Fleeing Chamonix on Wednesday the 7th we drove north and Miranda calculated that Troyes was a good place to stop. Getting nearer on the satnav I could see it was not too far from Bar-le-Duc of last year, or Vitry-le-Francois of many years ago: I must dig out my old diaries sometime. The contest between "an Ibis" and "somewhere nice" had been won by "somewhere nice" by my fiat, by "Anna's Home", in the centre of Troyes, off booking.com but with slightly mysterious instructions... but we found it, and its entry code, and its door code. It was one of those old French apartments (stairs; outside (it's the doorway just to the left of the Cote Photo)) but massively tarted up inside, all done up in white. We had a bedroom apiece - the luxury - two showers, wifi, and a coffee machine. And we were above a Paul, which meant a lovely smell of bread making in the morning. Practical tip: there was lots of on-street parking, but payant, and all taken; we went in some close underground parking that was cheap overnight.
After showers we went out to eat, ending up in the "square" near the Église Saint-Jean-du-Marché.
Our food was decent. Something slightly odd happened with our waitress, who disappeared and was replaced after a delay with an apologetic but more efficient waiter. And so to bed, having watched the moon traverse the stonework of the church.
The next morning (Thursday the 8th) we needed to leave about 10 to get home in a sensible time for Miranda, so I got up squeaky early at around 6:30 (aided by cleaning and dustbin noises from outside) to see the cathedral and sights. And it was well worth it: a lovely still morning showed off the old wooden houses beautifully. On the way there's a witty dog-chasing-geese sculpture.
[Pic taken just by the cathedral, looking ENE along Rue Reverend Pere Lafra, with Eglise Saint-Nizier the tiled roof in the background.]
Unfortunately the Cathedral doesn't open until 9 so I wandered on. There's lots of old woodwork,
I can't tell how old or how restored, but it's all good (see-also this amusing beam support). Saint Nizier seemed a bit off the beaten track and pleasantly dilapidated.
I'll come back to the Cathedral in a bit, because I returned post-breakfast when it was open, but here's a gargoyle (actually now I look from the basilique Saint-Urbain):
This last judgement is also from the Saint-Urbain:
After we'd all had b'fast in Paul I went back to the Cathedral for a "quick" visit that got somewhat extended due to it being too lovely to skip through too quickly.
And, so on. Click on any of the pix to get to the set, as usual.
And a selection of worn gravestones in the floor. What would the people who commissioned them think?
After that, it was (past) time to go, so I hurried off and we hurried off north. As it happened Eurotunnel were having some troubles (memories of power failure in Folkestone?) so we didn't need to hurry, but when we got there our "Flexipass" or whatever got us past the queues, into the rest-stop-and-pick-up-lunch-and-coffee area, and onto the train with minimal wait. And so, home, with only an hour's delay at the Dartford crossing.
After showers we went out to eat, ending up in the "square" near the Église Saint-Jean-du-Marché.
Our food was decent. Something slightly odd happened with our waitress, who disappeared and was replaced after a delay with an apologetic but more efficient waiter. And so to bed, having watched the moon traverse the stonework of the church.
The next morning (Thursday the 8th) we needed to leave about 10 to get home in a sensible time for Miranda, so I got up squeaky early at around 6:30 (aided by cleaning and dustbin noises from outside) to see the cathedral and sights. And it was well worth it: a lovely still morning showed off the old wooden houses beautifully. On the way there's a witty dog-chasing-geese sculpture.
[Pic taken just by the cathedral, looking ENE along Rue Reverend Pere Lafra, with Eglise Saint-Nizier the tiled roof in the background.]
Unfortunately the Cathedral doesn't open until 9 so I wandered on. There's lots of old woodwork,
I can't tell how old or how restored, but it's all good (see-also this amusing beam support). Saint Nizier seemed a bit off the beaten track and pleasantly dilapidated.
I'll come back to the Cathedral in a bit, because I returned post-breakfast when it was open, but here's a gargoyle (actually now I look from the basilique Saint-Urbain):
This last judgement is also from the Saint-Urbain:
After we'd all had b'fast in Paul I went back to the Cathedral for a "quick" visit that got somewhat extended due to it being too lovely to skip through too quickly.
And, so on. Click on any of the pix to get to the set, as usual.
And a selection of worn gravestones in the floor. What would the people who commissioned them think?
After that, it was (past) time to go, so I hurried off and we hurried off north. As it happened Eurotunnel were having some troubles (memories of power failure in Folkestone?) so we didn't need to hurry, but when we got there our "Flexipass" or whatever got us past the queues, into the rest-stop-and-pick-up-lunch-and-coffee area, and onto the train with minimal wait. And so, home, with only an hour's delay at the Dartford crossing.
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