The Loire Valley, France

Here's Marti about to board the bus for the next stop, the Chateau Chenonceau. The bus was nice and our tour group was nice too, although no one interacted with one another much, which was fine with us. The tour guide was French, of course, but spoke English poorly. That happened in Italy too where the tour guide barely spoke understandable English. It's unfortunate because the tour information can be boring anyway, but when you can't understand what they're saying, it makes it even worse. This tour guide spent most of her time carrying on long-winded conversations with the bus driver in French. And the New York couple who sat behind us in the bus spent their time talking on their cell phone to their children's governesses and their maids in Spanish! Very annoying!