Wednesday, July 16, 1980
Arrived in Paris
about 06:45 and took the next train to Tours.
Had breakfast of cookies and chocolate. At Tours
we found out there are no tours by bus on Wednesdays to the Loire
valley castles. So we got a train schedule especially for the castles, and looked
at the postcards at the newsstand to pick a convenient one to visit. Decided to
take the 10:28 train to Onzain. There we washed up in the restroom, checked our
bags, and walked across the Loire
River to Chaumont.
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| Loire Valley |
We bought our tickets to the castle and wandered the grounds during the lunch break.
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| Chaumont Castle ticket |
We had our own lunch of tuna fish sandwiches. We have seen a huge (4-inch long, 1-inch wide) slug and several little salamanders. It’s nice and warm with the sun out. It seems to always be freezing on the trains; on the old trains the heat just doesn't work and on the new ones the air conditioning is going full-blast.
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| Poppies |
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| Chaumont Castle |
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| Chaumont Castle (TAT) |
While wandering around the grounds, we found a mutant clover patch, full of 4- and 5-leaf clovers! We picked away, filling up a plastic bag, until a guard with a dog came along and asked to see our tickets.
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| Mutant clover patch |
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| Some 5-leaf clovers |
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| 5-leaf clovers |
Soon we were able to go for the short castle tour, seeing and smelling the musty rooms.
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| Postcard of Chaumont Castle |
Took the
15:53 back to Tours,
where we wandered a bit in the city to buy a big bottle of water. We have always
tried to make sure we have a water supply with us, and it has been our main
beverage. We also got peaches, cheese pies, and Fanta orange soda for dinner
which we ate in the station. Kathy and I went to buy Saran wrap, and found
a big grocery store, so ended up stocking up. We also bought chocolate-filled pastries
for dessert. Shortly before dinner, we had seen a "beggar" on the
streets who had a cardboard sign written out to explain his plight. Back at the
station we covered all the clovers with the Saran wrap, and counted a total of
121 4-leafers and 33 5-leafers! Hoping the luck will carry us through the rest of the trip! We caught the 19:41 to St.
Pierre des Corps, only two minutes away, then a train to Nantes. At Nantes we almost immediately caught the 22:00 2-car train to
Rennes where we
arrived at about 24:00. We joined the snorer in the waiting room to await our 04:35
train to Dol from where we hope to reach Mont St. Michel.
Next: Mont St. Michel.
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