How do they do it??
We also have a carafe (50cl) of good local pink wine. Touraine (we guess from the city of Tours, nearby). I’d never connected the two.
Emerging from dinner it’s no longer raining. There is an accordionist filling the big square with traditional French music. Karen is verklempt, declaring it a genuine “France is wonderful” moment. We do more walking. It’s 9:30 and the streetlights aren’t even on yet. There’s still plenty of light out. We see few people but do come across quite a few possible restaurants for our coming two days. We also get excited at the sight of a clean, well maintained self-serve laundromat. See you tomorrow, we say.
Photos
[Note: The photos are in proper chronological order, yay ]
