| Wednesday, June 19, 2013 -- Beaugency -- Biking Day 1 |

We arrived in the Medieval town of Beaugency at close to 8:30 PM, hungry and tired. The staff at Le Grand Hôtel de l'Abbaye, a 1,000 year old building that functioned as an Abbey for its first 700 years, were fantastic. They swept us in, helped with the bike storage, and made us dinner reservations for 12 people at a nearby restaurant, L'Idee (The Idea) with "le menu des enfants". Meanwhile we went upstairs to take a hot bath and prep for dinner.

The rooms are comfortable, well appointed, and all unique, given that the building originated in the 11th century. Our second story room had pullout bed on the main level for our son and a staircase to a loft master suite with a comfortable bed and up to date bath.

We walked up the hill into the village center to dine at L'Idee (the Idea). It had warmed up since the earlier rain squalls, so we sat outside as dusk overtook the village. This was the first of series of amazing amazing gastronomic experiences we would experience in the Loire Valley.

Not all of us had time for a drink at the hotel bar before our late dinner, so Robin, Amy and I took advantage of the tray of beer and wine that the hotel staff had left out in the Blue Salon for us to sample when we returned from dinner at 11:30 PM.