Campanile Poitiers

... and Jan of my concurrent adventure and a welcome was extended for me to come and help out. It sounded like a nice time, so I figured why not? I shot them an email, I was invited, I shlepped out to Chinon (which is in the middle of nowhere) and here I am 15 kilometers away from Chinon. Thus, I am 15 kilometers from nowhere.
For the past three days I've earned my keep by--guess what?!--painting! Yes ...

We spent our last ten days of travel at the family farmhouse in Coussay, reunited with the French family and introduced to the brand new and shiny swimming pool which was constructed whilst we were away. I managed to try the swimming pool 2 minutes after arriving, and we managed to ...

Moby is running well. We stopped slightly further south than originally intended as we decided to spend Wednesday at Futuroscope. I might be doing (and most probably am) the French a complete disservice by suggesting that some years back, some brainstorming went on as to how to attract tourists to this part of France as this is just the middle of France with not much going on in the way of wine or river setting. Futuroscope was the result.
As you approach on the A10 you catch a ...

... not sure where, he explained it so many different ways I got completely muddled, anyway, he'll drop me and Kaja off and we'll walk the 5km along the river to a small town with a Norman keep which will very nice by all accounts. Then he'll pick us up again and take us home (he has business to attend to in a nearby town, hence offering us the lift).

Anyway, I'll close now and give Kaja her time on the PC.

Take care.
Rxx

Distance covered: 54.6 miles

So a pretty basic day. After a few miles of cycling we climbed up the stairs under an overpass for a nice sheltered spot for lunch (obviously because it was raining... again). Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun came out in a big way (bigger than if Bear Grylls came out).

We cycled a stupid distance as ...

... is packing up a bit so I'm getting a bit freaked out about whether or not I'm going to be able to make all my commitments and rather wishing I'd thought to take a weeks break - I may have done I suppose if I hadn't had the attack of the IHs... Anyway, I'll keep on going as long as I can ignore the pain as I'm damned if I'm letting my knackered old bod stop me doing this.

Back to the story, Amanda is a fantastastic cook and everything meal is a treat with ...

... experience and beautiful drive to my destination. The first small French town I drive through is Naintre. It is very cute and so French ! Then I drive through Chatellerault take some pictures of the beautiful architecture. Châtellerault is a commune in the Vienne département, in the Poitou-Charentes région of France. It is located north of Poitou in Touraine. As I am leaving Châtellerault, I spot a McDonalds! Yeah, food is just what I need. I can actually get a fountain drink ...

... 4pm when the plane arrived in *Poitiers. The small airport was empty except for the passengers. No one anywhere is in site ! After a few minutes, the person for Hertz rental car arrived. Budget and Avis had no one working, they were closed. So can you guess what happens next ? Of course, everyone gets in the Hertz line, I was probably about number 25 in that line ! Finally after about an hour, someone came and opened the Avis Car Rental location. No one ...

... Or, bien sûr, avec ma chance, il fallait bien que le prof demande à tous les étudiants de se présenter dans le cours. Je n'étais pas inscrit, donc il a fallu que je leur explique ma situation et, bien sûr, peu d'entre eux comprenaient mon accent, y compris le prof lui-même. J'avais envie de reprendre les mots de ma très chère tante Shirley "Prend une paye pis sors!". Mais bon. Suite au cours, y'a un gars dans le cours qui a eu la gentillesse de m'expliquer les horaires et ...

... and pleasant atmosphere about the city. I actually just came back from a walk at the Blossac park, which is located on the top of a hill at about a 25 minutes walk from here. First reaction: I need a lighter jacket. This really isn't the canadian winters I'm used to, my coat is much too warm. The park itself was quite charming. There was a cage with goats and the view of the city was breathtaking. Don't forget to check out the pictures attached to this blog entry. :)