After taking lunch at the relaxed French pace (1.5 hours) we set off in the coach to explore Poitiers. By this time the sun was out and the temperature was rising.
First stop, the amazing Église Notre-Dame la Grande, described as “Romanesque church from the 11th century, with a painted stone interior & stained-glass windows” or as the coach driver said, “the finest romanesque church in France”.
After a group photo outside, we took a quiet walk around the interior to look at the stained glass, the chapels and monuments and the massive pillars and arches that are the feature of this architecture.
We then walked through the city centre to Place du Maréchal-Leclerc, the main square in front of the Hôtel de Ville, where we settled down at Le Cafe de la Paix for a cooling drink. Most children ordered themeselves a “diablo” – fizzy water with various flavourings, a few had other choices.
Then back to the bus for a quick ride to Auchan Hypermarché Chasseneuil (just outside Futuroscope).
Here we looked at the huge range of goods of all sorts sold there and in particular the fresh fish, cheese, charcuterie, patisserie, fruit and vegetables. Then the children had some time to spend up to 20 euros on gifts, treats etc (with certain limitaions). They did an excellent job of finding a range of interesting items. Monday afternoon is a pretty quiet time in the store, so there were only a few check outs open. We were lucky that there were some very friendly staff who saw the entertaining side of dealing with 29 children all with cash (rather than cards!) and no change.
^Very friendly cashier!^
Finally back to the centre for dinner and a bit of down time before bed.