September 25 and 26. Two tourist days in Troyes.

This has to be one of my favourite cities – ever, with something to explore around every corner. We lucked out and found a cheap three bedroom apartment, on the main floor (bonus of no stairs), and right in the middle of the most interesting walkable town I’ve ever been in. There is pilgrim accommodation here but it’s 25 euros per person with breakfast, and separate rooms with no kitchen, and not close to the center. It’s fine for one night when you pack up and go in the morning but not for a longer stay. The apartment was more expensive but still less than $200 a night. Scott is saving us money by cooking for us and we can spread out.

I particularly like the duck with the snorkel!

For Ethel…

I would like to think those are Canada geese the dog is chasing but let’s get real. The Canada geese would be chasing the dog!

This medieval town center escaped Nazi bombs, which targeted the industrial areas around the town. Troyes is famous not only for its timbered house but the fact the houses are leaning towards each other. On Ruelle les Chats (on which there was nary a cat – how sad!), they actually have beams between the house to prevent them from crashing into each other!

Ken pooh-poohs the idea of orthotics (just a fad in his opinion). Me, I have flat feet so I appreciate orthotics. And today I discovered I love them! Why, you might ask?

I was cleaning the mud off my shoes and had a twig stuck in them. But I had to pull hard to get it off my shoe. And wowzers! Take a look at that thorn. Over an inch long. It poked a hole right through my shoe but my orthotic prevented it from going into my foot. That would have been an ouchy and I probably maybe possibly perhaps would have whined for a second or two.

Our apartment was half a block from the market hall (market is daily). I did not make it past the patisserie counter. Neither did Ken. His little cake came with a pipette of rum. Hic!

Scott loves museums. He and Ken spent THREE hours in the hand tool museum. This was organized by trade and to see these veteran hand tools that built the civilized world is such a testament to the humble and really clever skilled trades people of the day. You usually see high class stuff preserved but this was a salute to those who use brain and brawn to actually build the world.

The next day we headed to the weaving museum. Troyes was one of the first centers of weaving. The museum was housed in this magnificent building.

Check out the size of this medieval fireplace!

This blew our minds as humble and archaic as it may appear. It is a jacquard loom. It uses punched cards to select different hooks to engage the lengthwise thread on the loom to create any complex pattern on the cloth the weaver wants with unerring perfection. Ie no human error once programed. It uses the on/not on binary way of coding a machine so can be looked at as a distant ancestors of digital computers! Amazing and clever these frenchmen. The cloth was in great demand by the rich in the world during the napoleonic War but had to be smuggled into to England at great expense.

St Panteleon church. Very narrow with lots of sculptures but it is the wooden ceilings that catches your eye.

Ya know, you’re just walking along, following Scott and Ken, and then all of a sudden, Ken just disappears. Oof, he found a combination bar / music store. A dream come true for him.

So in retaliation, Scott and I went and dropped 60 bucks in the chocolate store. Even if I tossed out everything I own, this teddy wasn’t going to fit in my backpack. Sob sniffle.

Scott is a foodie and has been finding us restaurants (when he’s not cooking). Besides the pub food in England, we’ve had Turkish in Dover, Canadian poutine in Reims, and now Thai and Syrian in Troyes. This was a tiny restaurant, only 4 tables, and the owner had family visiting from the US. Food was delicious, atmosphere was so friendly, and we had some good conversations. They photobombed my picture when we left 😄.