09/09/2022
Today has been a travel day, with another stretch of about 320km to do to take as to the Loire valley, and back to where we were originally planned to be in France, had we been able to spend the planned time in Canada with the children. And we only had one stopped planned. Or, should I say – I had one stop planned. One that was by no means negotiable.
Driving in France has been an experience with mixed feelings. Besides the fact that I’m sitting on the wrong side of the car, and that my muscle-memory continues to look up to the left for my centre rearview mirror, and down and to the right for me ‘outside’ rearview mirror, and besides the fact that I always feel like some car is about to crash into me from behind me from the left, every time I have to cross the opposite lane when I turn left. The roads are mostly great. Freeways, of course are the best. As long as you don’t hog the fast lane. I’m convinced that many of the secondary roads are haunted though. There are times that I get frustrated with a car (or even a bus or truck!) that feels like it is a mere centimeter from my rear bumper, and so I start looking for a place to just pull off the road (quickly, because they are so close behind me), so they can pass me. And when I look again, the car is just gone. Vanished. And I never saw it turn off, or sometimes even spotted a place where they could turn off. And then, in a flash, another car appears in my mirror. Sugh. And, of course, there are MANY circles. Often with quite a few exits, so I really have to count carefully to take the correct exit. But sometimes, like yesterday, the GPS takes us on such a remote and narrow road, that all I can do is pray that we don’t encounter any oncoming traffic. And when you do, I think there are special Narrow-road gods that help you diminish the size of your car to be sure that you pass safely. But I’m driving a little Fiat 500, and absolutely loving it!
And so our stop today was at ZooParc de Beauval. Why? They have pandas! Eeeeeee! Pandas must be the single animal left on my bucket list to see. And I was so very excited. And, MAN, was it worth while. This must be the best form of a zoo that I have ever been to. The entire layout is done so well, with walkways and lifts to help you along up and down the hilly area. And the enclosures are all so well laid out and spacious. On more than one occasion, I spotted a young guy taking down notes of some of the animals, almost like his job was to make sure they are happy and content. And in the enclosure for the arctic wolves, we spotted 4 of the employees with large stick (just in case), in their enclosure, picking up any rubbish that may have found its way into the enclosure.
And – of course – the pandas. What a treat. I’ll just share some photo’s 🙂
Our final stretch of driving was to a little town of Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt, a little town with less than 1000 inhabitants near Chinon in the Loire valley. This will be our base to explore the wines and chateau’s of the region over the next few days. And, to our surprise, we happened to arrive on the evening that they have a music concert in the park across the road from our accommodation. We didn’t expect much, but eventually strolled across to see what was happening and absolutely loved what we saw. Les Freres Jacquard are three guys who seem to do their thing from their little caravan that has been modified accordingly. And they were great! We arrived with them singing Highway to Hell (ACDC) in French, but they continued to perform various genre of music, with some animated and comic additions.
It looks like we are going to love this region of France as well.
