Jour Dix-neuf: Better late than never, and I mean REALLY late this time!

July 16, 2011

Okay, so this one is a little late, and mean REALLY late!

This is from a day back on the Loire that was actually one of my favorites, pretty things wise, but I could never get it on due to time constraints and such things as that. So, without further adieu, I give you Jour Dix-neuf...

Today was great! I had nice weather and pretty stuff to see...

The coolest thing was a canal bridge over the river! How cool is THAT! It was also my first canal in general, to speak of. The bridge came in a town called Briare, which was cute as a button! The bridge is listed as a world heritage site and I can see why, as you will too when you scroll down and see the pictures.

After crossing the bridge I rode along the canal and did some exploring, even though I was not on the official route. I rode along side of a sight seeing canal boat and they all waved at me. Then, I dusted them! I put the pedal to the medal, or in this case put the pedal to the pedal, you see, because bikes have pedals, and.....sorry, where was I? Oh yes, the canal and the boats...it was cool!

After that I rode around the town and just looked, and took pictures, and admired the goings on.

From there I continued east and rode through other picturesque towns and landscapes.

The only bummer of the day was a castle that the guidebook listed as "must see", that "it was a castle built for defensive purposes and they have working catapults that they demonstrate..."

A catapult! Cool! I would love to see boulders flinging through the air!

Except when I got there, at about 2:00pm the place was closed, on a Saturday! What the hell!?

"It's Saturday," I said to the woman who didn't speak much English. "You're closed on Saturday, in the summer during tourist season?" She didn't seem impressed with my arguments and reiterated that I should come back tomorrow, that they will be open Sunday. ...uh, ok, yeah, except I don't want to see rocks flung into the air THAT much! I would have argued that it was bait and switch, but really, I can barely order in a restaurant so trying to explain bait and switch would have been a chore.

So, I moved on...

Other than that it was a really fun day. Here, see for yourself...