Saumur

We ate lunch in central Saumur at l'Auberge St. Pierre on the main square. I had a terrine of salmon in a tomato coulis, followed by grilled rouget fillets served with a sauerkraut - very original and very good. Ken had oysters and tête de veau; CHM had the salmon terrine and bœuf bourguignon. All was washed down with a Saumur Champigny. Yum.

Saumur's main bridge over the Loire River.

The lazy Loire at Saumur.

Looking up-river from Saumur, toward Tours. There's not a lot of water in the river during summer months and huge exposed sand bars are common.

Le Château de Saumur.

As you can see it was a spectacular day. Thank goodness for the air-conditioned car. Toward the end of our day we visited two wine producers outside of town and bought 20 liters of Saumur white and 20 liters of Saumur red. Cela va nous changer du vin local... mais pas trop.

Saumur's white wine is chenin, where ours on this end of the Touraine region is sauvignon blanc. Their red is cabernet franc; ours is gamay.

In other news, one of my favorite bloggers, Hank Fox, has pulled the plug (and I've deleted my link to his site). I will miss his wit, his insight, and his photos. He's moving on to new things and I hope that one day he will return to the blogosphere with bigger and better stuff to share. Good luck, Hank.