Day 19 – 14th May
Same routine today, up and on the road by 8am. We visited Limoges, which is renown for its porcelain manufacturing. All the aussies were saying about how expensive it was – had a look and they were right $200 for a small milk jug!!
Back on the road, a long leg till 2pm today before lunch and a toilet stop, everyone is so tired but we all picked up when we got to the Loire Valley where we visited the Palace of Chenonceau, a privately owned chateaux built in the 1700’s. It was HUGE and beautifully preserved. The gardens were something else again, all manicured and symmetrical. Wandered around in the many, many rooms for a couple of hours then back on the bus for only 1 hour this time to the city of Tours.
This is a central city holiday Inn so will be good for those of us not going out on the optional dinner tonight. The kiwis and aussies are uniting for a pizza somewhere!! Great thing is we don’t have to wait until 8pm for dinner so we are all planning an early night to catch up a bit on sleep. The TD said the French always eat late in the evening but have a siesta between 1 and 3pm. There aren’t too many tours that offer 2 or 3 night stays in the same place, but we would look out for this next time as it allows you to relax a bit more.
Everyone is starting to leave things behind cos we are all rushing to get out each day – I left a necklace on the bedside table 2 nights ago and it must have fallen off between the wall and the bed. Faxed the hotel, but they say they cant find it. Claire from Oz forgot 2 bottles of wine last night from her room, so we are all losing things we wont get back – have to be more careful! There is no room for leaving anything at all out of your suitcase at any time on tour I think – lesson learned the hard way!
Temperatures have plummeted from 36 C yesterday in La Roque-Gageau, to 13C today in the Loire valley. Carine said the temp is much cooler in the north of France, but an amazing difference in one day! We had rain and wind today but cant complain really as we have had it sweet most of the time.
Went to dinner in town, walked around with Claire and Grace and went to a pizzeria. Had a great meal with heaps of laughing and a couple of huge beers! Was one of the best meals of the tour as the company was comfortable and we all have the same sense of humour (poor restaurant )!!
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