_The Hôtel de Ville_ is a Renaissance structure of modern aspect, built in 1530 for Jacques Groslot, Seigneur de l’Isle. Many French monarchs have stayed there: François II., Charles IX., Henri III., and Henri IV.; also Catherine de Medici and Mary Stuart. François II. died there in 1560. In 1790 it became the Hôtel de Ville. _The Bishop’s Palace_ dates from 1631. _The Old Houses_ are mainly to be found in the Rue du Tabour, a side street of great interest. _The Musée Jeanne d’Arc_ occupies a charming fifteenth-century house in the Rue du Tabour, known, without reason, as the Maison d’Agnès Sorel. _The Maison de Jeanne d’Arc_, in the same street, is the house in which Jacques Bouchier, treasurer to the Duc d’Orléans, received Jeanne during the siege of 1429. _The room she occupied was unfortunately pulled down and rebuilt in 1580._ _The Hôtel Cabut_, not far from the Rue du Tabour, wrongly called Maison de Diane de Poitiers, is a Renaissance house, built in 1540, and now contains the _Musée Historique_. _The City Walls._ There are still a tower and a few fragments of the city ramparts. _The Fête de Jeanne d’Arc_ is held on May 8, in honour of the raising of the siege of Orleans by Jeanne d’Arc. It is one of the most brilliant in France, and has only been interrupted during the religious wars of the sixteenth century and from 1792 to 1804. SECTION V AMONG THE CHÂTEAUX OF TOURAINE ORLEANS TO TOURS, 103½ MILES (166 KILOMETRES) ORLEANS TO TOURS, DIRECT, 71¾ MILES (115 KILOMETRES) DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE Kil. Miles. =Orleans= to Meung-sur-Loire =18= 11¼ =Meung-sur-Loire= to Beaugency =7= 4¼ [=Beaugency= to Blois =31½= 19½] =Beaugency= to Chambord =24= 15 =Chambord= to Bracieux =8½= 5¼ =Bracieux= to Cheverny =10½= 6½ =Cheverny= to Blois =13= 8 =Blois= to Chaumont-sur-Loire (north bank) =12= 7½ =Chaumont-sur-Loire= to Amboise =24= 15 [=Amboise= to Tours (north bank) =25= 15½] [=Amboise= to Tours (south bank) =23= 14¼] =Amboise= to Chenonceaux =15= 9½ =Chenonceaux= to Bléré =8= 5 =Bléré= to Tours =26= 16 NOTES FOR DRIVERS This section is practically level throughout, and the roads are generally good. PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE =Meung.=--An old village on the Loire; church of eleventh century with western tower joined to castle of the Bishops of Orleans.