Wednesday, 11 May 2016

Weekend trip - Chartres

I just realised that husband and i never went on a weekend trip in France
He either take leaves from work
or we will go somewhere during the long weekend public holidays
Or it will be a day trip
but never just for a night
I guess the main reason is because husband dont drive
and its definitely cheaper if we can just drive to visit places around
I hope he will be motived to start practice his driving
and have the confidence to drive soon...

After staying at home for the longest time,
I decided that I needed a short trip to get my mind off what has happened
Probably it was not a good time to travel 
as physically i was still recovering from the abortion
That was a day where i went to a neighbourhood nearby
walked and explored for about 2hours plus
but end up feeling unwell for the rest of the day and next few days...
at least i managed to moved and got some fresh air...




In consideration for our pockets,
my physical condition
and what interests us - I like unique cities and husband likes nature,
I accidently stumbled to find a small town near paris to go for the weekend.
So, we booked a hotel and the train tickets on Thursday for a short overnight trip on Saturday.
Chartres was a 2 hours train ride from Paris.

Since it was supposed to be spring and i wanted to dress up
I was very underdressed for the trip
because of a sudden cold wave that sweeped across France
it definitel felt like winter than spring.
Despite the cold, we still managed to visit most of what we planned

We arrived at about 10am
checked in our hotel and went to the town Saturday's market
Sadly, there wasnt much food or goodies that interest us
we bought the local speciality - Ginger bread man in chocolate
All the supposed local specialities were not easy to find as we hoped for
Husband also bought the sugar coated chocolates
We mainly found those at the bakeries.





Maison Picassiette
Basically someone decided to redecorate his home with glass pieces that he collected
and it became an attraction of the city
However, it was really out of the city center
that we took a long walk about 30-40 mins frim the city
It was bigger than we expected
and i think i was too tired and cold to admire the house
but husband was enjoying himself









We then took the long walk back to the city
went for lunch at a bistro and explored alittle
before heading back to hotel for the needed rest





Since it was a small city
we had some difficulty to search for dinner
husband read online that restuarants are normally booked a week in advance
and we were surprised that many restuarants hung the sign "fully booked" on their doors at 5pm
In the end, we didnt want to spend too much for an expensive restuarant
and went to my first indian restuarant in France!
I was really shocked that the curries arent spicy at all
it felt like curries for babies
although it still taste good.
While it was empty when we went in
it bgun to fill up thereafter...

Night lights
The main highlight of the trip will be the night lights
apparently chartres is famous for night lights from april to september
Since the night was cold 
we decided to take the touristy train for the city tour
and the lights were definitely better than we expected
we thought it will just be lights decorating the city
but didnt expect that lights will be shone on the buildings
and some even had animinations!
It definitely worth it for us to stay a night









The next day we had a late check out
went to a burger restuarant for lunch and it was time for the train.
It definitely was a good trip away from the routine
but i think i walked too much when im supposed to rest
hmmm maybe thats why im being tortured by backache now...
brrrrr....




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