Thursday 21 June 1838
Cloudy morning breakfast over at 10 1/4 in about an hour - before and 1/4 hour after wrote out page 230 of this volume - (vide yesterday and this day week)
Ann anxious to go to the top of the cathedral to see the iron roofing put on - an order given yesterday at 5 p.m. for nobody to be allowed to go up - therefore obliged to give it up - sent home the servants and Ann and I walked about the old streets - narrow and steep - many of them impassable to carriages even carts of the present day - bought strawberries and basket in the marché, a goodish square Place - returned by the rue du Grand Cerf to the Carossier Martin whose shop we had passed and observed yesterday in returning, another way than that by which we went, from the Cathedral - went about a volet - seeing that our pole-end would never be secure till the volet was differently fixed - bought volet, and had one of Martin's men to fix it properly saw to this, Martin a nice sort of man and his head man who came a civil good workman, and then came upstairs and from 1 1/2 to 2 25/60 wrote line 28 1/2 of page 231 of this volume - Had Martin's man upstairs and paid him - he had worked in Paris - a good nice little open carriage that would close - carry 4 inside and 2 outside (a light calèche) would cost 2000 or 3,000 chez Martin
Off from Chartres in drizzling rain at 2 35/60 One night sleep at Artenay à l'hotel de la grande Fontaine if not able to reach Orleans, Boule d'Or recommended by Meurice, Chartres to Allonne - 'petit pays' said our postillon - not a carriage once a month - had to wait for horses 35 minutes - had better send a man forward to order horses - I calculated - this would be 1/50 per poste for the horse and as much for the man + 13/- not worth while - the horses had come in 20 minutes but the people were 1/4 hour in harnessing Allaines also a little country village, 'petit pays', but no waiting! off in ten minutes and we are seldom quicker anywhere
The road not good between Allonne and Allaines, but worse from the latter place - rarely safe to try any but the great high roads on the Continent unless one has rattle-trap carriage of the country no wood - no beauty but good light land, light brown colour, particularly well farmed clover and corn the latter rye
At Artenay at 6 1/4 once more on la grande route so our postillon asked if I would not now have 2 postillons! no! Artenay a thriving little thoroughfare town, my book says of 1500 inhabitants - pass 'L'hotel de la Grande Fontaine' a shabby looking little place - but there seems to be a cour? we might perhaps have slept there glad to have time not to try it - they said at Chartres it was merely an auberge
6 minutes in changing horses - still same sort of country to Chevilly, apple trees occasionally along the road side but not thriving not looking as if they liked the soil, one long street of good village - off again in 6 minutes at 7 58/60 pass thro' forest on leaving Chevilly, the 1st wood since Chartres - vires at 8 35/60 and enter long faubourg of Orleans at 8 40/60 1/4 hour long, and then at 8 55/60 pass the barrier gate into la ville d'Orleans, and raser l'hotel de France at 9 - had thought to avoid Meurice's line - but L'hotel de France did not look inviting so drove into the cour of the Boule d'or - went in to see the rooms - beds at 2/- for Ann and myself - no! not in this house, said the mistress, and seeing little inclination on her part very to be civil - Je vous souhaite la bar joue Madame, said I, and ordered off the carriage which had difficulty in backing out - tried the hotel de France - 3/- per bed in double bedded room + 2/- for the servants beds, and nothing looked fresh and nice - off aux 3 Empereurs - same prices - but one room à 2 lits nice enough with a little cabinet to wash in - so took this at 9 20/60 glad to be settled for the night - had a little salon to dine in - and as comfortable as we could be in any smallish double bedded room
Dinner at 10 to 11 - the 4 mutton cutlets so hard we could not eat them - dined the morsel of fricandeau de veau tolerable of its kind - they are terribly gone off in cooking in France - terribly spoilt by the au naturel, English plan - for which French meat not good enough
Fair and finish tho' cloudy till about one drizzling rain from about 1 1/4 p.m. more or less till about 6 a.m. afterwards pretty fair and fine Fahrenheit 66 1/2 at 12 to night
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