The house has no television and no internet. In a conversation with the owner last night (when he told us how to light the pilot) he said, "When the Romans built the house, they put it in a terrible spot for TV reception and mobile phone coverage." Thanks Romans! I realize this exact structure wasn't built by Julius Caesar or anything, but it's cool to know that this very spot had a house on it in Gallo-Roman times. We need to find out about the history of the house.
I woke up at 10am local, and everyone was still asleep. I took a walk outside -- a beautiful bright sunny day and the place feels sharp and alive. The buildings here have holes and gaps, some patched in obvious ways, some left crumbling. Cracks and irregularities are everywhere -- makes you feel differently about that leaking skylight at home, seriously. However, when the walls are over a foot thick, these things matter less. In a house this old, it's not a big deal if the doorway is not symmetrical or the floor is tilted. It locks, and there's not a lot of water coming in, so c'est normal.
Dan took a ride to Tours this morning, returned home blowing like a buffalo from the long driveway at 14% grade. He did enjoy 99% of the ride though.
I have had a headache since we got here. I don't know if it's the lack of sleep or what, but maybe I'm allergic to France. I hope the antidote is more France.
After a lunch of eggs and fruit (and chocolate mousse for Sadie, toast for Benny) we drove Northeast on D31 and N10 to Chartres. This was a much more scenic drive than the A10, with roadside distractions to entertain us. We spent most of the way up to Chartres trying to work out the meanings of all the road signs. Making progress. Still stymied by the yellow diamond and we have no Google/Wikipedia to help us.
Chartres was beautiful, the cathedral was insanely huge and impressive. We heard the organ concert, went up the tower, saw a bit of the Sunday evening mass. Outside we ate ice cream and got locked in the parking garage.
On the way back, we stopped in Chateaudun. For various reasons I had decide to see this Chateau from the outside only, so we parked near the cite centre and went walking. Chateaudun was in the process of packing up a three day medieval festival, so there were lots of pirates and wenches and stuff lurking about, and some interesting decor.
Since we were desperate for news of the Tour de France, Dan had to check his work email, and I wanted to get a message out to Ahno and make sure my posts were coming through, we went to McDonald's for the WIFI and some authentic French food. Driving home, we couldn't believe it was 10:10 pm and still light out. Don't know what geographical anomaly makes that possible.
The children are still awake at 1:00am -- can't seem to settle their little internal clocks and Sadie keeps switching rooms. Restless and smelling the vague hint of something burning here on the Loire.
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