Tours - Day 54

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Well, after having a blast in Caen, I wasn't really sure where to go next. I wanted to get down into Southern France, but I also wanted to stop somewhere first. So...that somewhere turned out to be Tours. However, I think the reason for stopping was more the fact that I was able to catch a train from Caen without transiting through Paris.

Anyway, I arrived in Tours, and found it to be a pretty city with a wide parkway running in front of the train station. I quiclly located the hostel on the map and hiked over. When I arrived, it had a sign saying it was closed until 6, so I went to the nearby riverfront to sit and pass the time.

When 6 came, I walked back and checked in. It was relatively cheap, and totally soulless. There were no dorms, only single rooms. Feeling rather bored, I figured I'd use the internet and get caught up on the blogs. Haha, yeah right. It was a kiosk with no access to change the keyboard layout, so I got fed up with it and went out to find some food. The only thing I could find (being a sunday in France), was a small minimarket. I grabbed some frozen burgers, yumm, and took them back to the hostel to nuke.

After eating, I decided to go explore the city a bit at night, and I did find a cool area with lots of restaurants (too late), but I was accosted by beggars three or four times in about half an hour, and I was sick of dealing with it. I didn't feel unsafe, for the most part, but most of these homeless people hang out in groups and they often have several large dogs. They tend to be quite different from the homeless you see in the US.

So, I went back to the hostel and called it a night early. There were hardly any people around, and certainly no one hanging out in the common room. I hate places like that. It makes for pretty crappy travel. Oh well.

The next morning was brilliantly sunny, which improved my mood somewhat. I walked around a bit and went back to the area of restaurants, where I tracked down a decent kebab. Other than that, I just headed over to the train station (dealing with a couple more aggressive beggars on the way over) and waited for the train to La Rochelle.

I don't know if Tours is a lot nicer during the summer season, but I was pretty unimpressed.

Stay tuned for La Rochelle.

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