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Tuesday, 28 September (cont.). After the tour, we were on our own until dinner. Jane and I stopped at a shop just outside the Chateau to buy post cards and souvenirs. A bit further along, we bought hot sandwiches and went to a park across the street to eat lunch. Then we walked to the 17th century St. Louis Cathedral, like the Chateau, situated on a high hill. Behind the Cathedral was the Hotel de Ville (City Hall), formerly the Bishop's Palace (1700). Just beyond that was the Bishop's gardens, now a park, with a great view of the town, the river, and the bridge.

We rested for a while on a bench in the park. I left briefly to continue up the hill to the Halle au Grain (Grain Market) while Jane talked to another couple from our group. We then walked down the quaint, narrow Rue Pierre de Blois, back into the center of town.

Jane was craving a soft ice cream, but we could not find any place to buy it. Eventually we passed a small cafe' with a sign in the window for several flavors of cones. When we looked inside, though, all they had was a very small ice cream chest. When we asked the owner, he opened the chest and offered Jane her choice of several flavors. The ice cream was in small containers, like Dixie cups. He opened the one Jane selected, put it atop a shaped metal ring and pulled down a handle that forced it through the ring. It came out onto the cone in a neat spiral, just like the product of a soft ice cream machine.

We were headed for the Resistance Museum but, instead of following the river, we took the old street between the Blois Chateaux and St. Nicolas Church (12th century). This took us through the heart of Vieux Blois, with many very old timbered houses. We wound our way through it to the Resistance Museum, where we spent close to an hour. Then we walked along the river to our hotel, arriving about 4:30.

Our group assembled in the lobby at 6:30, and we walked two blocks along the river to the Les Bacchanales restaurant. There we had an excellent three-course meal (as were all the noon and evening meals included with this tour). We also had our first taste of kir, an aperitif made with black currant liqueur (creme de cassis) and white wine. The cathedral was illuminated as we walked back to the hotel about 9:00 p.m.