| Once again today we were up early in order to make an early departure. It was at the hotel restaurant here that we had the largest breakfast of the trip. There was food set out in buffet style and we could take all we wanted. Unfortunately this was the one day that I was not as hungry as most other mornings (when I would eat all of my buns as well as any others that people did not want) so I was not able to take full advantage of this breakfast. Some of the many choices were cereal, juice, buns, fruit, milk, and bread spreads. Brad, Shea, Jenny, and Margret etc. took the back of the bus before we got there, so we (Mike, Matt, Victor, Jason, Scott, and myself) were left with what Scott and Matt referred to as "teacher seating" which was only a bit forward of the center. On the road toward St. Étienne de Bourges we were told the reason why Jean Claude didn't drive any faster. In all buses there are disks the size of CD's which record everything that the bus does, including the speed. These disks must be kept for at least a year, and they can be checked at any time; a fine can be levied up to a year later. |
French Farm and Manor House (along Autoroute de Soliel??)
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| After a driving through the country for a while we arrived at St. Étienne de Bourges, which is a gothic cathedral made with many flying buttresses and surrounded by beautiful gardens. This was the first cathedral on our trip, so for me it was the most memorable. The windows were fantastic, but were not the originals. The originals had been either destroyed in war, or removed because of an architectural preference later in the history of the cathedral. However, the rosary windows were the originals, as they had been dismantled piece by piece during all wars that might have threatened the cathedral, and were replaced after the danger was over. The inside is made of carved stone and the windows are enormous. We were given some time to look through the cathedral and take pictures inside. Being that the building is made of stone, it was quite cool inside and was beautiful inside as well as outside. Too soon, the time had arrived to head back to the bus, so that we could have enough time at our next destination, which was Loches. | 
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| In medieval times Loches was a castle, and in more modern times, a prison (which was not closed down until this century). We were given some time to explore it (after giving up on Mr. Hall to arrive with the money to buy the tickets). The «Dongeon» or keep is about five stories high, and the wooden floors have long since rotted out, but the holes in the walls where the beams once were are still quite visible. Also very visible are the chimneys in the stone. From the top there is an excellent view of the surrounding town. In contrast to several other people, I quite enjoyed looking down from the top and I liked running up the narrow steps. I went down to the bottom as well, and I took time to read some of the signs. After leaving the main or "keep" part of the castle I went up to the top of another one of the towers where I also got an excellent view. I took a look in every one of the rooms and read some of the signs describing some of the prisoners once kept in the rooms. Many were political prisoners and were kept in reasonable comfort. One of the prisoners was a religious leader, and he is believed to be the one to have drawn religious pictures on the walls of the cell, including an altar shaped object and a cross. One of the many things to see was the "torture chamber" (see picture on ticket). Because I had finished taking a brief look at all of the rooms, I decided to run up to the top of the tower again to use up the last bit of remaining time until we had to go back to the bus. |
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A tower in Loches Gate and Dongeon of the castle
at Loches
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The town of Loches (taken from the top of the castle of Loches) |
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Part of the castle and some of the town |
The drawbridge at the castle of Loches |
The gate of the old town at Loches: the dark circle in the square to the left of the entrance is a commemorative to St.Jeanne d'Arc |
An old building in Loches |
Statue of Alfred Vigny in Loches |
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I could have easily spent all day, or at least half of one there, but time was short so we had to move on so that we could arrive at our hotel at the appointed time and not lose our supper reservation. On the way to the hotel, we were shown a disk that records all information about the bus and its activities (earlier it was explained to us, this time we were shown a disk [that had been damaged]). When we arrived at the hotel, and Jean-Claude had finished his parallel park between two cars up onto the sidewalk, we were all surprised that it was a "Holiday Inn", but if we had looked on the hotel listing on our itinerary we would have been aware of that. Soon we were posted to our rooms: this time the "keys" were actually magnetic cards. Once again I was with Brad and Shea, but this time there were enough beds for all. After putting my stuff in the room, I went downstairs to ask Mr. Hall about the time when supper would be served., then went to the other guys' room to see if there was anything that I could do there. I saw that they weren't doing much, so I turned on the TV to a sports channel and watched a bit of soccer, until Matt grabbed the remote and changed the channel saying that soccer was boring. When he found a semi-porn channel, I left the room and tried to find something else to do. I tried my best to pass time, but when it neared the time for supper I headed downstairs so I would be there. During supper I sat with Victor, Mike, Scott, and Alana, as well as Matt - who spilled just about everything, especially water. During the meal, Alana was bugged so much that she got up and left. Later on Jo came and sat with us and told the guys that Alana was upset with them for making fun of her and bugging her. Two of the jokes that Alana did not answer intelligently were 1. say roast three times. What do you put in a toaster?; 2. say silk three times. What do cows drink? They tried the jokes on Jo as well, but she got most of them right. The drunks from Crowsnest were unhappy because this was one of the few places that enforced the drinking age, so they were unable to have wine with their meal. After supper many of us gathered at the hotel entrance, so that we could go to «Place Plumereau» (the town square) as a group. After waiting about twenty minutes everyone who was coming was finally there, so we left. Mr. Brown and Mr. Hall, who were leading us did not exactly know the way, but we got there eventually with a bit of help from the locals. Since I was tired I didn't want to stay long, but I had to stay for about an hour until everyone else was ready to leave. I eventually sat down and tried to sleep. After we were there a while we saw an ambulance arrive and its attendants walk over to a drunk who was passed out in the middle of the square. When they reached him he got up and started fighting, so they stood back and waited for the police to arrive. Other things that happened while we were sitting there were that a man came by and was begging for money, and a guy handed out free passes to a concert about three days from then in Tours. Eventually the time came when we were to leave so most of us got up so that we could go, but we had to wait another five minutes for some of the teachers to finish their alcoholic drinks. Finally we headed back to the hotel, where I went to bed within fifteen minutes. |
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Matt in a Hallway in Loches A view down the Dongeon in