Saint Benoît sur Loire to Orleans

It was an easy biking day today. We really enjoyed last night's stay in the little tiny village of Saint Benoit, very tranquil. In the past few days we've definitely seen far more bikers than earlier, the first few days coming down from Paris we saw zero tourists on bikes, just some locals. Now they're everywhere. As a matter of fact we met a guy from Portland, he's headed all the way to Istanbul on his bike. I only discovered he was from Portland because the path forked, and I didn't know which path Peter had taken, so I asked him in French and he replied in English. We chatted a bit. He also helped me out with my bike seat, which has been very painful. I think his adjustment helped a tiny bit. He's camping the whole way, says it's very easy and cheap.
Stopped in the little village of Jargeau, had a coffee and a brioche. AND Left my backpack on the seat next to me again! Luckily I remembered within less than 5 minutes, so we didn't have to go far back.
Arriving in Orleans, we had to wait until 5:00 to get into the apartment that we booked. It turns out there is a piano festival in Orleans this weekend! lots of pianos were available in public places, for people to play. What a coincidence, because Peter has really been wishing for a piano to play. He played quite a bit at the public piano at the museum next to the cathedral.
The little apartment that we're in, booked on booking.com, looked a lot better in the pictures online that it actually does in person. That seems to always be the case. It just seems a little bit grungy and unloved right now, probably after years of being rented out. The one positive is that it's extremely central. Peter likes the apartment rentals because they usually have Netflix, and so he gets to watch his favorite show now, Avatar.
Peter went to a concert downtown, I hung out at the bookstore which was close by. Bookstores seem to be far more popular here than they are in the US. Even little tiny towns have them.

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