Anya+O

May 3rd (Wednesday):

train left Victoria Station at 10:40 and we soon passed Orpington, where we saw the tremendous number of hens raised by the Orpington Chicken Farm people and where they sell this breed from all over the world. We had a bad cold gray day and while the English meadows were very green and the shrubs in bloom,yet it was not the bright sunny England we wanted to see. Crossing the Channel, from Dover to Calais, we found very cool but not rough. After getting through the custom house, we took the train for Lille. it was a cold, grey day, but everywhere the french farmer and his wife and daughters were plouging in the fields an the fields were very beautiful in spite of no sun. We passed large stores of war material [from world war 1] not yet desposed of the many of the shells, etc., were laying outdoors exposed to all kinds of weather. We passed also many cemented foundations for gun carriages erected by the germans and tuns of barbed wire heaped up along side of fields from which it had been cleared, also worlds of old iron and broken shells about armentieres, and other places. Many ruined and roofless houses, but of those we shall see more tomorrow.

May 14th (Monday) Tours, Hotel Metropole:

Long before we reseached the chateau we rode along side the Loire River, perfectly beautiful as it is everywhere. We have been along it, crossed it many times and it is a joy always. One interesting feature, near Cing Mars was the sight of hundreds of houses and wine cellars dug into the rocky places to the left of us, the Loire being on our right. there were hundreds of them. It looked to me like a good opening for a good specialist on rheumatism [arthritis].

May 15th (Monday) Tours:

We started for Blois at 9:30. The weather, like every day here day here, was perfect, and the Spring greens and the foliage and flowers made a great combination. I have never had such a delightful ride in a level country. Our way ran along the side of the Loire almost all the way. there were hundreds of cattle tenders, some boys, some men, but mostly girls, sitting on the green grass, or a stone knitting, or working at some kind of needle work, while they watched the cattle. the pink and whit horse chestnuts were in bloom everywhere and long double rows of trees. Looking ahead, looking across the river, every direction gave the same results. Chateaus up high on hills, others buried in wooded spaces. Farms cultivated to limit as only the French can. Women working in fields, all the young girls and boys were attractive looking and healthy. It seems to me as if a quarter of France was forest land and there was every shade of green and other colors from the light pink