Blowing up Blois

Yet another early morning dash through the met and a complicated journey through a one if the huge interchange trains stations of Paris saw us onto our country bound train to Blois in the heart of the Château country. E had timed this so we well we got our own little cabin in 1st class on an over booked train and were thus very comfortable for our 2 hour fly through the heart of France.
As our Hotel is across the road from the train station it was very easy to locate and deposit our bags and go for a walk whilst they got the rooms ready. Had we had known we could have slept in and done the whole thing at afar lesser pace – but who’s to know that when your ½ a planet away and 6 months out ?
Anyway, through the misty rain and cold breezes we headed off to see what the town had to offer. We discovered that the information centre was run by some very strange women who purported to speak English but really had no idea. The town is less crowded than we are used to – which is really refreshing and the majority of tourists appear to be French – which is also refreshing.
Over lunch we planned the next 3 days activities and then did a self guided walk around the town. This was very well set up with markers on the footpaths to follow, a map and a tour guide (aka Isabel) who managed to give us a history of the entire town, every significant building and others. Whilst it may have lacked in accuracy it certainly made up for it in imagination and the interconnectedness of all things.
Once we got into the rooms we relaxed for a bit and then headed out for dinner. Tomorrow is a public holiday (so almost everyone had today off as well) and this evening they had a fireworks display to which the entire region appeared to show up to watch. So whilst we were having dinner in the main square we discovered that fireworks are still available in France for the youths to play with and they certainly don’t seem to mind doing so. In public. The police don’t seem to mind but it certainly made a few visitors wonder where the next terrorist attack was going to come from. We discussed the possibility of sorting them out but in the end we figured that even Gabby’s practiced Principle’s glare would not curb their fun. When in Rome...
So we joined the throngs and headed to the bridge – they were obviously waiting for something and being the natural queuers that we have become (thanks for that Walt) we waited with them. As it does not get dark until 10:30pm and not really, really dark until 11:00 we waited and waited and waited. Eventually they turned the street lights off (they take their fireworks seriously over here) and the show began.
The sound of the booms echoing off the churches and Château was awesome, the light show spectacular and the pressure waves from the big ones were enough to make our clothing ripple. So it was fun. Exhausted after walking back up the hill to our room we are now wondering if the itinerary we have set for tomorrow was such a smart move...