This morning we got up “early” at about 9 am to visit Loches with Yannick who will be our tour guide the rest of the week. He took off of work and we are very grateful for his help and his company. First we went to a market and bought some things to make a picnic.

Yannick explaining the old and “new” parts of the city. Old was built in the 11th century, new built in the 14th century.

Then Yannick took us on a tour of a jail and dungeon which started being used in the middle ages.

Medieval jail toilet.

Medieval graffiti.

Interactive augmented reality on a tablet provided as part of our tour.

Looking up from the cellar.

Then it was time to climb to the top. The floor is a metal grate (you can see it in the picture above). It was a little frightening for some.

The view looking down into the cellar from the top floor. Originally there were floors here but a fire burned them down.

There was more to see but the kids had had enough so we walked back to the car. Tonight we got the chance to see Laurence perform in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. She played lead fairy and a worker. The play was in French but Nole and I watched the spark notes video version before we went so we were able to follow the plot even if we didn’t understand most of what was said. I loved it, especially the costumes and the physical humor.