France Day 4 - Tours

We left Beaune bright and early and went to wait until the local supermarket opened. The chain of supermarkets here in called Casino, and it's more or less like a Loblaws or Metro. We bought sliced bread, sliced cheese and slices turkey so that we could eat in the car. 

We drove all morning until we reached the city of Tours. It was overcast in the morning but the sun started to come out just when we reached Tours, and it got pretty warm out. We stopped at the tourism office to get maps, and crossed to the large train station to look for public washrooms. The interior was being renovated so there was scaffolding everywhere, and not much to take pictures of. The washrooms were guarded by a severe looking French lady, charging us 50 cents for toilets and 20 cents for urinals (although I'm not sure how that could be controlled). Outside the train station, there was a little park with a fountain that looked like water spraying over the back of a metal whale, surrounded by pretty pink flowering trees. 

Inside the station

The whale

yay, flowers <3

cool graffiti 

If you look carefully, it appears to be
a bunch of Snitches. Or that thing
from D. Gray Man 

Hotel room: the couch pulls out
to make a bed

the hotel's staircase

France Day 4 - Countrymen and le Cygne

We tried to find a hotel by driving around the spots marked on the map but failed, so we parked on a tiny street and set out on foot. We finally found one called Le Cygne, and when we walked into the reception, we saw a Chinese lady! We were able to speak Mandarin to her, and she showed us into a beautiful room on the second floor. We had to haul our stuff up a winding staircase since there was no elevator in the old apartment. The room was decorated with pretty pastel colours, a large mirror, a high ceiling with a chandelier, and two huge windows that open up all the way to let in fresh air from the street below.

This is the tiny entrance to the garage
of the hotel, only a few inches wider
than our car O_O

 

Creeping on the man with baguettes xD

Giant chocolate macaroon, mmm...

 After we settled in, we went for a walk by the river and had dinner.

 

Strange carrot soup-like substance
served before the meal in a tiny bowl

Smoked salmon and, for whatever
reason, a slab of butter

Terrine of some sort, and pear slices.
There are pears everywhere in France.

I forget what this is called but it's a
pastry sort of thing.

Fish, obviously. It wasn't very good.

Lamb.

Duck breast and more pear slices.

Yay sorbet! <3