Bussing Around

Saturday, July 13, 2024

We would have liked to stay longer in Vitré – it seemed like a really nice town – but we were on our way. We stopped after 90 minutes at a convenient rest area. I found it hilarious that everyone said they didn’t need a snack or anything to eat/drink, yet 90%+ of the people bought snacks and drinks. I found the ultimate beef stick snack – it was suggested we could pass it around on the bus – but I ended up getting nothing. I’d had a nice breakfast, capped off by the best pear I have ever eaten.

As we drove along the Loire River, we were fascinated by the windows and doors and flower boxes on the face of the cliffs. Apparently, this area is filled with troglodytes – people who live in caves. There are a lot of caves from mining and whatever in the past and people have been living in these caves for hundreds of years. We drove for miles and miles glimpses what are apparently homes (and hotels!) built into caves. It was very cool, and I would like to stay there someday.

We arrived in Amboise with a flourish–it has a lovely castle visible from the road. Leonardo da Vinci lived here for his last few years and is buried here. All the signs around called him Leonard. Huh. It was a great town for tourists – tons of cute shops and tasty looking restaurants. There is a thing in this area where they beat the eggs a really long time before making an omelet – making it enormously fluffy. I have found I am not a big fan of super fluffy eggs. We found a sandwich place that offered a sandwich, drink, and dessert of about 10 euro. Done. I had olive bread and a bunch of veggies and prosciutto. It was good, but my shortbread crust, pastry cream, and raspberry dessert was perfect. Keith took a panorama photo of Catherine and me.

Next up was Chenonceau Castle. It was never a royal castle – King Henri II gave it to his mistress, Diane, and fixed it up and made tons of gardens, but when he hit his head hurrying though a doorway (on his way to watch sports) and DIED, his wife, Catherine de Medici, took it. It certainly is beautiful. It was on the line between occupied France and the Vichy government during WWII – doors on one side were free and doors on the other were Nazi filled. The resistance made good use of the building and tricked the Nazis a bunch.

The florist that supplies the castle with flowers every week is France’s most award-winning florist. I enjoyed his work very much.

The castle served as a hospital in both the first and second World Wars. Something that suffered during those occupations was the floors.

We had a guided tour of the rooms on the main floor, which we mostly bedrooms. Huh. Everything looks out over the river and I just kept taking pictures because all the boaters/kayakers seemed to just be having a great time.

The ballroom (6×60 meters!) that goes over the river seemed like a really good multipurpose room. The queen used it as an aviary when she wasn’t partying – she wasn’t the one who needed to transform it for guests, after all.

The kitchens in the basement seemed adequate. There was a butchering room, a baking rooms, a cold room, and I don’t know how many more rooms. They really were set up to have a party.

They had TONS of gardens. So many vegetables and fruits and flowers!

Tonight is Bastille Day Eve! As I am typing this, the fireworks are going and going and going. Since it stays light until 11pm, they didn’t start until just after that. We had another very long dinner – made pleasant by the company – and considered staying downtown another hour to see the fireworks, but there were so many people and morning comes so early, we walked back. Now that the booms are booming, I regret missing out!

Dan, Stacy, Keith, and I went downtown early to see the parade before dinner. We heard organ music as we walked down the steep steps, that were themselves leaning downward. Keith said, “I’m inclined to go this way.” Wait..wait..Stacy said, “Hey. Inclined can mean downhill, too.” We laughed 🙂 then followed the music into the church. The organist was practicing for a concert tomorrow at 5. Maybe we can make it after our concert.

We didn’t linger, because we had to hurry to the parade. We arrived a couple of minutes after 7 and hung out with others from our group. A bunch of musicians trickled in, but nothing happened on the street. We had to leave at 7:25 to get to dinner and nothing had happened yet. Apparently, it started at 7:30.

Our meal tonight was a meatloaf thing for an appetizer – I ate half – and steamed cod on ratatouille for dinner – I ate half! Dessert was an apple dealie with ice cream – I ate it all. We waited a LONG time for dessert to be served. There was some laughing, some singing, and for a while, some glass singing. Sally wet her finger and traced it along the rim of her glass to make it sing. Jenny tried it and she was so excited that she made hers sing too – until Sally stopped and there was no sound and Jenny was just circling her finger. She was looking right at me when it happened and her look of happiness changed to confusion then disappointment in a second. It really made the two of us laugh.

The main downtown steps up the the upper town are decorated for the Olympic times. We were enthusiastic to walk up them … as much as you can be enthusiastic about that.

Keith and I walked through remembrance park on our way back to the hotel. There were over 750 soldiers killed from this small town in WWI. For WWII, there were soldiers, resistance fighters, and concentration camp victims listed separately.