The Da Vinci Code - our version: Day 7 - Tours to Ambois - Get It While It Lasts... A Big Loop Through Europe 2017

August 14, 2017

The Da Vinci Code - our version: Day 7 - Tours to Ambois

We were looking forward to today. After a very nice night in Tours we got up early and set off to 'Les Halles" (the market) for breakfast and to provision ourselves for the next few days. Les Halles in Tours are reputed to be one of the best in France. We were salivating as we set off.

However, sometimes we really feel like the Griswalds when our excited anticipation gets thrashed by reality.

As we were biking along under the beautiful blue skies we started a conversation with a local woman who was cycling along beside us. All was going well until she said that since it was Monday she didn't think Les Halles was open. That's not what Google said so we ventured on.

Don't dismiss what locals tell you. Les Halles was closed.

Not only that, we had a major reinforcement of what we already know but had been vainly trying to ignore. France is not a morning nation. Nothing was open, save for a few Tabac's (a beer or a smoke was not what we were looking for at 9 am!). We finally hit on a Coffee shop that was just opening up ... first customers of the day! A coffee and pain au chocolate was it for breakfast. OK, but not the haul we were anticipating from Les Halles.

Now caffeinated, we made our way back to the (budget) Ibis, packed up our stuff, and headed out. Kirsten had put together a nice three day agenda that would get us to Chavignol (of cheese fame and about 3 km from Sancerre, of wine fame) over the next three days with stops in Amboise, Saumur, Blois, Chambord Orleans and Briare, all places with interesting and unique things to see and do.

First though, we made a few stops in Tours. I checked out the Cathedral, while Kirsten checked out her email on a bench outside (I think this will be a recurring theme). Then we headed out.

For the first time on this trip we had full sunshine. It was hot. Very hot. After about 20 km, we made a quick stop in a town we can't remember, found some shade, and I made a call to Rohloff, as it was now Monday and they would be back at work, happily finding a solution to our cog replacement problem. I got through to them right away, and my joyous expectations were quickly dashed on the rocks of 'interface responsibility'. Turns out, the tool we need to remove Kirsten's cog is not from Rohloff, but rather Gates, the belt drive people.

AAHHGG!!! Why didn't the mechanic in Nantes make this clear! Deep breath. Don't blame someone else. Why didn't I follow through on the details.

The Rohloff folks were as helpful as they could be and promptly sent me an email with the contact details for the European Gates distributor and even sent an introductory email to their contacts there.

We continued on to Amboise where the plan was to check out the final home of Leonardo da Vinci (he spent quite a bit of time and in fact died here). As we've now come to appreciate, this is August in France, so a LOT of other people have the same idea. Before heading off to Chez da Vinci we grabbed a quick lunch and I gave the Gates people a call.

Cut to the chase, Aussie Chris at Gates in Germany was incredibly helpful. After a few phone and email exchange, he arranged to have the tools we (or more precisely a bike shop) will need to replace the cog, and he was sending them to us free of charge.

While all of this was happening, we were also touring the da Vinci digs, along with about a thousand other people, under blazing mid day sun.

On a cooler day, with about a 1/10th of the people, this would have been very interesting. That wasn't today. oh, one more thing. Yesterday I got stung by a wasp. Last time this happened was about 20 years ago and I had a pretty bad allergic reaction. So, let's do that all over again!

When we were leaving Tours, I noticed my forearm was staring to swell. Kirsten fed me some anti histamines and we thought I'd be fine. As we're inching our way through da Vinci's place, my arm has started to resemble one of those long pink balloons that clowns tie into wiener dogs. Ummm, better head to the pharmacy.

Now I realise that a lot (alright, most) of what I've written here appears to be critical of France, and that's not really fair. What happened over the next hour really shows what's really good about this place, in particular for the folks who live here.

There was a pharmacy right down in the middle of the tourist throng at the base of the Amboise Chateau. I walked in, stammered a few things in French and showed my arm to the Pharmacist. He said (in perfect english) that I probably needed some stronger drugs and should see a doctor. He immediately made a quick phone call and said the Dr. Proust could see me right away. His office was about 50 m away down a narrow alley between a throng of souvenir shops and bars. All this took about 5 minutes.

We walked the 50 m, rang the bell and went straight up to see Dr. Proust. About 20 minutes later, most of it chatting with the Doc, I had a prescription for some cortisone pills and cream and a bill for a whopping 25 Euros (with a form that I could use for insurance claim ... I don't think I'll tax the system).

A long 50 m walk back to the pharmacy, 10 minutes and 12 Euros later we're done.

Here's to single payer health care. Less than an hour and 37 Euro's total! Viva la France!!!

By this time it's getting close to 5 and its clear we're not going any further. Turns out there was a nice campsite about 2 km away, and miraculously they still had spaces available. Camp set up, showered up, we set off back into town and got a nice outside table at an Italian place looking onto the Chateau walls. Not a bad way to end a day that turned out quite different from that we originally envisioned.

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Song of the Day :

A family standard in times of stress, and a great song

Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and the Wailers

"Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing is going to be all right'