What a long day this has turned into. There was a strong thunderstorm here this afternoon and traffic became a parking lot. Took us four hours to get to our hotel from the last castle we stopped at. Only took two hours to get to the first one. The driver used the gas peddle and the brake at the same time it felt like. Both us of are a bit shaky from the ride. One of the other women in the car got car sick.
We went to three different castles in the Loire Valley Area today. It was so nice to get out and see the real countryside of France. Gave me a new appreciation for France. The second castle had a labyrinth that was really cool. I think I enjoyed the outside of the castles more than the insides. I had been craving green space and breathing room.
We had lunch after the second castle at a little restaurant. The food was OK but not near as good as the organic farm in Italy. I had veggie soup and chicken. Didn’t get all my veggies in for the day but ate what I could find. I had taken some cheese and cashews with me and I think I ate too much protein today. Not sure if we are going out for dinner. Both of us feel a bit uneasy after a four-hour ride.
We are to get picked up in the morning at 5:30 to get taken to the airport for our 9:45 flight to Newark. The same company that took over an hour to pick us up when we arrived in Paris is the company that is taking us back to the airport. Trusting they will be a bit more prompt tomorrow. I don’t like running through the airport. Haven’t heard if the strike will effect our flight out or not. Fingers crossed it won’t as we are both ready to go home.
Only have 8,000 steps in so far today. I’ll add another 2,000 if we go out to dinner later. It is after 8:15 and I don’t like to eat that late. Still need to get packed and organized for the morning so we can sleep as long as possible in the morning. Gotta figure out the best way to get my crystal piece home safely.
Our car mates today were a grandma, a mom and her two daughters. They are from the Boston area. We enjoyed visiting with them today. Grandma is the one that got car sick. They had gotten to Paris yesterday and were all a bit jet lagged which probably added to the car sickness.
Our guide was our driver too. He sure wasn’t as good as the guy from Italy. The one today didn’t have a sense of humor and was almost rude when we didn’t finish lunch fast enough. We were waiting for the restaurant to serve us dessert and coffee.
Still glad we did the tour today. I loved seeing the countryside and getting out of the big city energy for a day. We got sprinkled on at the second castle but it didn’t downpour until we were on our way home. We lucked out this trip with the weather.
Grateful we arrived back to our hotel in one shaky piece, grateful for green grass and blooming wild poppies that we saw today, and grateful I get to head for home tomorrow.