PARIS to TOURS

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PARIS to TOURS - 2nd May 2007 (Tuesday 25º Sunny)

Last day in Paris.

We walk along Ave de Gobelins to Place d’Italie and find the Hertz Rental Car Office. We have booked a car in order to drive all over France in any direction we wish for the next three weeks.

I am not sure how the rental clerk confused Red Ferrari with Silver Blue Ford Focus, but the latter is what we got. We spent some time familiarising ourselves with the controls, but even so, I spent the next three weeks turning on the wipers every time I needed to use the indicators. Apart from the steering wheel being on the wrong side I also have to deal with changing gears with my right hand as this is a 5-speed manual gearbox.

So as to avoid driving us down busy thoroughfares on the wrong side of the road I developed a little saying to remind me what to do when I reach an intersection. I say to myself………..”When turning right keep it tight” (In other words stay close to the kerb when turning right)………..”When turning left keep it loose” (In other words stay wide when turning left).

These weird little memory joggers might appear to some to be a sign of early dementia but they saved our bacon on a few occasions as the human brain (when left to its own devices) always wants to revert back to the system it knows best (i.e. left hand side of the road) which is not recommended in France or Europe.

So we kick over the Focus and gingerly nose out into stream of Citroens and Renaults who all seem to know where they are going. We drive around the block to get a feel for the power of the beast and then casually launch ourselves into the first of 1,000 roundabouts that we will encounter in the weeks to come.

It is at this point in my rantings that I must pay credit to the navigation skills of my significant other. Using a nearly blank page printed out from Mappy or Google, Deb is able to easily extract us from a mire of ring roads, fly overs, no left turns and freeways and gently put us down on the right road out of Paris and into the countryside. This is no fluke as she is about to guide us around over 5,000 of French Countryside with nary a wrong turn - and all of this using a map that could have been cut from an Atlas of the World - so she had very little detail to work with.

We plough down the expressway and gradually leave the dreary outer suburbs of Paris behind. Slowly the typical countryside shows itself and it gets more attractive as it becomes less populated.

At first opportunity we jump off the Auto-Strada and onto a much more sedate provincial road. This leads us to a picturesque place on the Loire River called Chateaudun. It is here that you can hire kayaks and paddle downstream into some beautiful grottos and caves. We were watching people take the kayak tour on a Travel Show just before we left Australia; so accidentally stumbling on this place was a tad surreal.

After driving through approximately 300 kilometres of finely cultivated farmland we find ourselves in Tours*. We are busting for a toilet and after parking the car we walk (briskly) the three kilometres to the Tourist Information Centre. By the time we arrive there we can’t talk and give the universal signal for full bladder (crossed legs and eyes). The friendly staff tell us that there aren’t any toilets at the Tourist Information Centre (surprise, surprise) and direct us to the Railway Station across the street.

Five anxious minutes later we are desperately searching the cavernous Gare de Tours for the toilets and guess what? When we do find them……………they are closed!!!!

By this time I am wild eyed and making sloshing noises. Deb has paled and has beads of sweat on her forehead. We find a cafeteria, brush past the waiters and charge through to the toilets - sighs are heard all round.

Back to the Tourist Information Centre, with a decidedly more relaxed demeanour. We chose a Hotel from a brochure and learn a valuable lesson. Never chose a Hotel based on 30 year old pictures of the Foyer or Rooms - always go to the Hotel and check it out in person.

You would think that 115 Euros per night (that’s nearly $200 in our money) would get you a decent room. Well the Hotel Turone dramatically altered my concept of value for money and it will never be the same. The Foyer had a tired aspect that didn’t show up in the brochure based photos and it had a vague smell of cooking cabbage. The rooms were sparse. I have never been to a Gulag before but after staying at the Turone I have new respect for the Salt Mines.

We take a walk and check out some other accommodation options. The Best Western looks like a good place and we book in for the following evening. This assumes we can escape the Gulag.

Dinner is at an Italian Restaurant (La Tosca 19 Place Foire-le-Roi, Tours ) with Veal Marsala and Risotto accompanied by the compulsory bottle of Chinon Rouge. It is very good service, food and wine.

Across the square we can hear the French cheering a football (soccer) game. They do not have a side in this contest but are cheering for Milan (Italy) as they don’t want the English (Manchester United) to win. AC Milan win 3-0 which takes their aggregate to 5-3 and so they go through to the UEFA Cup Final. The French are happy that the Italians won - go figure.

Back to the Turone and you will be pleased to know that the room looks much better when the lights are out.

*Tours is the capital city of the Indre-et-Loire département, on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the perfection of its local spoken French, and for the famous Battle of Tours in 732.

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Photos

Last morning in Paris
I pinched these poppies and pansies out of a garden bed across the street.

Ferrari?
Don't be fooled - this is a Ford Focus dressed up to look like a Ferrari. Note Navigator draped on hood!

Chateaudun
Quaint little Village on the River Loire about 2 hours SE of Paris.

Tours
One of many pretty parks in the centre of Tours. Too bad they don't have public toilets!