The weather forecast for today in this area had a bit of everything (like Melbourne weather - four seasons in one day) so we decided to spend the day exploring Tours and go on a mini-bus tour of a few chateaux tomorrow when it's predicted to be fine and sunny. We started by catching the tram up to Vieux Tours (the old part of town) which was only three stops away. The first gorgeous thing we saw was Pont Wilson, named after the US President but it must have been called something else before they honoured him by naming this bridge after him because it is most definitely pre-WW2. It's a relatively long stone bridge over the Loire River and it has pretty multi-coloured flags all along both sides of it. Not national flags, more like rainbow coloured.
We then wandered through the little streets to Place Plumereau (or Place Plum as it is colloquially known), now a pretty square surrounded by cafes and shops on the ground floors of the old houses, some of them dating back to the 14th century. We also visited the Basilica of St Martin - a relatively new building (finished in 1924) to replace the one built in the Middle Ages which was destroyed during the French Revolution. Our next stop was the Cathedral of St Gatien. The lower stages were built in the 12th century with the towers being added 300 years later. These towers were described in the tour guide as being in the 'profusely detailed Flamboyant Gothic' style and I couldn't put it better myself. We did plan on then going to the Hotel Gouin - a mansion built in the 15th century. However the building was almost completely destroyed by bombs during the Second World War and while it was partially restored during the 1950s it was closed for further restoration work so we could only get a glimpse of it through the gates.
We were pretty tired after walking around Tours for most of the day so we just went to a Chinese restaurant in the same block as our motel for dinner. Not surprisingly it was the same food you'd get in a Chinese restaurant in Australia although I will say that the prawn spring rolls were very good.
