Cold but sunny morning, left the hotel just before 09:00 because Song wanted to go back to the jewellery shop again.
I skipped the Starbucks because I was about to get on a bus for 2 hours.
Got to the bus stop with 40 minutes to spare, it was in a street with nothing else around, just a lay by with other buses parked, nowhere to sit. Song went to find a place that might sell croissants while I stood with the bags. Song came back empty handed, said there was a driving school and an upholsterer, neither of which were of use to us at the time.
A bus arrived but it was not the number of ours so ignored it until the driver called out “Orleans” and “Paris” , so confirmed Orleans, showed him our ticket which he scanned. I mention this because as we were about to leave a young woman approached the driver, asked something then got off and unloaded her bag. We then set off, the driver made some announcements whereupon another woman approached him, asked him something and also realised she was on the wrong bus. The driver wasn’t happy, he had to stop on the street and open the luggage area to let her get her bag. I just hoped we were on the right bus.
Bus trip was fine, the bus almost full and all locals, I didn’t see any other tourists on board. We stopped to pick up some people at a town called Blois, another town I’ve never heard of, but it had some impressive large buildings including a huge chateau in the centre of the town.
Got to Orleans, took the tram and a short walk to the hotel from the stop. The hotel was just off the main street in an old building which was decorated in period designs; our room was small, the toilet was along a small corridor and we had a chandelier.
Unfortunately being so old it didn’t have lifts, so I had to carry the 2 cases and the backpack up 3 flights of narrow, spiral stairs.
Dropped the bags and went to get some lunch, weather was great. We didn’t feel like a large lunch so headed for the Paul bakery and had a roll and a dessert each (I had my dessert and most of Song’s). We passed by one of the main squares which had a statue of Joan of Arc, she was from here (the Maid of Orleans) and there is a lot of stuff about her (including the Joan D’Arc Cannabis shop). Passed by a cat cafe, we might visit it tomorrow and take pictures to make our cats jealous.
Carried on walking, arrived at the river (Loire still), and encountered about a thousand school kids crossing the roads and walking along. We’ve noticed that Friday seems to be “kid’s day out” day, but this was the largest group we’ve seen.
Walked to the old part of town, more of the exposed wooded buildings and lots of cafes and restaurants. Song wanted to take pictures of everything today while it was sunny, the weather tomorrow was forecast to be cloudy and raining, so we carried onto the Cathedral.
We went in, and discovered where all the school kids were going, because they were all here; there was a service on, with singing, organ music and some speeches. The cathedral was impressive, we stayed and listened for a while before going outside to take more pictures.
Stopped off at a supermarket on the way back to pick up some fruit, then back to the hotel. Once again we decided to stay in, lots of walking and we weren’t really hungry.
A full day here tomorrow, but if the forecast is correct we may go to the Art gallery since we’ve seen all the sights. Or a nice restaurant. Or stay in the hotel and have a down day.