Day 10 in France

Day trip to the Loire Valley

For the last nine days we have been enjoying the hustle and bustle of big city life in Paris. Today it was time to spread our wings a little bit and head out beyond the city limits to explore a part of France that we have never seen before.

My friend Jeannot is in the process of selling his summer place in a tiny town a short drive from the city of Tours located in the Loire Valley. It was the perfect opportunity to invite ourselves for lunch and spend a few hours taking in the fantastic scenery, picturesque towns and maybe even pass by a Chateau or two.

Jeannot went out of his way to plan a special day for us. He was there to meet us at the station, drove us to the nearby town of Descartes for coffee and a walk along the narrow cobblestone streets to see the sights. It was nearing 1 pm so we continued on to La Perruche (the name of his house) where he prepared a lunch that featured some local cheeses and charcuterie, a remoulade salad and lots of good bread. For dessert there were tarts from a local bakery, one cherry and the other mirabelle plum.

Our quick trip to the Loire provided a great opportunity to catch up with my dear friend Jeannot whom I hadn’t seen in a few months and also provided a welcome break from the intensity of city life. As much as I love Paris with its throngs of people and traffic and noise and fast pace it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming especially when you throw in a lack of fluent French. To spend a day in a far more tranquil environment with green fields as far as they eye can see and only the sounds of birds in the trees, enjoying good food and conversation felt pretty perfect.

Here are a few more images from our day in the Loire…
 

 

See you tomorrow. xo J