Orleans2

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Monday was a day off and time to recover. We spent the morning relaxing at Christine's. Pierre-Louis and Clementine came over for lunch. It was good to meet Pierre-Louis and find out more about the family. He works in his father's packaging business. Clementine works for Xerox selling industrial printers in the Orleans area. They have long lunch breaks but work from early to late. It seems that lunch at Christine's is a regular occurrence.

In the afternoon Dianne went for a long walk around the neighbourhood and I went for a long bike ride along the south back of the Loire. The bike trail runs atop an embankment which passes through farmland, across bridges over small tributaries and on to other towns upstream. On the return I discovered the L'ile Charlemagne (Isle of Charlemagne), which is a recreation park on a large island in the Loire. It is school holidays at the moment and the park was full of families with children, cyclists and runners. There are sail boats to hire and other activities which must be an attraction in the warmer months. In the evening we went back into the old part of town and discovered a great little Morrocan restaurant with a friendly restauranteur who spoke good English. He also had relatives in Sydney.

Christine's other boarders had arrived in the meantime; Laurent and San Cha. Laurent is an engineer from Brittany whose job takes him to Orleans. He is an amateur photographer and breeder of French bulldogs. He showed us his website combining both these hobbies; ie great action shots of dogs! San Cha is an Algerian student studying computer science in Orleans. She is a vivacious and lively person who speaks French, Arabic and English. She hopes to go to Canada after graduation. Laurent has a room in the house and shares our bathroom and San Cha has one of the separate apartments on the property.

Pierre-Louis arrived after dinner with a bundle of documents for his mother to check. They were advertising materials for the business. Christine volunteers to check the French spelling and grammar, complaining that her ex-husband and son have "zero" knowledge of these things. She and San Cha both went thought the pile of papers like teachers marking students' work and sharing good natured jokes about the poor French of the father and son.

On Tuesday we had booked a tour of the nearby chateaux, Chambord and Chevernay. Christine dropped us off in central Orleans and we waited in the square in front of the cathederal for the minivan. We waited and waited. Then the phone rang and Laurent (another Laurent) enquired about our whereabouts. He was the driver well dressed with leather driving gloves and coat; he met us on foot. He lead us to where he had parked. The expected minivan was in fact a very comfortable car and we were the only passengers. In the low season, we discovered, the basic minivan tour which we had booked is not economic so they use the "limousine" of the more expensive private tour! We got a €250 private tour for €39!

Chambord is a stunning chateau complete with Louis XIV's private apartments decorated as you would expect with artworks and period furniture. The large and cold rooms of the old chateau had been modified in later centuries by the addition of false ceilings and walls to make the spaces more comfortable. The stone staircases, balconies and carved towers were a wonder to see. Chervany is on an altogether more human scale, though still impressive. It has been in the same family for 600 years and parts are still the family home. The rest is open to the public and contains art, furniture and the personal history of the family. Apparently, the chateau was the model for the Tin Tin's home in the cartoon. There is a Tin Tin museum on site. The gardens are in the French geometric style and, even in winter, are still beautiful. Wednesday was our travel day to Tours.

Sadly we parted company with Christine, who again dropped us off at the train station. She has been a wonderful host. She has helped organise our travel to La Rochelle on a car share website on which people "sell" the empty seats in their car for long journeys to everyone's advantage. It is much cheaper than train travel. She insists that we call her if we have any problems with our travels and will assist with more car share arrangements in the future. She said she would come up to Paris in June when we are back in that city and will show us around. She has been the best aspect of the trip so far!! We really appreciate the opportunity to get know her and her lovely family. Their generosity has touched us deeply.

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