Saturday 12th September leaving Paris

Saturday 12 September

Leaving Paris – arriving Chinon

With some tristesse, we left our lovely Montmartre apartment and headed to Montparnasse Station to take the train to Chartres. At Chartres we picked up the hire car, luckily arriving just a few moments before lunchtime. Had we been any later we would have had a two hour wait in the Chartres industrial estate area for it to reopen. After much negotiation we bravely headed off, Michael at the wheel. Left hand drive, manual car, SatNav yet to be activated and converted to English – the adventure begins!

First stop was Chartres Cathedral – a most beautiful Gothic cathedral in the centre of town. Incredibly beautiful stained glass windows everywhere, and intricate, ornate carved stone work. It was really dark on entry, but our eyes became accustomed to the gloom, and when we came upon the stained glass with the light streaming through, it was very moving. We ate our Parisian baguettes in the square outside the cathedral and had a coffee. A wedding party arrived and we waited to see the bride – she was Vietnamese and he was French – very multicultural and just like home! (except surrounded by 13th century buildings and streets.
Headed off, with some trepidation, Michael at the wheel, Karol and Dick cross checking map references and Mary programming the SatNav, (AKA very Bossy Betty). However the triangulation of maps, satellite, and road signs got us to our destination, Chinon, in the Loire Valley, south of Tours. Joan of Arc began her campaign from here apparently. There is an ancient chateau on a hill, which we can see from our hotel window.

We checked in at our hotel, at the same time as a mini Tour de France group of cyclists, whose arrival, unfortunately, meant that the hotel had double booked, and one couple had to relocate to a hotel down the road. Michael and Karol graciously offered to do so. We settled into a very brightly decorated room – walls of orange, green, brown with a gorgeous purple brocade bedspread. We met Michael and Karol for dinner in Maison Rouge, a very ancient building, in the centre of the town. We had a moist beautiful meal – we think the next couple of weeks throughout rural France will be full of gastronomic delights, beautiful chateaux and at a more leisurely pace than the last couple of weeks.