October 25, 2009
Blois to Toulouse by train: many changes
Weather: mostly sunny
The time changed this morning—fall backward--so we got an extra hour. After another nice breakfast at Hotel Cote Loire we packed up all our stuff and cycled uphill to the station with plenty of time to spare before our train to St. Pierre des Corps at Tours.
We were almost in time for an earlier train, which would have been good for Eva's blood pressure. According to the schedule there was less than 15 minutes at Tours to make our connection to Bordeaux, but by the time we had folded our bikes into their bags and packed up our duffels, we just missed the earlier train. We didn't realize that we could have put our loaded bikes in the “velo” car on this local train, which allowed velos (bicycles) for no extra charge. We were still learning about train rules, and we knew that bikes had to be in bags for the Tours to Bordeaux TGV leg. As we waited, a notice came up on the board saying that our train to Tours would be 10 minutes late, and Eva's stress level went way up!
We did make the connection, but there were no luggage carts at Tours, so we had to carry our duffels, bike bags and backpacks about ½ km along the very long train to get to our assigned car. That's the hardest part for both of us, because the bags are heavy and unwieldy, so carrying everything is very awkward. We struggled to our car and found it completely full of young students—about grade 5—returning from a field trip. We could barely find room for our luggage, and had to remove two little girls from our assigned seats. Anyway, we were on the right train, heading for Bordeaux, so we could relax and eat our baguette sandwiches.
At Bordeaux, in the large beautiful glass-roofed train station, we managed to grab the last luggage cart, and there were ramps to all the platforms instead of stairs, so we had an easy time of it—plenty of time to make our connection to Toulouse. We enjoyed a quiet, comfortable ride on this regional train for the two hour trip from Bordeaux to Toulouse. It was very pleasant looking out the window at the Canal de Garonne and all the vineyards in the Bordeaux area.
We arrived in Toulouse about 5:00 pm and put our bikes together on the platform just off the train. It was a long way from the platform to the station building, and Al managed to take both the fully-loaded bikes down a staircase and up an escalator. We exited the train station and were faced with several very busy downtown streets, even though it was Sunday night. No problem, since there were bike/bus lanes and Al remembered the way to our hotel from the map. It was practically dark because of the time change, and we were glad we only had to ride a short distance.
Hotel Albert 1er turned out to be good value and a fine place to stay. We had a nice room with two french doors opening onto tiny balconies with sliding glass doors outside and wooden shutters inside. The room had a fridge, and the large bathroom contained a bathtub! Not only that, but the hotel had a tiny elevator (the first we've encountered in France) so we could ferry all our stuff up to the 4th floor, including the bikes, which we folded up and stored inside the room. We had dinner at Villa, the first noisy restaurant we've encountered in France, a large white painted room with waitpeople all in black and loud music. There were lots of younger people—the place filled up while we were there—and it reminded us of “trendy” restaurants at home. The food was okay, but we couldn't wait to leave because of the noise. We hope this sort of atmosphere doesn't catch on in France as we've really appreciated the quiet ambience of eating places here.
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Today's ride: 4 km (2 miles)
Total: 255 km (158 miles)
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