Greetings from Saumur, France. As many of you know via a hurriedly written e-mail from London, we safely arrived at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday, about 1 1/2 hours early. Once we left the baggage carrier and had to deal with all the bags, we began to rethink our packing! I had checked out sending stuff to Italy, but it seemed too expensive. Should have just done it!!! However, we managed. The Heathrow Connect, a train linking the airport with downtown London, Paddington station, was quick and easy. The hotel was only a few blocks away; still, hands were tired and muscles ached from pulling and carrying.
We enjoyed a nice fish & chips dinner, a lovely walk through Kensington Gardens, and good night's sleep. A taxi (VW Eurovan), took us to St. Pancras Station to catch the Eurostar to Paris -- wonderfully smooth ride -- 2 1/2 hours long is all!! Paris was crazy as we had to connect from Gare du Nord train station to Montparnasse in order to get our train to Saumur. The metro was not a good choice; for some reason it was crowded, and we had soooo much luggage. A wonderful woman on the metro stayed with us and helped us with the luggage to Montparnasse, missing her stop to do so. Exhausted, we got on the TGV train and enjoyed a very scenic trip to the Loire Valley and Saumur. We did have a train change at Angers; again, several of the SNCF (French national train) staff helped us take the bags from one track to another. Then when we arrived in Saumur, the taxi stands were empty as all the cars were occupied. BUT, along comes a very nice man who sees us, asks us if we need a taxi, and then proceeds to call one for us. Our very nice taxi driver, who graciously put up with my bad French, made a quick trip to our hotel, not far away. He slammed on the brakes when a cat ran across the road -- as did all the other drivers. (I suspect the cat did it on purpose as it smiled from the other side.) I told him that we had several cats and 2 dogs; he has 2 cats and said he always watches out for them!! Last night, all I could think of was how many people I have heard say the French are rude. I wonder if those people would have helped us so graciously and unquestioningly as the French did yesterday!!
Lovely dinner last night -- even lovelier Saumur wine. The family sitting next to us was from Manchester, England; they had a boy about Emma's age and a girl a few years younger. We talked, ate, and drank together until midnight!!!
This morning after a wonderful baguette and croissant breakfast, we enjoyed a performance at the French National equestrian school. The Cadre Noir (black riders, not of the Tolkien variety) are also there. We saw dressage, show jumping, and "horse ballet" much like the Lipizzaners of Austria. Marvellous.
Cloudy but comfortable temperatures -- off to explore the old city. I'll upload pictures in a couple of days.
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