To Troyes and Beyond

Two days after we returned from Poitiers we headed off from Gare de l'Est on a train to visit Sebastien's grandmother in Troyes. The trip was breathtaking, going through wonderful countryside, over rivers, by the nuclear power plant.... It really was quite beautiful. Seb's grandmother is, of course, SO sweet and lovely. She is very warm and pleasant, and she told me all about her grandchildren, whose pictures are on the wall by the door. Like I said, I wish so much that I spoke French, but some things you can just understand, without knowing what is being said. We walked into town and explored, as per usual during our travels, ancient cathedrals, street cafes, and H&M. Troyes is an amazingly well preserved town. Medieval buildings stock the streets, in government-subsided renovations of historical houses. Although I heard rumors that Troyes is a dying town, I had to question them, because the streets were so alive with young and old. There are about 700 cathedrals (and I am hardly exaggerating), and construction going on everywhere you look. We walked up and down the streets, used the bathroom in the museum basement (don't tell the museum guard - I think he is still looking for us), and finally met Sebastien's "evil twin" cousin, Olivier in the afternoon (he's not really evil - or his twin for that matter, but he IS his cousin). It turns out that three of Olivier's best friends just, this past year, opened up their own bars. We picked one, Dixi, where they would surely all be hanging out, and went for drinks. It was a great night of hanging out, trying on the few French phrases I know, and being the only gal in an (almost) all guy crowd. I made the mistake of asking the bartender where the name "Dixi" was from, and apparently it is from a gambling dice game (no allusion to the deep South), where shots of alcohol are associated with each different roll outcome. Hmmm...... So what if you roll a 7? You can drink an "Eight Bastards," with tobasco, pastice, and rum (on fire, of course). I know; I drank one. Everyone thought that was SO amusing that the bartender started pouring away - that's a good one: get the Americans drunk. I am sure it was fairly amusing, because we had been drinking beers previously. Now I will admit to these being moments of bad decision-making. I considered this a little late though, when we were on our way back to meet Sebastien's dear, sweet grandma for dinner.