WE GOT IT, IT'S OURS

We had to get up early today to take the 7:30 TGV to the Loire Valley. We changed trains in Anger for a local train to Saumur. Karen picked us up in the "Jaguar" (note inverted commas) and drove us to Montsoreau for one last inspection before we signed all the papers to buy. There was a group of four women renting the house for the week but they didn't mind letting us in to take a look. We poked around for half an hour, giddily excited, checking everything out, from the top of the attic to the bottom of the cave.
Then we went for a walk in the neighborhood. Two doors down is the city hall. Across the street is the chateau and below it the Loire River. We called on our new neighbor, Patrick, who runs a B&B to invite him for lunch at the Hotel Bussey. We spent a pleasant hour there then walked back to his house for a couple of glasses of wine and to admire the view of the chateau that he has from his dining room. Then we took a ride downtown and had coffee in the main square overlooking the Loire.
We drove out to Riviere to meet the people we are buying the house from. David and Dorothy are an English couple who have bought a bigger house with a large garden. They are running their new house as a B&B. While we were there drinking champagne Karen called Jacqueline to come and join us. It was so nice to see Jacqueline again - we haven't seen her in 3 years.
At 5:00 it was time to go back to Chinon for our appointment with the bank. We reviewed the details of the purchase and the loan they were offering. We signed and initialled reams of documents and set up a bank account with them. Finally, we all shook hands and the clock started ticking on our 7-day back-out-for-any-reason period. I know this is a clock we are more than happy to let run out!