France -- Carcassonne to Amboise

This morning (21 June 2010) mom, Judy, and I got ready around 8 am and by 9 am, after taking some final looks at La Cité (and kitties on walls/rooftops), we dragged our luggage downstairs and checked out of Hotel du Pont Vieux. We walked to the post office to buy stamps and mail post cards (I mailed Shannon’s Carcassonne kitty heart post card), then we continued to Place Carnot for breakfast (café crèmes). We also bought some pastries and sandwiches for the trains (a long trip today to Amboise in the Loire Valley).

We arrived at the train station ~11 am and boarded our train bound for Toulouse a half hour later. We took this regional train and travelled to Toulouse (1 hour) where we transferred to a TGV bound for Tours (St Pierre-des-Corps). The TGV took 5 hours and we enjoyed our snacks while looking at sights out the window.

Finally, in Tours, we transferred to our final train to Amboise (10 minutes!). We arrived in Amboise ~7:10 pm and caught a taxi from the train station to our hotel: Hotel Le Blason. I really liked the rustic look of this old, restored (16th century) hotel – I especially liked the wood beams in the ceiling. We stayed in room 118 – one floor up from the reception desk.

Judy and I ventured out to find some food in town to bring back to the hotel. Amboise is a very cute and lively little town! We eventually found a sandwich place with take-away on Rue Victor Hugo (across from the chateau) and brought our Panini sandwiches and Oranginas back to the hotel where we watched the World Cup. We spent the night relaxing and planning our first full day in Amboise tomorrow.