Arrival

( May 21st )

Paris Airport

Charles de Gaulle is sketch. No question. Honestly, it always feels kinda dirty. But customs rocks. No questions asked! They must know we don’t speak French.  Anyhow…their random bag checks…not cool. I must have seen 4 bags UNZIPPED! With luggage hanging out! Thankfully none of our luggage items were searched!

Rental car

Dear me. Rental cars. So, thankfully the reservations were made, and we got an upgrade to a VW Golf (green car). HOWEVER Hertz had no maps. Who has a car rental agency in an international airport but no maps? Seriously. That was NOT well thought out.  So, thankfully, the car company sharing the area, Eurocar, had maps…which the guy was hesitant to give us. And even then…they didn’t really tell us how to get out of the airport…much less WHICH direction we needed. Thankfully we brought our handy dandy GPS which was a LIFESAVER! (until about 3 hours later…but that’s coming).  Finally after a couple of wrong turns we are on our way.  Due to the fact that there is no one, but myself, who knows how to work the GPS, I am stuck with direction duty. Not fun with Jet-lag. But we make it to Orlean for lunch. Only one problem.  It’s not 12. So. We go like Everywhere…no where is open.  Not to mention we arrive on a holiday (the 6^th Thursday after Easter...the reason why had to rent a car at the airport and drive to Tours and not take a train and then rent a car…what are the odds that we would arrive on that national holiday?) Finally we grab some sandwhichs and eat them in the car. Yes. I ate a sandwhich on a mini baguette…

Back in the car…

As the title says back in the car. We saw some quaint areas! Not to mention a lovely view of a nuclear power plant that was entirely too close to civilization to be safe…

*queue lightning and downpour

By this time we are all wxhausted. And driving in the rain. We have about 45 miles till the next turn so I close my eyes. Then the “are we there yet syndrome sets in.” This will be one of the ongoing occurences throught the trip that tends to lead to an increase in irritation for the next 48 hour period.

“how many more miles till my next turn?” “35.” “What exit?” “Rue de XYZ” “Which one?” “XYZ” “how do you spell that?” “X-Y-Z?” “How many more miles?” “35” “35?” “yes, 35” “then how many more miles until the hotel?” “ let me check…45”

5 minutes later

“How many more miles?” “32” “32? “Really?” I’m sorry what was the  exit?” “XYZ” How is that spelled again? “XYZ.” And you said we had how many more miles till the hotel?” now we have…hang on…41.5”

7 minutes later

“how many more mile?” “26” “On XYZ?” “yup”

4 minutes later

How many miles left?” “22”

10 minutes later

Howmany miles? 15

5 minutes later

How many? 8

5 mins later

how many 3

1 minute later

how many?

2

1 minute later

What comes after the turn?

*repeat

*DISCLAIMER: Please note that it is extremely difficult to navigate in a foreign country, especially when they speak a different language entirely. Add no sleeo and endless roundabouts with one-lane roads and you must marvel at anyone’s ability to arrive anywhere by car! Therefore, please be aware that I am in no way criticizing my father’s driving ability…in fact he has some mad skills maneuvering in different conditions…especially since there was a manual stick shift!

 

So after a couple of hours of driving, we finally arrive to the destination as noted on the GPS. Now GPS are fantastic, we know this. However, they are only as good as those who use them. And well, lets just say that I fall under the category od those who are not that good at using them.  Appanently there is a town that bears the same name as the street on which our hotel is located. So we arrived to the town of Ballan Mire, not the street.  Finally we located the address on the GPS (There was no street number given to us so we had to find the street).  And then after another 20 minutes or so we arrived.

 

The hotel, La Domaine Tartinière, is an old Chateau that is located about 10 kilometers (6 miles)  away from Tours, a major city in the Loire Valley and is situated on 38 acres of land, which apparently leads down to the Indre River.  Tortinière was originally a rustic country manor with 2 turrets. In 1562, the Domaine belonged to Jean Forget de Villedieu, "Sire de La Tortinière", who was mayor of Tours in 1599. In 1638 the Compain family, a family of silk manufacturers, gain ownership of the chateau and keep it until the end of the XVIIth century. (Tours was at that time one of the silk producing cities)(http://www.tortiniere.com/HistoriqueUK.asp). 

"Custom has it that Charles Perrault (1628-1703) was inspired to write "Sleeping Beauty" while wandering in the park, although the Château of Rigny-Ussé is the setting of Sleeping Beauty(http://www.tortiniere.com/HistoriqueUK.asp).

This Château was inspired by Renaissance masterpieces like Azay-le-Rideau, and, at the same time, by the solid construction principles of XIXth century ( http://www.tortiniere.com/HistoriqueUK.asp)

Perhaps the most important historical fact about La Tortinière was the signature of the surrender of the town of Tours to the Germans during the 1870 war in the sitting-room decorated with lemon-tree furniture. During that war, in March 1871, Frederic Charles, who was the nephew of Guillaume Ist, and Frederic III King of Prussia and future Emperor of Germany came through La Tortinière.  ( http://www.tortiniere.com/HistoriqueUK.asp)

 There is a cute little restaurant with very nice waiters and an English version of the menu (WOOT!).  One of the best parts of the restaurant is the Cheese cart. Basically you get to choose all the cheese that you want for 11 Euros.  I took advantage of that. And as a consequence looked rather ridiculous. However, I was still hungry and my curiousity was hungrier.  They were great (although some of the cow cheeses were too strong for my liking…a bit salty and smelly, but not bad.  The local Chevre (goat) cheese was to DIE FOR! It was smooth with just a lite dusting of ash on the rind.  It essentially melted in your mouth.  I accompanied the cheese with a decaf coffee, which was more of a decaf espresso. Wonderful aroma and body, way too little in quantity (especially for the cost).  My Mom got a dessert consisting of some sort of wafer with I think some sort of mousse on it and then an amazing almond milk mousse/foam/fluff. This could be fun to try to duplicate at home.  Froth some eggwhites and then some almond milk, add some gelatine and sugar and let’s see how that goes!