15 May - Loire Valley Two (Day 117)

Today was the actual start of the tour to the castles. We had to meet the minibus driver outside the Tourism Office. The driver was a friendly English speaking guy and after a brief introduction, we boarded the bus. Each minibus supposed to have 8 passengers but for the morning trip, there were just 3; us, and a professor-looking French. Our first destination was Villandry which is famous for the gardens around it. On the way, the driver would explain and give some intro of the castle in English and French. When we reached there, he would bring us to buy the tickets and told us to meet him outside one hour later. I find it awkward with the French around because we couldn’t communicate. Luckily, we walked separate ways inside the castle.

All the castles that we were going to see belonged to the Italian Renaissance period, which means 15C to 17C. Thereafter would be the Classical period. Personally, I prefer those medieval castles back in Brittany. All these castles in the Loire Valley didn’t seem to have any defensive purposes. They were like huge mansions for the kings. The interior were well furnished, completely different from those I had seen in Brittany. The dining room, the bedroom, the study room, etc. all were re-made and decorated. I could really feel the luxurious lifestyle of the royalties who used to stay here. As I had mentioned, Villandry is really renowned in the Valley for its gardens. There were ornamental gardens, herb gardens and kitchen gardens. However, we didn’t have time to really explore the gardens fully. But that was alright because the gardens were only beautiful when you take an aerial picture of it. When you are inside the gardens, it is hard to take nice pic because the patterns created by the flowers and plants could not be seen.
Our next stop was Azay Le Rideau. A very small castle. There wasn’t much inside the castle but its exterior view was very beautiful because the moat had been filled with water. It was as if the castle was built on water and with its reflection inside the water and the field around it, I felt like I was in paradise. In fact, all these castles look a lot like those Disneyland castles; well-furnished but looked fake. The driver was quite professional because not only did he know about the castles he was bringing us to, he also knew about other historical events. I asked him in which town did the Jean of Arc meet the Dauphin and he said it was in Chinon. Then I asked if the Battle of Orleans was her first won battle against the English and he gave me the date exactly. But I had forgotten it.

After the visit at Azay, we headed back to Tours for lunch. In the afternoon, it would be another driver bringing us to Cheverny and Chambord. For lunch, hui recommended me a food called kebab. It is sold everywhere here and I have seen it quite often but didn’t know the name. A large chunk of meat enveloping a metal pole which keeps rotating. This shop that we went to was opened by an Indian family I guess. An Indian youth was serving at the counter and since he came from India, he spoke English rather well. It was a very small shop and besides the 2 of us, there was another American couple. After the lunch (which was very delicious and I would try to find out if there is one in SG), we paid at the counter and I asked the Indian youth since when he was here. He said he came from Bombay 5 years ago and ever since then, his English had deteriorated a lot.

We went back to the Tourism Office and this new driver was a short and bald old chap who was full of energy. There were 2 more Italians and another American woman on the bus. We were also going to Amboise to pick up a Swiss couple. Hence, the bus was really full of international passengers. But I guess only hui and I couldn’t understand French. I chatted a bit with the American woman. Her name was Kati and she was in Tours to study French. Her actual course of study was musicology which was the study of music history. I was immediately attracted to her not because she was chio (she wasn’t) but I was curious about her study. However, I had no knowledge in this field and hence didn’t dare to venture further in our conversation. Furthermore, I felt a bit uncomfortable to make conscious effort of speaking perfect English. When speaking to other French, I did sometimes relaxed a bit and spoke simple English. Kati was friendly but not overwhelmingly friendly. She talked to me only when I initiated the conversation. Else, she would just sit quietly there enjoying the scenery outside the window.

The driver said he had been to SG before as a driver. There was some sort of international conference or something like that and he was there for 2 days to drive VIPs around. What a small world again. He was really a jovial fellow. Our first castle was Cheverny. According to the driver, this castle although do not belong to the Italian Renaissance period was included in the excursion because it is very famous. It belongs to the Classical period and has very clean cuttings. It is also famous for its connection with Tintin. The house of the Captain in the comic was drawn liked this castle; less the 2 towers at the sides. As such, there was an exhibition on Tintin beside the castle. And inside the souvenir shop, there were all sorts of thing related to Tintin and I saw a lot of the comic on sale. I used to read them when I was in pri. school and it brought some sense of nostalgia. I wonder where I can buy these comics in SG. I didn’t buy any souvenir on Tintin because we would be going to Belgium which is the origin country of the comic.

Cheverny was packed with tourists like us and it kind of spoilt my mood. I didn’t have mood to take pictures and had to say “excuse me” all the time. If I was feeling irritated by the crowd, Kati was pissed. When we were back in the minibus, I said to Kati that it was quite crowded in there. She rolled her eyes up and said, “yeah, too much crowd.” Our next stop was Chambord, the largest castle in the Loire Valley. Its design is one of the weirdest I have seen. The towers were like jutting out haphazardly from the main building. It gave me a first impression of being crude and ugly. Not like the elegant castles I had seen previously. I asked the driver would we be allowed more time for this castle since it is so huge. He said yes but also said that the castle is quite empty. When we enter the castle, it was indeed quite empty. The most fascinating thing about the castle should be the double-turn spiral staircase designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. The pamphlet said that when one is descending the stairs and another ascending it, they should not see each other. I couldn’t figure out how it works.

After visiting this rather boring castle, it was time to go back to Tours. Almost everyone was tired because we all fell asleep on the way back except for Kati. I woke up in the middle of the ride because it suddenly rained heavily. Kati was still looking out of the window deep in thoughts. I guess that is the kind of behaviour from an art student. Aloof and see the world differently as normal people. The fact that she was willing to come alone for the excursion showed something about her personality. She is a loner; just like me. Back in Tours, the rain had stopped and we went back to our hotel for awhile. I wanted very much to eat at the creperie which we saw near the Cathedral yesterday. I wanted to treat hui and also introduce to him the specialty of Brittany. However, that creperie was closed, as expected because it was a Sunday.

I was really disappointed and didn’t want to give up. Luckily, we found another creperie which had a sign: English-speaking. Must be fate. There were another table with a British couple there. Having eaten a complete set of crepes before, I did all the ordering. We had a simple crepe to start off with, followed by a more complicated one. Learning from Anatole, for each type of crepe, I would order 2 different kinds and share so that we would have more variety. For the complicated one, I ordered a crepe with nothing but cheese (blue cheese also) and another with salmon. There were many other ingredients which I don’t know but that’s ok. For dessert crepe, we had chocolate and apple ones. The apple crepe was extremely tasty because the filling would just ooze out as you bite the crepe. Wah, it was perfect. On top of that, I ordered a jug of cidar of course to go with the crepes. But this cidar had a much milder alcoholic content than the one I had in Rennes. The atmosphere of the restaurant was fantastic. This restaurant seemed to be family-owned and the atmosphere was very cosy and warm. A contrast to the cold and rainy weather outside. It was the ambience that really made me like the restaurant so much.

Throughout the dinner, we talked about a lot of things but mainly on our individual personality and character. Although we had known each other for quite some time, we hadn’t really talked much besides schoolwork. What we talked about, I shall not disclose here in my blog. For hui, it wouldn’t harm taking up some of the advices that I offered to you that night. I am sure you will benefit from them. Frankly speaking, I am not someone who would open up and talked about my feelings and personality but that night, I did; a little bit. I feel that perhaps I have indeed changed and become less reserved when talking about matters concerning the heart. Hope such change would help me find the love of my life soon. Before we left the restaurant, as part of the culture here, I chatted a bit with the boss and commented that his food was super.

Hui didn’t allow me to treat him and insisted on paying me back. I really thought it was alright for me to treat him because I would be getting something like 300 euros extra in June for nothing. I worked till 17th June (or even earlier) but IRISA is paying me until 30th June. Anyway, we went back to hotel and watched TV again. 2 shows caught my attention. One was about Black Hole on BBC World with Kevin Costner as the host. Another was a discussion about the EU Constitution and why the French are against it. Soon I was feeling very tired and went to sleep. Hui was snoring again but I only had to bear with it for a while because I fell asleep very soon.