Tuesday, November 14th, 2000 Blois, France
Up before 7 am and on the local roads by 8. We arrived at Le Mans just before 10 am. Weather was overcast all the way there. Drove around a bit and then Jim went into the museum as soon as it opened. I decided to stay in the car and mend the driver’s seat that had started to tear at a seam; only had brown thread and the seat is blue! Oh well! It was only about an inch wide when we got the car last September and it hadn’t gotten any larger until just this past week. Suddenly it was about five inches. Had a rainstorm while Jim was inside the museum, but stopped before he came out. We had some fun driving the course that is on public roads. Filmed some straight-aways and corners. We drove in and out of the infield and found several cars using an area to test their cornering abilities with braces on the cars so that they wouldn’t tip over.
Back on the road by 11:30 and headed south to Angers to see the famous tapestries at Chateau Angers. The place was huge. We walked the wrong way from the parking area and ended up walking all the way around the outside! Very massive Chateau wall. Only a small portion of the buildings inside of the Chateau are still standing. The moat has been turned into a beautiful garden area with photo like designs done with plants and shrubs. We ate lunch in the car and then headed for Chinon about 2:00 pm.
We drove East along the Loire River for miles on our way to Chinon. Reminded us of the Mississippi River. On the way we passed by the Chateau Saumur, among others. That looks like one we’d like to visit on another trip!
Arrived at Chinon about 4 pm. Only had an hour to tour. It was much more than we’d expected after reading the guidebooks. Joan d’Arc was there in 1429 when she spotted the Dauphin who was hiding and convinced him to give her an army to fight for his crown. There is a photo of a fireplace in the slideshow that has a plaque stating that they were standing next to this fireplace when the historic event took place. It was Charles VII. Also, Henry II died there and Richard the Lionhearted died in the town. We left without seeing the old village; which is worth a return visit to see. We left the hiking stick from Germany in the park at Chinon. Seemed appropriate since we don’t have space to take it home.
Arrived back in Blois, took the auto-route for a faster trip, about 6:30 pm. Freshened up and walk to the Italian Restaurant called Le Duc de Guise. Excellent pizza! The Kie wasn’t as good as we’d had in Burgandy area. But a very nice dinner and then we walked about the town for half and hour looking for different restaurants that were recommended in several of our guidebooks. Spent the rest of the evening watching a French dubbed movie with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts while I split up the France Photo Album for better management in the computer.
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