The Loire River Valley

September 7, 2008, the ninth day—This morning we left Tours for Limoges by way of the Loire River Valley, which is really not on the way. What a surprise! I always imagined the Loire to be mighty; however, today we drove along a shallow, serene river that is reminiscent of the Shenandoah River in VA. The road took us through farmland and little villages. We didn't stop at any of the chateaus—we just enjoyed the scenic ride. At one bend in the road, we happened upon an aqueduct that stretched across the fields as far as we could see. This was exciting—I remember building an aqueduct in Latin class in 9th grade and had only seen pictures of them. Once we got to Orleans, we headed south. We stopped at a little village “faire” and walked around for a few minutes. It was basically a big yard sale—lots of old dishes and bicycles and such; however, every little booth was decorated with cut flowers and greenery hanging from the canopies.

Today as we moved out of the lovely farmlands, we moved into the central mountains in France and got up into spruce forests. What a treat!

What's interesting is that in every city we have been booked in hotels across from or very near the train stations--”la gare”--which means we have to find our way around in the center of large towns on mostly unmarked roads and sometimes at night. We had no idea that these were major cities when we planned this road trip—I guess we thought because they are ancient that they would be small. Not true.

We've made a few more observations. I can't remember if I wrote that since we left Paris we have not had washcloths to use. Also, in every hotel, when you step out of the elevator or into your room, there are no lights. In the hallways, there are motion lights that go on as we go down the hall. Every step we take, a new light comes on. We feel very regal. Robin says it's more like Maxwell Smart! In our rooms, we must put the key card into a slot and that allows minimal lights to come on. We have yet to have a light good enough for reading!

What I enjoy most, I think, is getting reacquainted with the language. I can still hear and see my French professor—many years ago—saying specific phrases and the language is beginning to come back. Tonight we had our first rude server. He approached us speaking speed French. I told him in French that we only spoke French “un peu” (a little), and he threw his arms up in the air and said in French that he didn't speak English. He was also impatient. We have books to help us translate menus; however, these French restaurants make up fancy words on the menus that are not in the book and are probably not even French. I chose my trusty “saumon” (salmon), which I've had four times since we arrived! Good Omega-3. I ordered mint tea and ice cream after dinner and got mint ice cream and regular tea. That wasn't so bad.

Tomorrow it's on to Toulouse—our longest drive.

More pictures later - couldn't get online last night.