Day 11: Châteauroux

0 km, sunny with a bit of cloud, 21°

Ah…Soleil🌞🍺😎

How nice was it to stay in bed this morning reading my book? Was it fabulous? What do you think? 🙂 I slept well and took my time savouring the slow start.

Today is Victory In Europe Day, the equivalent to our Remembrance Day. You have to look very hard to find a business or a bar open. Fortunately I was able to locate a restaurant that was open and I am now enjoying a nice lunch.

The day wasn’t all about lazing in bed. I had plenty to do on this maintenance day. First there was a breakfast to enjoy with orange juice, yogurt, two boiled eggs, and a really large hot cup of tea all prepared in my cozy apartment. The simple things.😊

And then it was down to work. Given the recent difficulties finding accommodation I decided to book places for the next week. I started phoning various options from my Miam Miam Dodo guide as well as other places I found on Google Maps and Airbnb. I felt real satisfaction when I was able to phone several places and complete entire bookings using only French. That was fun!

At the end of the process I felt pretty good and I moved on to washing the rest of my clothes and sorting out my gear. As you may have noticed, it’s been a little damp lately. So I pulled everything out and hung it over chairs just to let stuff air out. I can’t remember a wetter beginning to a walk. There have been times on most walks when there’s been plenty of rain. Japan and our first Camino immediately come to mind, but not as much during the first 7-9 days. Not even in Italy last spring with all the flooding. This was unique.

I obviously still have to put everything back together again later this afternoon, but that takes surprisingly little time. I have a long stage tomorrow, and though my host told me that tomorrow is not a holiday and the grocery store there will be open, I don’t believe him. A quick search online confirmed that the grocery store will be closed because of the national holiday. 🤣 I did discover that a very large grocery store here would be open all day today. I decided to go on a bit of a walking tour of this town and stop there on my way past.

I soon discovered that the local French/American museum had set up display of World War II American military vehicles. They are all in mint shape and it was kind of interesting to have a look.

I know my father will find this interesting. I certainly did.

Looks like the same ambulance used in M*A*S*H

Then time to walk further out in search of the grocery store.

I would suggest that this store would rival any Costco I’ve ever been in for size. I asked myself why I didn’t spend two hours walking around the isles of this store yesterday.😂

I decided that I better carry some canned fish and crackers with me tomorrow so that I have something to eat for dinner if there are no other options. I’m staying in a fairly small town tomorrow.

This was the fish section, and only about a third of what was available. Amazing!

Once I had secured my food resources, including some peas and carrots for tonight’s dinner, I went for a little more of a wander, and of course found the local cathedral. Well along the restoration process.

I took a few photos inside, and it was fairly nice.There was a woman preparing fresh flowers. Some people just have a knack for this.

I walked back through the central area and occasionally I found buildings where the old names of businesses long gone were printed on the facades at the front. When I see these old signs in movies it always makes me think of France, though I realize they were universal at a certain time in the past.

And if you missed it in the photograph from the inside of the grocery store (likely a corporate sponsor), the 2024 Paris Olympics are being supported and advertised everywhere. People I speak with are mostly a little concerned about the cost of the Olympics. It was the same when Vancouver hosted the Olympics, and I’m pretty sure every other place where the Olympics are hosted. I’m sure that for those who go it will be a lot of fun, though very expensive.

As I sit here, enjoying my lunch, I watch all of the vintage World War II troop carriers, and jeeps drive out of the plaza filled with locals. I guess you could sign up for this, and it looks like fun. They are all returning now and it looks like everybody had a good time.

I’ll send a couple of videos to the kids because I know that Avery really likes trucks, and he won’t really have any concept that these were for military use. It will just be a truck full of people, and I’m sure he’ll enjoy that.

It’s time to head back to my lovely little apartment to pull my gear together and perhaps read while I enjoy happy hour before preparing my dinner. Such a civilized activity!