Well, it's Canada Day, and seven of us are here all together in the village of Meusnes in the Loire. As you can see from the photo below, Vicki and Mario feel so at home here that they feel like the house is theirs! And who can blame them? It's a beautiful house that is tastefully appointed, from the modern appliances in the spacious kitchen to the antique crewel draperies in the room where Maggie is staying. We really lucked in!
For our first day together, we decided to go to Blois, about an hour's drive away. We'd heard there was a market there on Sunday mornings and since everything in Meusnes (except for the bakery and convenience store) seemed to be closed, we wanted to get food for the next day or so at the market in Blois. As you can see from the photo below, Vicki and Mario blended in so well with the natives that no one would guess that they were tourists!
As it turned out, it wasn't a food market at all, so we had to scramble to get to the local supermarket before it closed at noon. We got there with a half hour to spare and you would have thought we'd won a supermarket shopping spree as we ran madly through the aisles, looking for our favorite foods and at the same time trying to confer with each other about what we should buy and who eats what. It was a kind of social field trip as we learned the differences between our supermarkets and the ones here. For instance, here you have to weigh all the produce before going to the checkout, which involves either finding a photo of what you've bought next to the electronic scale, pressing that button and getting an automatic printout label to attach to the bag of fruits or vegetables or finding the numerical code for that product in order to find the photo first. The staff at the supermarket were very patient and forgiving with us, far from the stereotypical French snub of which we were apprehensive. Once we got our purchases made, and at a pretty good price for all that we took with us, we were able to relax and have a picnic lunch beside the river. Some of us, like Maggie below, were so sated after our "grande bouffe" of fresh bread, cheese, fruit and yogurt that we just had to close our eyes and let all that good food digest.
Once we were able to leave our comfortable spot next to the river, Michael found a spot for his afternoon siesta while the rest of us visited the famous castle in Blois, a place whose history is a violent one with intrigue and murder. Then again, seeing as Catherine de Medici lived there until her death, one might not be surprised that the castle was the site of such events, though our charming tour guide seemed to downplay the evil image we have of the infamous queen. The castle itself spans several styles of architecture from medieval to Renaissance and we were lucky to attach ourselves to a tour given in English to a group of American students. We were thrilled to hear in detail about the history of the castle and to see the incredible architecture and furnishings, as evidenced in the photo below.
Clearly Tristan and Joy were inspired by the tour as they began their own battle for the throne...
Despite this rivalry, they soon returned to their old sibling-loving selves!
Soon after leaving the castle, we came upon a House of Magic that had incredible Animatronic dragons emerging from its windows. The one below looked pretty scary, but he and his three companions eventually calmed down, retreated into the building and miraculously, the balconies were restored to their original splendour.
Before leaving Blois to return home, we wandered once more through the market where we caught Tristan showing us a rare demonstration of the bond between mother and son. We had to capture it on camera!
The day was capped by a lovely meal in our special "al fresco" dining area where we supped on a healthy salad with greens, salmon, goat cheese and beans. Yumm! It was a fun and delicious day - hopefully a preview of many days ahead filled with adventure, good food and friendship!
