ANGERS

TOURS

We drove to Tours today. We wanted to explore a part of the city that we don't know very well - the area around the cathedral. This area was the original site of the Roman town. People told us that there was a museum and much archeological evidence but we couldn't find a think. We did explore the Musée des Beaux Arts which was originally the Archbishops palace. In an outhouse Fritz the elephant is preserved. It was very hot but we walked to the cathedral (St. Gatien) and explored the area. The cathedral is very impressive. We spent way too much time there. By the time we were finished and hungry for lunch many of the restaurants were no longer serving. We did settle on a Lebanese restaurant, Le Bakaa and had ourselves a delightful meal of Lebanese delicacies and beer.
In the afternoon we walked around in the 90°F heat looking for a cool place to hang out. We made it to the chateau before it closed. That was cool, temperature-wise and art-wise. There was an exhibit of photographs by a French father and son who had a portrait studio in Paris. They photographed everyone of note. The son also photographed many of the great actors of the time in the theater where they were playing.
We ended the day in the old town, Vieux-Tours drinking beer and recuperating from the heat.


TOURS

LANGEAIS

We drove to Langeais for the day. Langeais is pretty close to Tours but we wanted to spend the day here rather than stopping for a short time on the way to Tours.
Anne of Brittany married Chrles VIII here in a secret ceremony in 1491 that reattached the independent state of Brittany to the Kingdom of France. Anne was barely fourteen years old at the time. The marriage contract specified that she would have to marry Charles' successor if anything happened to him. He died shortly after and she did indeed marry his successor Louis XII. Brittany has been struggling to regain its independence ever since.

WALKING TOUR

Brunch at La Blanchière with Karen, Nico, Michael, and Catherine.
Michael is a bike guide who will be leading a party of cyclists through the region. Catherine is the wife of a cyclist who is on another B+R trip through Catalonia. She is like a bike-widow.

After brunch we went back to our house to wait for an electrician who is going to give us a temporary electric hook up in the grenier. While he was doing that Catherine and I went for a walk through the fields to Càndes. We walked up to the panorama view across the confluence. As we were walking back down into the village we met Rich. We walked to the new bookstore where the old bookstore used to be. The owner is a Breton woman from Rennes who followed her heart to Càndes. We sat for an hour chatting with her and drinking tea and coffee. Very pleasant.

ON THE WATER

LES RACINETS

We had a lazy day today wandering about the countryside and visiting old friends.
We walked about the town in the morning noting all the changes in our little village. Everything is spruced up. The main plaza has been nicely finished with a low wall that separates it from the street and the café has new umbrellas. The other plaza has also had a makeover with pea gravel and a new exit. Now you can go straight through without having to turn the car around in the narrow parking area.
Later we drove into Chinon for a walkabout. The buzz there is the new Carrefour store that has replaced the pokey and pricey Shoppi. We did some business at the bank then started looking for a place to have lunch. We walked down towards the Place Jean d’Arc and found a restaurant connected with one of the small hotels close to the place. The prix fixe menu at Le Treive was superb – boudin, crudités, bavette, fried steak, peach melba, gateau au chocolat – we had it all between the two of us.
After lunch we took a ride out to see the boys in Lerné. Tim and Steve have been working on their house for the past two years. They are pretty much finished with the main house but they are struggling to finish the old barn that will eventually be their income-bearing gite. We picked a ton of cherries from their trees and talked clofouti.
In the afternoon we drove to Fontevraud. We wandered about in town for a little then decided to visit Les Racinets in their new house. We spent the evening there – they showed us all the work the have been doing for the past 2 years since they bought the house. Just this week they have been able to move in. They produced a splendid feast of beouf-bourgignon and lashings of red wine. After dinner we got down to brass tacks regarding their garage in Montsoreau that they are thinking of selling. The garage is not attached to their house so they are selling it separately from the main building. The man from Paris who lives across the street is also interested in buying it since he doesn’t have a garage either. M. Racinet is staying non-committal until he gets a bidding war going. We will all be meeting together next week to walk through the property. We may have to visit the bank first.

OVER A BARREL

We drove to Saumur to pick up le tonneau for our cave. There is a new wine shop there and Rich had struck a deal to buy a used wine barrel that will serve as a table in our cave. When we got there the owner told us that the barrel had not been delivered because these are busy days in the vineyard. Instead, he offered us a barrel that he had on hand already. He helped us load it into the back of the car and we took it home.
We wrestled the barrel through the house and down the steps into the cave. It was surprisingly heavy. Our cave is now complete and we can start to entertain guests there for wine tastings.

CHEZ-NOUS

Finally, at home in Montsoreau.
The flight on Ryanair was delayed by about an hour. We sat on the plane without any information. A French group close to me couldn’t understand the announcements so I had to translate. There wasn’t much to tell them. After about an hour they closed the doors again and we were off.

Tours was overcast and cold. Normally I leave cold and dark in Ireland but this time I flew into it. They weather has been strange all ovber Europe this Summer. The Azores High sitting over Ireland has protected it from the cold and rain coming from the Mediterraenean. France has had torrential rains and flash flooding in the south and depressed temperatures everywhere else. But that is about to change.

I took the train from Tours to Saumur. Rich was there to pick me up in the “new” car. The ’84 Visa was traded in by Karen for a “luxury” Dacia as part of France’s version of Cash for Clunkers. We got her Citroen K-Way, another varient of the Polski Fiat.

DUBLIN WALKABOUT

DRABHLÁS: 5 HEINEKENS LATER . . .

I spent the day today with my nephew Austin. I got a ride into the city center with Helen. She had a day off and wanted to do some shopping. I left her in Jervis Street and walked up to Parnell Square. I spent an hour at the Municipal Gallery. Nothing new there but always a pleasure to see Bacon's studio. I did enjoy a video by an Irish artist, Gerard Byrne that recreated the print advertizing of the 1981 Chrysler Imperial.
I gave Austin a call. He works at CitiBank in the Docklands. He told me to take the Luas from Abbey Street but I decided to walk over there instead. I followed the tracks around the Customs House and into Georges Dock. I waited on the bridge for Austin. When he came down we walked along the quays on the other side to an old-style pub called The Ferryman. Along the way we met Helen and persuaded her to come to lunch with us.



I hung around with Austin until he had to return to work for the afternoon. It was really pleasant sitting in the bar and chatting

Later in the evening I reconnected with Austin. He had invited me to birthday drinks for a co-worker at a place called Dicey's Garden on Harcourt Street. I got there first but was turned away by the bouncer because my shorts were not "neat dress". I called Aussie and he suggested that we meet at a bar on Camden Street called Ryan's. Austin came along with another co-worker. We had a great night of drinking and chatting.

PARFAIT BHIABHÓIGE

Simmer the chopped rhubarb in a simple syrup of 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar with vanilla, cinnemon and allspice.
Add jello cubes and refrigerate until jello is set.
Layer the rhubarb with yoghurt and drizzle with honey.

JETLAG DAYS

Looking south towards the Dublin Mountains


I arrived in Dublin at 8 in the morning. I stayed up until about 10:30 then went for a little lie down that lasted until 8 in the evening. I managed to stay awake until about 11 at night. I was able to sleep again for a couple of hours but at 3 in the morning I was wide awake and ready to do the tourist thing.
While I was asleep Switzerland beat Spain. This morning I watched Argentina beat South Korea and this afternoon I saw México beat France. It's hard to avoid the World Cup.

In my own personal qualifying rounds I waited all day for news of where I will be next year. Jag is my proxy. She managed to get me my third choice - a 1/2 bilingual combination at Treeview Elementary. I have to say I'm not displeased with the outcome. Treeview is a better school than Longwood but a combination class is a combination class in any language. I think I will fit right in and enjoy the new challenge.

CHICAGO - O'HARE

I made it on time. In San Francisco they told me that I would only have an hour to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5 to check in for the flight to Dublin. Fortunately, the flight from San Francisco arrived 45 minutes early in Chicago but it was still a challenge to figure out how the ground transport worked. I walked to Terminal 2 before I found the elevated train. By the time I got to the Aer Lingus counter there was absolutely no line. Ditto for the security check. The TSA official had many questions about my CPAP machine and they even swabbed it down for explosives residue.
My going away dinner was really special. Jag’s boyfriend came by. I had bought some arrachera the day before. I made a garlic-ginger-cilantro-oil paste and daubed it liberally on the meat and vegetables. Then I grilled everything and served it with warm corn tortillas and black beans. Rich’s mom Anita would have been proud of me.

The weather was very strange in Chicago. At first it was hot and muggy but as we sat on the plane waiting for takeoff a thunderstorm moved through. We had to sit on the ground for about an hour before we were cleared for takeoff.