Monday 3 to Friday 7 November 2025

This is the last week in Troyes before we head to Turkey on the last leg home. The weather here is a little cooler and overcast, with scattered showers but not yet winter. So nice to walk around Troyes without tourists.

Tuesday was sunny and cool, so we decided on a walk into Chez Come Bistro for lunch. This was another local’s restaurant and it filled up a bit after 1pm but was empty by 2 pm. They have to close of course. The staff must eat! OK, so we have no English spoken here. The menu is all French, which means it  does not cater for tourists. Luckily, Flashy has railroad and restaurant French and does not detect any gizzards on the menu.

Lady P wanted the escargot but they were off (the menu today). We settle for the two course, menu du moment prix fixe and have a cocktail and wine while we decode the menu. We chose salade de lentilles vertes magret fumé et noisettes (green lentils, hazelnuts and sliced cold smoked duck breast - Lady P) and Cromesquis de canard coulis de cerises roquette (fried croquettes of pulled duck with a cherry sauce - Flashy). A Loire Chenin Blanc was also good. Flashy then had tournedos de rumsteak jus corsé au chorizo (rump steak in a chorizo broth with patatas bravas), accompanied by a Rhone Red and Lady P had the pollard avec sauce pimentée and assiette de légumes grilles (pollock fish in paprika sauce and a cold egg and mustard sauce (gribiche) on grilled vegetables). €65 was a very good deal.

Wednesday was bus trip day to the shopping mall on the outskirts of town. For a little more than a euro fare, we caught the local, on-time bus out to what was an American style, 120+ shops, shopping mall. It’s a huge place for a town of 62,000 and plenty of upmarket brands. It filled in some time.

Thursday today and it’s getting colder, even though we have a sunny day. They say it will be 5C overnight! Flashy mowed the (small) lawn today. Very neat too. And yes, it did get to 5C.

Friday we visited Cathedral Saint Piere-Saint Paul, famous for its many stained glass windows. Next door is the 5 star, MGallery Troyes Licorne Hotel, where we had a coupe of Champagne. It was the first time we had been in town in the dark. It was heading towards 6 pm. The town was so different, with lots of locals wandering about, having drinks and looking for early dinner. Next stop was a salon de thé that also served Champagne. And finally, on the way home looking for a comfort stop, Le Juvenal Bar for another Champagne. Not quite finished the Champagne research yet. There’s always tomorrow. Also, some excitement. A very small group of protesters, waving a Palestinian flag, were marching down the main street, flanked by a few police. No one took much notice. Home to leftover casserole, sardines on salad and a new series on Netflix. Lady P lasted to 9 pm.

Just a bit of stained glass.












local market seafood

















Not a real big crowd.

Comments

  1. Graeme9 November 2025 at 17:29

    They croquettes sound delicious and nice stained glass windows.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Thursday – Friday 25 & 26 September 2025 Thursday, we took the excellent Baltic Express train to Wroclaw. About four hours in a first class cabin. It was a bit 007’ish. Sean Connery era. Then in the light rain, an Uber to our very large two bedroom apartment in the old town side of Worclaw. After stuffing about with communications, or rather lack thereof from the 30 something, IT nerd owner living in Amsterdam, we got access by some stupid app on the phone. Flashy was clearly not amused and to boot, the friggin apartment was on the third floor 60 stairs up! Friday, after a nice poached egg breakfast, we trammed into town and joined a free walking tour. This was an excellent 2.5 hour, informative insight into Polish history. We discovered a lot about Poland and its people over the ages and took many photos of the little brass gnomes that are all over the city. Then, of course, the guide hangs about for a tip. So much for a free tour. The Americans over tipped as expected....
Read more
Image
 Saturday 1 March 2025 After an delayed flight to Christchurch, which saw us arrive at 1.30 am and a short sleep at the Airport Hotel, we picked up our hire car - a little hybrid Toyota Aqua and checked out our pet sit for the end of the trip. This involved a short drive to Lincoln to meet the owners, then on to visit Angel and Vienna, Lady P's niece and grand niece.  Then in the afternoon, a 2.5 hr drive to Hanmer Springs, a spa town in the mountains. Our little Alpine Motel is very pleasant and the town of 700 (swells to 10,000 in the season), is treelined and full of little coffee  shops and restaurants. However, it is expensive. And I expect NZ will be expensive all over. 500g of butter and I understand they do make some here! is $12. Petrol is $2.69 a litre. Dinner at the local restaurant, No 31 was very good. Tuna tartare and smoked duck and Orange Roughy with a good Sauvignon Blanc and two Pinot Noirs also quite acceptable. However, much wine research is still requ...
Read more
Image
Saturday 14/ Sunday 15 / Mon 16 June 2025 Saturday, the locals put on a band, a food truck and a brewery pop-up in the little garden at the historic house of Jason Russell. This was attacked by the British in 1775 as part of the Lexington/Concord battles – the first in the War of Independence. He was killed (good old British bayonet they say), along with 30 others. The Brits lost about the same. The house is in the main street of Arlington and still has some bullet holes from the skirmishes. Lt John Baker, King’s Own Muskets 1775, recorded,  “We were now obliged to force almost every house on the road, for the rebels had taken possession of them and galled us most exceedingly but they suffered for their temerity, for all that we found in the houses were put to death.” Paul Revere’s midnight ride was along this road and he whispered, not shouted, “the Regulars are about.” So, they say. Sunday was a catch up day. Although, Lady P took Masie for an 8km walk around the lake. Flashy...
Read more