Day 28 TOURS 01.09.2022

Before we explore the city today, we first need to take care of some important preparations for next week. We thought about renting the bikes a day earlier so that we can calmly pack our belongings into two saddlebags and a handlebar bag. This way, it's better than walking to the bike shop tomorrow and then rushing back to the hotel to pack. Booking the bikes and accessories didn't work from the hotel via the internet (?), but in the shop everything went smoothly using my mobile data. Booking online also included theft and damage insurance. So now we have each booked and paid for a bike, a helmet, a double saddlebag, and a handlebar bag until 08.09.2022 (approx. €330). We can pick up the bikes by 5:00 pm at the latest. Perfect, considering that we would have to pay almost €400 per bike for the round-trip service from Berlin. After that, we went to the train station and bought tickets for our return journey. We changed our minds and decided to only go as far as Angers (approx. 135 km). Since there are so many sights and castles along the way, the mileage will definitely increase, and we don't have to prove anything, just pedal relaxed. Then we visited the tourist information office and booked tickets for the first Loire castles or Loire gardens near the castles. It seems that visiting these magnificent buildings is not free! We are excited! This time we got the train tickets at the train station because the bike shop told us that transporting the bikes on the train is not so easy in France either. So the tickets at the counter and the transport of the bikes are free. Great! Let's see if there are no similar problems like in Germany. The bike capacities are also very limited here. Maybe a good tip for the two-hour journey home from Angers to Tours! We will report back!

Then we wandered through the city, which was sometimes also the capital for the French kings in the Middle Ages. The St. Galien Cathedral was just as impressive from the outside as the one in Reims, but inside it was incredibly high in relation to its width. Gothic at its best! But also the many small side streets with their old flair, partly half-timbered or stately townhouses, were impressive. At some point, we ended up on a pedestrian or bicycle bridge and marveled at the low water level of the Loire. So here too, there are definitely comparisons to Germany. And also fitting impressions of the problems of the French nuclear power plants that lack cooling water and the consequences of that! With temperatures around 27° and sometimes humid weather, we continued through the center and discovered a straight main street, Rue National, which runs straight to the horizon through Tours. In the city center, of course, the main shopping street! The bike shop was our final stop, and after some fine-tuning by the mechanic, we took over our companions. The bike-friendly hotel naturally provides appropriate storage facilities, and the pressure-free repacking was successful! Everything is great!

Now we have enjoyed a delicious meal in the hotel garden and are ending the evening. 'Scha'un mer mal,' as Franz Beckenbauer would say!?