Day 20 - Tours

We decided to have a bit of a lazy day in Tours today. We were going to hire bikes again to cycle out into the Loire Valley - wine and castle country, but there was a constant drizzle and it didn't seem like an appealing option.

We finally got out of the house at about 11 to check out the local market, the Halles de Tours. Ade was game to try another specialty of the area and the man at the stall kindly gave us 2 pieces to sample. It's called andouille and it's a type of sausage. The centre is first made using pork "chignons" ( large intestines ) cut into strips. Then about thirty other brined, degreased and seasoned "chignons " are threaded over the centre, according to their size, to form an andouille. The last layer is made up of a beef bladder ( caecum ). It is then smoked over a wood fire and then left to dry for several weeks. It is then pricked so that the fat can drain off and then cooked in a simmering broth for three or four hours. So it's just a smoked and boiled intestine sausage - I nibbled a tiny bit 😂 and Ade ate the rest. It was barely passable - smoky, but I didn't like the aftertaste.

Quail anyone?

This tart looked tasty though, but not a whole one for almost $60 aud.

Ade in the very long line to get some saucisse du canard (duck sausage) and saucisse du toulouse for an in-house dinner tonight from the boucherie. A lot of the locals were bringing a jar and getting the filled with the juice and fat from the bottom of the rotisserie cooking the chickens. We also purchased a bottle of local Chenin Blanc for dinner.

We discovered that today was the Tours marathon, so there were thousands of people either running 5, 10, 20 or 40 kms and a lot of very enthusiast and vocal supporters as well as different music/bands set up around the course. The rain didn't seem to have dampened their day. It also meant that the local eateries were very busy!

Lucky Ade also got a small serving of gratin du canard for lunch, duck with a mash potato topping - basically a duck Shepard's pie.

We called past the Bascillica Saint Martin and caught the last minute of Saturday Mass.

In the afternoon we visited the St Gatien Cathedral, the one we can see out of our accommodation. It has one of the most perfect ensembles of stained glass windows of the 13th century existing in Europe and apparently rivals the Sistine Chapel in Paris! Unfortunately it was a rainy day, so there was no bright sunlight, but the windows were pretty amazing.

We found a cocktail - well I did, on Place Plumeraeu.

The chef in the huge kitchen cooking dinner - it was amazing to have a feed of steamed veggies 😂

The sunset was pretty amazing.