Day 16: Orléans

For breakfast, in addition to the usual baguette, everyone gets a croissant. They are delicious and a good start to the day. We skip the car and take the tram from Olivet to Orléans. For the almost half-hour ride, we pay €3.20 for the round trip per person. That's a good price and saves us from searching for parking. We reach the city center just before 11 am. I promised David a ride on the tram for city tours, so we are sitting in the tram right on time and listening to interesting information about the city and its personalities in German. The city developed due to its favorable location on the royal river of the Loire. The most significant personality of the city was Joan of Arc. During the Hundred Years' War, she helped the Dauphin and later the French King Charles VII to victory over the English and Burgundians in Orléans, and then she accompanied Charles to his coronation in Reims. After the French defeat in the Battle of Compiègne, Joan of Arc was captured on May 23, 1430, by John II of Luxembourg, later handed over to the English, and finally convicted in a church trial by the Bishop of Beauvais, Pierre Cauchon, who was pro-English, due to various charges. On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in the marketplace of Rouen at the age of 19. We see Joan of Arc's house and get a good overview of the city center. Here too, there are half-timbered houses, but overall everything appears more modern. The highlight of the city is the cathedral. The Cathedral of Sainte-Croix d'Orléans, built from 1601 to 1829, is a magnificent and huge building. Its highest tower measures 114 meters, and the high cloisters make an impressive impression. Here too, the history of the Maid of Orléans is represented in a large stained glass window and sculpture. On our tour, we saw many cathedrals, and this last one is the most beautiful of all. We stroll through the city and enjoy an ice cream before we return to the campsite around 3 pm. The children play, and we relax. After dinner, we sit together. It gets dark faster because we already need our candle around 9 pm.