Troyes

Troyes is such a beautiful old city, familiarly known as le bouchon, as the city is shaped like a champagne cork.

It is full of beautiful old buildings, which are a photographers dream to wander around. We had driven there early, and didn’t quite feel confident about the parking sign, so we used one of the many car parks.

We had lots to do, we were mainly looking to buy a couple of wardrobes, or armoires, from either one of the depot ventes (secondhand warehouses). We managed to find one, which is really quirky, and needs a bit of work, but I know Brian will soon have it looking good. I did also buy a small, glass doored cupboard for my material in the atelier. I will show you how these work out later in the week, as they are being delivered tomorrow.

It was all thirsty work though, so we stopped off in the main square for a cup of hot chocolate.

Before heading home, I wanted to go to Ellen, the fabric shop we had discovered on our last trip. We had seen a sign, whilst driving into Troyes,that read, ‘liquidation destockage’. We thought ‘Oh no, they can’t be closing down!’, so we went to see if they were, and if so, was there any bargains. Of course they did, some fabrics were reduced to €3 / metre, previously €19.50 / metre. We had a good look and decided to make a few purchases. The board of trim, which Brian found in a ‘bargain bucket’, was €3 for around 7 metres of cream and 3 metres of green trim. I’m not sure what I will use it for, but it really was a bargain.

When we got to the till, Brian asked if they were closing after the liquidation ended on 15th December. ‘Oh no’, the lady said, ‘we will have new stock in the new year’. Hoorah!

When we came out it was getting dark, and the sky was turning mauve. The street lights had come on, and the buildings now had a warm glow, against the crisp, chilly evening air. We were now looking forward to getting home, and being in front of the fire.