Room 24 at Jour de Tours

Sunday May 13th, 2007

After arriving in Tours via train, we went directly to the Tourist Info Office to find out how to get to our hotel. This made the beginning to a very interesting day...

there was a moment of panic and then shear fright for all members...

First of all, we found out that our hotel was NOT in Tours but rather Jour des Tours - something like a subburb of Tours. Anyways, by bus, it was 30 minutes or an 20€ cab ride. Since we only had an hour and a half till the train to Chateau Chenonceau, we figured it was not worth the time and energy to go to our hotel.

After catching the train to Chenonceaux, the Chateau was literally right across the train tracks. This Chateau was built on the River Cher which made it different from all the others. It was not as big as Chambord, it was still a decent size with well manicured gardens.

We then returned to Tours and began our journey to our hotel...

We took the bus for approx. 50 min and got off with vague directions. Evidently, we got lost. Brandon asked three different people, including a police officer, with each one pointing in different directions. The policemen were right. This part took approx. an hour - a long time to wander around with our big bags when hungry and tired.

Our next hurdle, was that when we booked this place, we could only book for a room with two double beds - aka four people, but we had five. So the plan was for myself and Brant to go check in and let the others in the back door. I got the key to the room only to discover that they gave us a ONE double bed. By the time I went to go and exchange the key, the employees at the front desk had left!

Nonetheless, we stayed optimistic and assumed that the employees would return after dinner. We were all starving so so we ditched our bags in our room and headed out for a bite to eat. Unfortunately, being a Sunday, pretty much everything was closed. Thankfully, we managed to find  a little pizza shop!

We took our scrumtous dinner back to the hostel, only to discover that the employees / receptionists were still not there and it appeared that there was no one else even in the hostel! The lights were off on the upper floors, the kitchen/lounge room, the keys were left in the front door, AND the majority of keys were left hanging behind the open desk.

We thought it was a little bizarre to say the least. As we sipped on our wine bought from the Chateau earlier that day, Brandon S. began pointing out how much this situation resembled that of a Horror Movie. And this is where we all began to have second guesses about this place we were staying at.

Everyone remained generally calm, until Brandon G. tried to turn on more inside lights. However, it was not a light switch he pushed, instead it was a switch to close the jail-like type door to our only exit.

Obviously, there was a moment of panic and then shear fright for all members. Matt contemplated swapping our key for another room in the hopes of getting two double beds. We thought however, we should avoid the chance of getting into trouble with authorities.

After much debate, we scuttled into our room and got ready for bed, hoping that all fears would be gone in the morning. Brandon and I took the floor, while Matt, Brant and Brandon S. romantically spooned in the bed.

We were very glad to leave this place the next morning!