Novotel Tours Sud

... a ltr bottloe of Vin rouge and a bottle of water. Not only excellent value but terrific quality and service. The atmosphere was friendly and relaxed and it was difficult to tell we were foreigners abroad.<br><br>Well fed and watered we got tucked for the night ready for an early morning START!!....

... Adrienne and Jerry haven't changed" They took Linda and Rachel to Versailles and we were on our way to Rocamadour. It was sad to part from L and R, but we're very grateful for our vacation together.<br><br>It was amazing how gracious Sylvie and Jean Mi were. We are so glad we were able to hook up with them, it was certainly a highlight of the trip so far and maybe we'll be able to visit them again in the future.<br><br>

... next destination, Amboise, a small village in the Loire valley. We passed through some beautiful countryside, firstly fields of crops, as you would probably imagine French countryside to look. Then we drove along the Loire River, surrounded by small forests on one side and river on the other &#8211; truly picture postcard beautiful.<br><br>We reached our lovely hotel to discover half of it has been built in to a cave in the hill behind it. I suspect that is where the wine is ...

... for a bit (got 2 weeks left on it, but might be able to get more) but once that's up we're gonna have to come back home :- ( Didn't say anything before cos we still didn't know what was going on, but obviously I'll let you know as soon as we get more info.<br><br>I'll fill you in on the actual places we've been later - Jack'll be wondering where his croissants have got too!<br>xx

Once again I was away by 07:30 in a heavy fog that caused me to be grateful for the excellent lights on my bicycle. I shunned the scenic route - nothing to see! - and took a direct route that left the GPS totally confused as it tracked my progress across a completely blank screen: a new road had opened recently so was unknown to the software. But I trusted my map and guidance from a young man waiting at a bus stop and pushed on, with a brand new motorway to my right. (Drivers of ...

... to blend modern with old town centre architecture, most notably its impressive clock tower. My hotel for the night was equally unremarkable yet provided an amazingly comfortable bed. That evening I strolled through a very quiet town centre and ate in the trendy 'Market Pub' (While the UK long ago borrowed the terms 'bistro' and 'brasserie' the term 'pub' seems to be a recent trend in France). DISTANCE FOR THE DAY: 100 km TOTAL SO FAR: 376 km

... that got turned into city hall. Then we decided to grab lunch at a great little place called "KT Self" with delicious French food (the guidebook said, "The way your Grandma would make it if she were french") served cafeteria style. I was feeling a bit better with the walking and i figured it would be best to put a little something on my stomach, so I ate. Unfortunately, that made me feel much, much worse. Meanwhile, back on tour, we drove ...

... I are not going to the optional dinner, we have the evening free. We thought about taking the train to the city center of Tours, but after reading about what there is to see, we decided not to so now we have the evening to chill out in the hotel room. Tours is mainly a city to have as a base when touring the nearby castles. A few things I've learned about the French: 1) Rather ...

... you the servants quarters and the kitchens. In the afternoon we walked around the beautiful landscaped gardens of which there was one for the wife and one for the mistress (the bigger being the mistresses!) and had lunch by the river. We also visited a 16th century farm in the grounds as well as doing a fun but easy maze. We also discovered the fancy toilets which had revolving seats which washed themselves with drips of water as they spun ...

... boarded our retarded (late in Italian) train bound for Rome. Upon arriving, we were faced with finding a place to stay which was difficult as it was a Friday night. We looked for a place and argued with about a dozen Italians before finally being approached by a hostel runner who offered us a reasonable price. At that time, we did not know the name of the hostel, which resulted in a near panic response when the sign on the door read "Gay's Paradise Hostel." Apparently this is ...