On Saturday the 24th we decided to take it easy. We slept about 11 hours, then I stashed the car in a garage for the day while Diane went out to find pastries for breakfast. We took our dirty laundry two blocks to the nearest laundromat: "Charlie et le Choco-Laverie," a hybrid cafe-laundry with wifi. There we caught up on various Web sites and social media while getting our clothes clean.
For lunch we picked a nice-looking place on the Rue Colbert, the old pre-18th Century main street of Tours which runs parallel to the river. I'm afraid I don't recall the name, but the food was good.
From there we wandered over to the Cathedral of St. Gatien (the first bishop of Tours), and stumbled across a concert in progress. It was a performance by a choir, small orchestra, organ, and half a dozen Scottish bagpipers. The first several rows of the audience were occupied by people in Renaissance costume, but the music was mostly recent, including a spirited rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."* I have no idea what was going on, but the music was nice and the cathedral is lovely.
We stopped at the science fiction bookstore Imaginaute and had a nice chat with the owner, shading as always into bitching about how kids these days don't buy enough books.
We napped away the hottest part of the afternoon, then I went out on my own in the evening to sit at a sidewalk table drinking an Aperol spritz and update my journal while watching the people, feeling exceedingly cosmopolitan.
If I had my way, trips would last longer and include more days like this one.
*How the heck did this song get turned into a quasi-hymn? Does nobody listen to lyrics?
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