LA CADOISE, GENILLE

May 27-28

The following day Helene served us a delicious breakfast of ‘Far Breton”, a dish made of eggs, sugar, flour, corn meal and plums.  We gobbled it up and then set about packing, for it was time to move on.  Helene kindly made reservations for us at the next place and we set off down the road.

We stopped at the Novotel in Amboise for a few hours to catch up on email, bank issues and check the credit card balance.  Then we continued through the countryside, back through Chenonceaux, where we stopped for our picnic lunch on the shores of the river Cher, opposite the chateau, and then on south to Genille.  The weather has been very nice, sunny and blue.

In Genille we quickly found our chambre, La Cadoise.  We cannot say enough about the lovely accommodation and amenities provided at La Cadoise.  Our hosts, Anne and Vincent Pontelet, were charming.  They have 4 sons, who are also very nice and well behaved.  Our room was spacious, with a king bed and a beautiful view out the window.

After taking our luggage in, and taking a shower, Don and I went for a swim in the pool to cool off, and then we enjoyed a visit with the other guests at the chambre, who happened to be a Dutch couple.  The fellow had run bike trips in the Loire Valley for Americans for many years.  He says that business is off about 80% since 9/11.

M. et Mme Vincent PONCELET
"La Cadoise" - 37460 GENILLE
Tel 02 47 91 64 22
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/lacadoise/ 
lacadoise@wanadoo.fr



Our hostess was interested to hear about our home exchange experiences and inquired if we might consider an exchange with her in a few years.  We readily agreed and hope that the proposal comes to fruition, perhaps in 2007 or 2008.  The setting here is beautiful, the location for touring the Chateaux of the Loire is perfect, and the people are very nice.  I can’t think of a better opportunity for an exchange.  To further the deal, I showed her photos of our new house in Mt. Hermon.  Anne liked what she saw.

That evening we went to town for dinner.  We both had the offered menu, which included pate, a salad with a fish terrine, duck, cheese and dessert.  Don’s dessert was three scoops of sorbet—mango, raspberry and coconut.  Yum.

We wished we could have stayed another day here, but they were all booked up, so after our typical French breakfast of bread and coffee, yogurt and jam, we packed up and said goodbye.  Our host, after several tries, was able to book us a room in Sorigny.  Saturday night many of our choices were booked up, so we took what we could get.  We got on our bikes, reconfirming the possibility of a future exchange and then went along our way.

The scenery along the route was green trees and fields.  We traveled along the back roads, up and down gently rolling hills, along the river, to the medieval town of Loches.  This town has a well-preserved wall, with gates into the center of the town, just as they were in the 1300s.  We toured the town, stopping at the historic home of the impressionistic artist, Lansyer, where we learned about his history, participation in the famous exhibitions of the impressionistic works, and saw many of his paintings.  Saturday was market day and the lanes were filled with open air stalls, selling fruits and vegetables, cheese, bread and sausage, jewelry, furniture, clothing and just about anything else you might think of.  We bought 3 sausages. We ate our lunch in the lovely town park.

The route continued along the country roads.  Don was feeling a bit tired, and we were both glad to arrive at our B&B, get our shower, and have a rest.  We ended up making a dinner of the snacks and bread and cheese.  It was our host’s 75^th birthday and his whole family came over to celebrate.  We went to bed early.