Tours and Le Mans

We had an interesting day yesterday, Easter sunday.  We drove off early (for us) along the river about 60 kms to Tours,also on the Loire. We eventually found the city centre and stopped for coffee and to study our Lonely planet.
The sun was shining weakly as we walked quite a way to the old town. It was worth it and we had a nice lunch there.
We had passed a large basilica with dome and were surprised to find out that it was built in the early 1900s. The remains of a 5thC church adjoined.
After lunch we were disappointed to find, nearby, a beautiful plaza where we could have had lunch and glorious views of the old timbered buildings.
Time was passing so we decided to take the autoroute about 60kms North to Le Mans and pay the tolls. We were really going to the circuit for the 24 hour sports car race and the adjacent museum which are before you get to Le Mans itself. We found a marked turnoff to the circuit but then - no more signs!  The GPS would not tell us anything or take us there ( if it had not been fixed in the car I think I would have tossed it) - total frustration!  So we drove further and into the city looking for signs. Eventually we thought that we were now heading south from the city centre but the lack of sun meant we did not know where South was. We were slowing regularly trying to read signs and noticed a car had been following us for a while but had no chance to pass. Then they pulled alongside at a stop and asked in French if we were lost. Oui!
After telling this young couple in an older car where we wanted to be they said "follow us". We were soon there and our thanks felt quite inadequate - we had been rescued by strangers. We had lost an hour but at least now could enter the Musee de 24 heures.
This was excellent - lots of sports racing cars, including French ones but also plenty of other, mostly French, voitures starting from 1885.
I should now have plenty of photos for the car club magazine.
It was around 6 45 so we decided to take the autoroutes back. Along the way we stopped for dinner at one of the roadhouses and had an adequate but certainly not gourmet meal. It was now getting dark and I had my first experience of 135km/hr in the dark. Luckily the traffic was mostly quite light.
Arriving home at 9 30 we both felt quite tired. Valerie reckons her hair is now a shade grayer!  We voted for a quiet day tomorrow.