Despite our 8:41am train being canceled to Chambéry, we made it there!!! However at first, I was a little nervous that we might not make it. I got to the train station at about 8:30, got in line at the welcome station (accueil) and the woman told me the next train wouldn’t be leaving until after noon (which would have made our trip to Chambéry really short). Lindsey texted me shortly after I talked to this woman, saying that she was getting in line at the ticket booth. I found her, and then Helen and Caroline found us. We waited in line, hoping they’d allow us to take the 9:40am coach bus instead of waiting until after noon to take the train. We got up to the lady (a different one than I talked to), and she said, “But of course you can take the bus!” Yipee! So we hopped on the bus and headed out of Lyon for the first time since we've arrived.
Once we got to Chambéry, we found the office of tourism, got a map and a time for a guided tour. From there, we walked through a very colorful open-air market. They had beautiful displays of vegetables and fruits, stands with watches and scarves, sweaters for 10 euros, purses, toys, cheeses, and more! Thankfully, I wasn’t leading the way at this point or I would have stopped to examine the purses and try the colorful fruit. I did manage to take a few pictures of these vibrant displays, and a market man posed for me, while he sang about his veggies.
From here, we continued straight on to the Hotel de Ville. The building itself is very pretty, but has an adorable carousel in front, with huge bunny rabbits and horses going round and round. Already we could tell we were going to like Chambéry. It was so cute! And it only kept getting better. We took several pictures in front of the Hotel de Ville and kept walking our way towards the center of the old town.
We took a little pedestrian-only alleyway towards the town center and found ourselves on a gorgeous street lined with colorful buildings, with overflowing flower boxes in the windows and quaint shutters. There were several fountains and a beautiful clock tower. I felt like my finger never left the button on the camera. Every time I turned around it got prettier and prettier! (And they've already put up their Christmas decorations!)
We knew we’d have plenty of time to tour more, so we all agreed it was time to find something to eat. A specialty of this area is the fondue savoyarde, a type of cheese fondue (Chambéry used to be the capital of the Savoie Dukedom). We looked around at several restaurants until we decided on one that had fondue on the menu that came with a little salad and charcuterie (cold cut meats) included in the price. It was an excellent choice, our waiter man was very attentive and brought out more bread for our delicious fondue. I know adding big clumps of gooey, creamy cheese to bread and ham isn’t the healthiest way to eat, but boy is it good. And, I’ve decided, fondue is just really fun to eat. Who wouldn’t want to spear their food and stick it into a pot of boiling cheese?
After lunch, we made our way through the town again, looking for the Fontaine des Elephants (Elephant Fountain). The fountain is at the base of the street Rue de Boigne and at the other end is the Chateau des Ducs. Although the main part of the village dates back to the 15th and 16th Century (or earlier), this particular fountain was put here in 1838. The fountain has 4 elephants (it has something to do with celebrating Boigne’s exploits in India) spouting water from their tusks. It is quite the cool fountain… definitely in my top 10!
We took several pictures and did an about-face to walk to the chateau (now the prefecture). A small group of high school students were on the stairs leading to the castle with a megaphone. How cute we thought, they’re “protesting.” The castle is cool looking; it has a beautiful chapel and tours dating back to the 14th century. We were excited to go in and see it on our tour (sadly, the protest got a little bigger and we couldn’t go in).
After this, we went to the big cathedral because my guide book mentioned it having beautiful paintings. The outside isn’t very outlandish like some of the other cathedrals I’ve seen, but when you go inside, it’s amazing. There is such detail in the walls and ceiling! And, after a few minutes you realize that it isn’t detailing carved into the stone, but actually painted on there! (On our tour, the woman told us it is called a trompe l’oeil (or trick of the eye). We didn’t know this then, but on our tour, she told us the cathedral had 2 different artists, giving it 2 different feels. At the front, the paintings seem to open the church… because in the arches and windows painted in you see what appears to be columns and more arches in a hallway (which isn’t actually there). In the rest of the church, she said the paintings almost make you feel more closed in.
It’s a pretty dark church as far as cathedrals go… the stained glass isn’t anything too exciting and they’re fairly small. In the back of the church, there is an amazing organ that’s been restored and has something like a thousand different notes (I think that’s what she said). The organist was actually practicing when we came in the first time.
After our visit at the cathedral, we met the tour group (2 hour tour, in French, for 3,50 euros- not bad!). Our guide was very enthusiastic about the history of Chambéry, telling us all about how the city used to be made up with canals and it was encircled by a wall, and it had a mote. It is also very smartly located in the Alps, which doesn’t serve as a barrier, but as a gateway to Switzerland, France, and Italy. The city still has many traces of this medieval era, but it is quite the mix of 14th-19th century architecture and influences. Most of the town was also built with wood, so not only was water a main element of this city, but also fire because several parts burned down several times (all restored to original or bigger and better than original in a different era, which gives the mix of eras).
She took us the Cathedrale St. Francois (the one with the paintings). She also took us through many of the city’s covered passageways (similar to the traboules in Lyon). These passages were created so that people could come out of their houses and within minutes reach a street parallel to theirs (these were a nice get-away from the rain). She showed us many different houses, complete with their own individual history. She showed us spiral staircases and little emblems carved into the stone dating back to the 14th or 15th century. She showed us the oldest street in Chambéry, a street that used to have a church right in the middle of it (there’s a fountain there now instead), and beautiful courtyards. Then, right near the end of our tour, where we were supposed to be going into the chateau, the protests had grown to hundreds of people. They were beating drums, shooting off flares, holding huge signs, chanting, singing, etc. It was quite the exciting way to end a tour (even if we didn’t get to the inside of the castle and hear the 70 bell chimes of Sainte-Chapelle).
By this point, the rain was coming down a little harder than the light sprinkle from earlier and the temperature had dropped somewhere around hour 1 of our tour. We were frozen! So before we got on to our train, we stopped at a very cute little salon de thé for a hot chocolate. It was delightful.
The trip was a success, we got our train home, and went our separate ways to head home. The girls were such fun to tour with… and I know we will have many more adventures to come!
(More pictures in next blog!)
No comments:
Post a Comment