The French really know food. While the town of Tours was nice enough for buildings and architecture, the biggest takeaway from this leg of the trip was how much I’ve enjoyed the food.
The train ride from Lille to Tours on the TGV has been our best train experience to date. We were on the second level of the double-decker train that hit speeds of up to 320 km/hr. The seats were extremely comfortable recliners, our table had its own ambient lamp and the car was very quiet, which I realize now that I appreciate more each day. Dan also enjoyed the bar, which was two cars down.
When we had arrived at our station, we had to take a short bus ride to Gare de Tours and started walking along Rue Edouard, looking for our hotel. I was keeping an eye out for the building number (27 Rue Edouard) and saw #28.. and #26… and in between the two, ‘Le Fémina’. We weren’t sure if we were on the right street or we just got scammed into a booking for a non-existent accommodation, but thankfully when we continued further down the street, we found our hotel – which has been our cheapest accommodation in Europe to date (which in my mind is better value than some of our hostels, since we get our own washroom and maid service each day).
The city of Tours (pop. 250,000+), is a nice little place, and its main areas of interest are mainly focused around the Old Town (Place Plumereau) and Rue Colbert for eating, the Loire for the riverside natural beauty, and Rue Nationale & Rue Bordeaux for shopping. Avenue de Grammont also had a flower market that was fun to walk through.
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We did spend a couple of afternoons strolling through these areas, and shopping (or lack thereof) was extremely hard for me this time around. I did receive some reprieve via food and so far, this has been the best place where we’ve enjoyed the cuisine. We’ve had crêpes, croissants, baguettes, café , pain au chocolat, French/Thai infusion dishes, Italian cuisine with a little french flare and some of the yummiest and most eye-catching desserts. Not surprisingly, since most of our time has been spent eating, we’re getting pretty good at ordering entirely en français.
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… cont’d in part II
Good guys, you didn’t starve yourselves! and the portions are generous! But the desserts got me hands down!
still losing weight??!!
Hahaha, good question! Lucky for us, we’ve been toting around our backpacks and walking alot. So, hopefully we keep the weight under wraps. Especially now that we’re in Spain and about to hit the beach tomorrow. 🙂
Whoa! Look at all that delicious looking food! Jealous. 🙂