A Tourist in Tour: Day One

I'm in Tour, in the Loire Valley, France.

Prison room at hotel

Flew out on Bloody Ryan Air this afternoon.  A quick 50 minute flight, preceded by five hours of transfers, checking in, security, waiting, queues, boarding. etc.  Tours' airport was tiny but modestly efficient.  The taxi driver from the airport to our no star hotel was very friendly.  Wanted to tell us where to look and how to get there.

The hotel was booked last week, and at EUR40 per night isn't too bad.  The room is basic, sparse, but colourful.  I imagine this is what the rooms in young offenders' prisons look like.

View from hotel room

The view from the room overlooks a large government office block -  reminiscent of something Le Corbusier might have designed - with the baroque spires of the cathedral in the distance.
  
 Walked around town and found an architectural mixture of art nouveau, baroque, modern and a sprinkling of medieval.  The Gare de Tours (main train station) tries to do all styles, but still looks quite impressive. Much of the place is a building site - a new tram line is being constructed - and many of the old stone buildings have undergone recent and meticulous restorations.

Smörgåsbord of architecture

 Had a look at a big cedar tree, a fibreglass replica of an elephant (called Fritz), the cathedral, the Pont de Wilson bridge and a few of the streets and squares.  The Loir is quite wild and it has never been made navigable.  There is a ferry service on some days (across the rapids) to a park on one of the many islands.  I don't think my travel insurance would cover it.


It is quite a youthful city - I think we were close to the university - and lots of young people were out and about.  Some were sat by the river, eating, drinking and smoking and talking about serious things (presume university students).  Some went around in small groups, looking menacing, and pimping girls (presume criminals).

Man on a bike with a dog in his basket

Had a beer, saw a man on a bike with a dog in his basket, and then had a cheesy crepe at quite a pleasant little eatery.  The owner wasn't sure whether to speak to us in French or English, given our bilingual approach, but he seemed very friendly nonetheless.  Food was good, though some irritating English woman spend most of the meal talking at full volume about how her boyfriend is difficult to live with as she just wants to relax in an evening as she has a physical job, but he just wants to work on his laptop, and how she gave him an ultimatum and spoke to her dad and...   

Interesting station facade.

On the way back to the hotel we found the posh end of the city centre.  Lots of expensive clothes in shops and on people.  


Think we'll look for a chateau tomorrow.