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<blockquote data-quote="BillB" data-source="post: 2421086" data-attributes="member: 9985"><p>Jackie tripped on the steps a couple of weeks ago and dislocated a finger. She was taken to hospital in an ambulance, was x-rayed after an examination was treated and set up with a course of physiotherapy which she is still undergoing. So now, after some high drama and a start to Jackie’s physiotherapy, it’s time to finish off our visit to the Ile d’Oléron with our journey home. We bade our son and daughter-in-law farewell and set off for the autoroute which would take us to the hotel where we would spend the night to break the journey back to Luxembourg.</p><p></p><p>Normally we would have overnighted at the Relais de Chambord where we had stopped on the way down, but it was fully booked due to the French TV programme which was being broadcast from the grounds of the Chateau and the subsequent crowds of TV people staying on after the broadcast. However, the hotel receptionist recommended another hotel, which he assured me was the same type of hotel as the Relais, and gave me the contact details. I looked it up on the internet and it appeared to be a good recommendation. I called the new hotel, Les Sources de Cherverny, and was able to book a room and dinner.</p><p></p><p>The drive to the hotel was along autoroutes quieter than most of us have ever seen them due to the pandemic. They were busier as we approached cities - Tours, Poitiers and the next day Chartres. Paris, of course, is always Paris and always busy.</p><p></p><p>But after leaving the autoroute it was still quite a drive to the hotel, which is in the grounds of the Chateau de Cheverny. It was a pleasant drive, across bucolic pastures, fields of grain and areas of forest, which eventually brought us to the gates of the hotel. The gates stated quite clearly that it was Les Sources de Cheverney hotel though there was no sign of the hotel. Undeterred, I turned onto the lane beyond the gates and hoped for the best. Which turned out to be good enough.</p><p></p><p>We arrived at a group of buildings with some tables set out in the open air where people were enjoying their drinks. We carried on, not very far, until we arrived at another car park. We had already passed several on our way in but I pulled over into this one as it was close to the main group of buildings. Walking towards Reception we passed the tables where guests were enjoying their drinks. Our appearance, with our overnight bag, attracted some surreptitious attention from the occupants of the tables. I don’t know why we did, as we have the required number of arms, legs and heads, but I suppose when you’re sitting at a table and sipping your drink, any distraction will be welcome.</p><p></p><p>Not seeing the Reception we enquired in the bar where the helpful young men pointed out the building which housed Reception. We crossed the short distance and explained to the helpful young lady behind the counter that we knew we were a little early to check in but we were willing to throw ourselves on her mercy.</p><p></p><p>She gave us two options - either we could walk across to the chateau grounds and spend the time visiting there, but we had twice already visited it, so we took the second option, which was to have a drink at the bar.</p><p></p><p>We made our way back to the bar, attracting the same surreptitious attention from the clients drinking at the outside table. Our welcome in the bar was friendly and helpful. I chatted with the barman about the French whiskies they had.</p><p></p><p>As something of a connoisseur of whisky I had recently discovered that France harboured a number of whisky distilleries and found that I liked the products of theirs that I’d tried. The barman suggested one that I hadn’t tasted so I told him to serve it the way I like it, no ice, no water, just whisky. And Jackie was more than pleased to discover that Hendrick’s gin was on the shelf, soon to be in a glass in front of her, accompanied by tonic and some ice cubes.</p><p></p><p>We sat at the bar and chatted with the staff, which is our standard procedure in a new hotel. We find so much information about the surrounding area from the staff, and we learn so much about their lives, their careers, their hopes for the future.</p><p></p><p>Both our sons, when they left school, opted to enter the hotel business and subsequently studied at hotel school and went on to work in the hospitality industry. They moved on and carved out careers in other fields, our oldest as a Mercedes salesman and our youngest, meeting an American girl and marrying her within a couple of weeks, moved with her to California and when she inherited a considerable sum of money following a family tragedy, subsequently moved to Palm Springs, where he lives to this day.</p><p></p><p>It’s because of our sons’ experience that we are always polite and considerate with hotel, bar and restaurant staff. It makes me feel better and I hope they feel better for having made our acquaintances.</p><p></p><p>THE CONCLUSION WILL FOLLOW SHORTLY</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BillB, post: 2421086, member: 9985"] Jackie tripped on the steps a couple of weeks ago and dislocated a finger. She was taken to hospital in an ambulance, was x-rayed after an examination was treated and set up with a course of physiotherapy which she is still undergoing. So now, after some high drama and a start to Jackie’s physiotherapy, it’s time to finish off our visit to the Ile d’Oléron with our journey home. We bade our son and daughter-in-law farewell and set off for the autoroute which would take us to the hotel where we would spend the night to break the journey back to Luxembourg. Normally we would have overnighted at the Relais de Chambord where we had stopped on the way down, but it was fully booked due to the French TV programme which was being broadcast from the grounds of the Chateau and the subsequent crowds of TV people staying on after the broadcast. However, the hotel receptionist recommended another hotel, which he assured me was the same type of hotel as the Relais, and gave me the contact details. I looked it up on the internet and it appeared to be a good recommendation. I called the new hotel, Les Sources de Cherverny, and was able to book a room and dinner. The drive to the hotel was along autoroutes quieter than most of us have ever seen them due to the pandemic. They were busier as we approached cities - Tours, Poitiers and the next day Chartres. Paris, of course, is always Paris and always busy. But after leaving the autoroute it was still quite a drive to the hotel, which is in the grounds of the Chateau de Cheverny. It was a pleasant drive, across bucolic pastures, fields of grain and areas of forest, which eventually brought us to the gates of the hotel. The gates stated quite clearly that it was Les Sources de Cheverney hotel though there was no sign of the hotel. Undeterred, I turned onto the lane beyond the gates and hoped for the best. Which turned out to be good enough. We arrived at a group of buildings with some tables set out in the open air where people were enjoying their drinks. We carried on, not very far, until we arrived at another car park. We had already passed several on our way in but I pulled over into this one as it was close to the main group of buildings. Walking towards Reception we passed the tables where guests were enjoying their drinks. Our appearance, with our overnight bag, attracted some surreptitious attention from the occupants of the tables. I don’t know why we did, as we have the required number of arms, legs and heads, but I suppose when you’re sitting at a table and sipping your drink, any distraction will be welcome. Not seeing the Reception we enquired in the bar where the helpful young men pointed out the building which housed Reception. We crossed the short distance and explained to the helpful young lady behind the counter that we knew we were a little early to check in but we were willing to throw ourselves on her mercy. She gave us two options - either we could walk across to the chateau grounds and spend the time visiting there, but we had twice already visited it, so we took the second option, which was to have a drink at the bar. We made our way back to the bar, attracting the same surreptitious attention from the clients drinking at the outside table. Our welcome in the bar was friendly and helpful. I chatted with the barman about the French whiskies they had. As something of a connoisseur of whisky I had recently discovered that France harboured a number of whisky distilleries and found that I liked the products of theirs that I’d tried. The barman suggested one that I hadn’t tasted so I told him to serve it the way I like it, no ice, no water, just whisky. And Jackie was more than pleased to discover that Hendrick’s gin was on the shelf, soon to be in a glass in front of her, accompanied by tonic and some ice cubes. We sat at the bar and chatted with the staff, which is our standard procedure in a new hotel. We find so much information about the surrounding area from the staff, and we learn so much about their lives, their careers, their hopes for the future. Both our sons, when they left school, opted to enter the hotel business and subsequently studied at hotel school and went on to work in the hospitality industry. They moved on and carved out careers in other fields, our oldest as a Mercedes salesman and our youngest, meeting an American girl and marrying her within a couple of weeks, moved with her to California and when she inherited a considerable sum of money following a family tragedy, subsequently moved to Palm Springs, where he lives to this day. It’s because of our sons’ experience that we are always polite and considerate with hotel, bar and restaurant staff. It makes me feel better and I hope they feel better for having made our acquaintances. THE CONCLUSION WILL FOLLOW SHORTLY [/QUOTE]
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