French Countryside

Hello all!

So seeing as I saw everything in the town of Chatellerault yesterday, today I decided I would hire a bike and explore the countryside. It seemed like a great idea, until I woke up this morning and it was tipping down with rain!

Upon checking the weather on my phone, it seemed the rain would stop about 10-11am so I decided to still go. I walked to the station in the rain, and found the bike hire place. Once again I was faced with the language barrier, but the girl running the office and I eventually both understood that I was hiring a bike all day. So cheap for youths, 3 euros!

So off I went on my bike, which for a hire one was pretty good. At this point it was still raining and the wind was cold, but I was determined. I had found a bike route to do on the internet so set off following the river South of the town. 

For the first 20 minutes or so I passed through the outskirts of town, and it really was not pleasant. The rain kept blowing in my face!!

I passed some cute bridges and trees and the buildings began to become few and far between. I crossed a highway and ended up in the town of Cenon-Sur-Vienne (Cenon on the Vienne River) which was where the bike route I researched started. It FINALLY stopped raining after riding for an hour and getting soaked. 

The town was quite cute, I found the start of the path which was really narrow and lined with lovely trees and a cute stone wall. Then once I rode out of the town I had an hour or so of lovely countryside (although it was still quite grey) including chateaus, cottages and farmland. It really was beautiful, and a really chilled out way to spend a day. 

The only scary part was when a huge German shepherd ran out of a house barking at me. I screamed so loud that when it left me alone I burst into a fit of laughter. I think the people back in Chatellerault heard me! It was massive though!

I rode until I reached the next town, Vouneuil-Sur-Vienne. It was much smaller than the first, with the town consisting of about two blocks. It was perfect though. The church bells rang as I rode through, and I found a cute little bakery. Had a baguette and a yummy chocolate cake for lunch. I sat outside and ate it. Everyone in this town was really friendly, three people walked past and all said "Bon appetit!" to me. So far in Chatellerault when I say "bonjour!" to a passing stranger they shoot me a murderous glare. To which I loudly reply "or not!" and laugh. They're probably thinking "bloody English speakers!".

I passed through town and then started my way back. By this time the wind had become so strong I literally just about got blown off my bike! But I kept going and rode the whole way back to Chatellerault. I got back about 2.30pm, but the hike office didn't reopen until 4 so I had some time to kill. I locked up my bike, but this annoying French man kept talking to me. I kept saying "Australie, no Francais" but he wouldn't leave me alone. So I just decided to pretend he wasn't there while he prattled on. My bag was locked and I was in a big open space so all ok. 

I walked around the shops (and didn't buy anything!) and then sat for a while in the main square before returning the bike chain key and getting my deposit back. 

Headed back to the hotel and now I'm having another bread and cheese night and night in! Tomorrow my train leaves about 2pm to Chenonceaux - excited !!!!

Have really enjoyed this unexpected town, but glad I'm off somewhere else tomorrow because I've well and truly done everything here haha!!

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox

Chatellerault

Hi all!

Got up at 6 this morning (ewww!) and walked to the train station. Due to daylight savings starting it was quite dark, but the streets were empty and well lit so all ok. 

My train was on time and I slept most of the two hour journey to Chatellerault. Now you may have never heard of Chatellerault, but don't worry, neither had I! Funny story about why I'm staying here actually. Originally when planning these five weeks I wrote down to stay here but didn't research it at all. I then changed it to a town called Chateauroux, but turns out when mum booked my trains I gave her the old version of my itinerary. Thankfully the other week when going through my documents I discovered I had a hotel in Chateauroux but a train to Chatellerault (two hours apart!) so I cancelled the old hotel and booked one in Chatellerault. 

So I arrived having no idea what was here, what it looked like, anything. Thankfully I found a tourism office easily and though the lady didn't speak English she gave me some maps and a historic tourist route to do. Then I had to walk the 40 minutes to my hotel from there. The only hotel I could get for less than $50 Aussie per night in this town at late notice was a bit out. But hey, all those cakes, cheese etc, let's be honest - I could do with some exercise!

Last night I began to worry when googling the hotel as it got 1 star on trip advisor so I prepared myself for the worse. However, the receptionist was friendly and the place looked ok. Initially he showed me to a room that STANK like smoke, so I used my limited French and my expert charades to say I wanted a non smoking room. He swapped me no questions asked. Sure the toilet seat is kinda broken, the room smells a tiny bit, the lights are dim and the bathroom is tiny. But you know what? It's all about what you make of the situation. I've a roof over my head, a relatively comfy bed, wifi and a fridge. I'm comfy :) It's definitely not bad enough to warrant a 1 star trip advisor rating. I've had much much worse than this! (Cue flashbacks to Cologne 2010 and Izmir 2013!). 

I set off and walked the 30-40 minutes into town where I began the tourist route the lady suggested (or pointed at!). On the way I went to a boulangerie (bakery) and got a baguette and a chocolate brioche. More pointing, no English. Both were delicious!! But by now you may see a pattern forming, no one here speaks English. Not one person I've spoken to today does! Which is kind of refreshing actually. We travel everywhere and take it for granted that just because our language is universal everyone should speak it. It's kinda nice to be in a small town where no one speaks it. I'm now the one having to use my limited vocab as well as drawings, hand gestures and anything else I can to get by. 

I'm now in the Loire Valley, in Central France closer to the western coast. From the brochure the lady gave me it seems Chatellerault over the centuries has made money from sword making and munitions. 

I walked around the circuit for about an hour in total. It was all just places to look at and I won't list them all because there were 36 all together! But I started off seeing the house Renè Descartes lived in that was owned by his grandpa and father. I saw some churches, some squares, the main shopping street (Rue Bourbon) which was dead quiet, Henri IV bridge which was pretty, the Vienne River, the old weapons factory and towers, the Monument in Praise of the Revolution, a cute little old cottage, the town hall and a theatre. It kept trying to rain but luckily only spat for a few minutes now and then. It's quite grey though!!

I ended up around Rue Bourbon after the walk. It was still pretty quite because it's Monday, but at 2pm some shops opened so I went and had a look.....uh oh! I bought myself some chocolate for next weekend as I'm unsure when and if shops will be open from here on in. A lot closes for Easter here. I won't photo them until the Easter bunny brings me some more choccies on Sunday though! I then went into a shoe shop (...more uh oh). And...I bought a pair of shoes! I am on a mega budget but the only pair of boots I brought with me this year are falling apart because I've had them since I was 14. The new ones are really nice and I can wear for teaching, going out and every day. Ok enough justifying, I love them, I've allotted myself 40 euros per day this leg and I've been well under that for a few days now so all is fine!!!!! It was pretty funny trying to ask the shop assistant questions though when she spoke no English. Ian and Robyn, the phrase book you gave me for my 18th before my first trip is coming in handy again! :) 

I walked back to the hotel and did some grocery shopping. Being on a budget in France is awesome - dinner is still so delicious! I have some baguettes, Brie, laughing cow cheese, Camembert, ham, bananas and raspberries. Mmmmmm! All cost me like 5 euros total too. Bliss! Although I have had to make a makeshift knife out of a card in my wallet that I cleaned haha. 

Just having a night in chilling out. So much of this year is crazy on the go that it's going to be nice these next 2-3 weeks having some me time and relaxing. 

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox

St Emilion

Hello everyone!

So dinner last night was amazing! Michael and I walked into town and found a restaurant that had a special for one entree, main and dessert for 16,90 euros. The entire menu was in French but Michael was able to translate it! For an entree we went halves in a cheesy mushroom soup and....six escargot. Snails! And guess what? They were delicious! I'll probably order them again while I'm in France! Who knew I would like those. For a main I had salmon with pasta and then we each had a creme brûlée for dessert which was the best one I've ever had. Yummmmm! I also had a glass of wine from the region the lady in the wine museum yesterday told us produce sweet wine because of the fog that causes fungus on the grapes. It was really nice as well. 

I slept really well but didn't get to sleep until technically 2am, because daylight savings began here last night so we lost an hour!

Today I slept in a bit then had brekky. Then due to having to be out of the room11am-4pm I watched some TV on my iPad downstairs. I felt like I had seen everything I wanted to in Bordeaux and I wanted to relax a bit!

I then walked into town hoping to buy some groceries but everything was closed! I don't think me and Sundays are going to be friends in France. I'll have to be prepared for Sunday closures in advance!

I met my winery tour at 1.30pm at the tourist information office. It was me and 47 other people on a coach, but I actually quite enjoyed it. We had a 40ish minute coach journey to St Emilion, one of the most famous wine regions of Bordeaux. It's on the right side of the river which means it produces richer and more fruity wines due to having only limestone and clay in its soil and no gravel u like the left side. 

Our guide told us on the coach that the wines here all have to be named according to the chateaux where they were produced. And FYI - chateau in French normally means a castle. But in Bordeaux they call all wineries a chateau!  In this area the smaller villages produce better quality wine because they have more strict rules and regulations. Also, the Bordeaux region produces over 800 million bottles of wine a year! 90% of these bottles are red wine. 

Our first stop was the village of St Emilion itself. It's 40km east of Bordeaux, has a population of 2000 people and since 1999 has been a UNESCO world heritage site. We started at a pretty view point and then our guide took us on a walking tour to the monolithic church, an underground church built on the site where St Emilion found a cross in a cave and decided to create a town. We also saw the main church and some other churches (which are now wineries!!). Then I walked around by myself and bought some macarons from a shop the guide recommended that has been making them since 1620 with the same recipe. The ones in St Emilion taste a little like mascarpone! These were my lunch sadly, as I was still unable to find anything open to buy anything substantial. But hey, no complaints here! I bought a magnet in a cute little street and the shop owner was so kind. He asked if I spoke French and I replied in French saying not really but I come from Australie. Upon finding out I was an Aussie he gave me some free postcards because he said he loves Australians! So lovely. 

Then we got back on the bus and went to our second and final destination - Chateau de Pressac. It's one of the best wineries in the area. 82/800 wineries in this area having achieved the status of 'Grand Cru' meaning they scored 14+ points on the rating system that occurs every ten years. This one was one of them!

We had a tour around the grounds and the medieval castle the winery was set in (so this one actually was a chateau!!!) including where the vats and barrels were kept. Even though today was cloudy it was quite beautiful. Then we tried two wines, one from a wet year in 2007 and one from a dry year in 2009 meaning it was sweeter (more sun = sweeter berries). I didn't really like either of these, but I didn't hate them either. Had a good chat to an English couple from Portsmouth (near Brighton) during the tasting. 

The guide told us in the barrel room there were 150 barrels each with a capacity of 225L which produces 30 bottles of wine. This winery produces 150,000 bottles of wine per year. 

We got the bus back and I got some dinner from the same place I did the other night with the yummy cheese roll. I've not got a nice French girl in my room, she invited me to dinner but I've already got another baguette to eat while I watch some tv! She's really nice but doesn't speak much English. We are having fun playing charades!!!

I've really liked Bordeaux but feel I've done everything here so am looking forward to a change of scenery tomorrow - Châtellerault!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox