Chambery, France

When we recently traveled to Geneva, we knew we couldn't go there without traveling to France. Geneva is right next to the border of France, and Chambery was only about an hour and a half away by train. We chose Saturday as the day we wanted to go to Chambery because we knew it would be market day. Once we arrived there, it was a short walk to the center of town and to the Saturday market. It was a very charming walk, by the way. Another reason we picked Chambery was because it wasn't a real touristy destination. They had a few tourist sites and a few tourists, but it was largely just a typical French town, with the locals going about their normal Saturday business. The market was large and really cool. Everything was there, such as: baby chicks, baby geese, cheese, bread, bakery goods, fruit, vegetables, seafood, meat, clothing, etc.... After the market, we took at stroll to the Elephant Fountain, which is one of the main attractions in town and we saw the castle of the Ducs de Chambery.

Of course, we had to stop for lunch. That was a little bit of an adventure, but fun. I say adventure because as this was not a major tourist destination, we encountered less English speakers, but like I said this made everything all the more fun. So, we found a nice restaurant and we had a nice server who was able to speak a little English. My husband and son had a breaded turkey cutlet and lyonese potatoes, while I had a breaded somthing that was in the family of "like a chicken, but not a chicken", but I never actually knew what it was. Whatever it was, it was delicious. With this all we enjoyed a rose wine, that everyone seemed to be drinking in Europe. It must be a popular summer wine because I have never seen it in previous trips to Europe, but then I had never traveled in the summer before. We enjoyed various treats for dessert and then it was time to head back to the train station. It was a lovely day and it was nice to experience the day to day life of a Saturday market day in France.