The weather this past weekend was pretty terrible. The clouds were dark and foreboding and most of the weekend the weather consisted of rain....or the in-between where you no longer notice whether it's raining anymore (because everything you're wearing is already wet).
This was the weekend of pleasant surprises and new friends. Friday, my friend Abigail and I arrived and we decided to tour around the town. There are actually a lot of things to do in Chambéry. The town has many traboules which we have here in Lyon. They are covered stone passageways between the streets and sometimes contain living quarters.
A 15th century street
There were many shops and Chocalatiers. This chocolatier made some of the most intricate chocolate sculptures I have ever seen. Huge chocolate flowers, masks, tool boxes, purses, fish, you name it. I bought the specialty of the region, muscadines. The description he gave me in French was "a rum truffle," and boy was that an understatement. This dessert is extremely strong, both alcohol-wise and chocolate-wise. It was amazing!
The inside Of the muscadine
We found a patisserie, called "Pernot" which we were told had the best macaroons. The woman working there loved that I spoke French with her and asked so many questions so she gave me additional macaroons. My flavors were fêve de tonka (a Brazilian nut), coconut-passion fruit, and salted caramel. Other flavors included rose, plum violet, mango orange, coffee, nutella, and many more. 
Friday night we went to a piano bar named l'Epicurial. After speaking with the owner for awhile, I learned that all the music during the weekend would be a few miles away in the town of Aix-le-bains where there was a Music festival, Musilac. When I asked for more information about the festival, he went and found the newspaper.
I still have yet to see a French person use technology and cell phones to search for something. In fact, I don't recall a time I've seen anyone on a smartphone. We looked at the newspaper and learned about the festival, only a short bus or train ride away.
Aix-le-bains is located on Lac du Bourget, the largest natural lake in France (18km by 4 km). It is also the location where you can take a boat to see the famous Abbaye Hautecomb, only accessible by boat.
Saturday, we took a bus there, but on the way to the station we ran into the Chambéry farmers market.
We were waiting for the train to Aix-le-Bains when we met a girl named Inès, who was wearing a shirt for the festival and also her badge to work there. I quickly became friends with her, and she even tried to pull some strings to get us free tickets. We talked, and talked... All the while she was giving me French pronunciation pointers. She tried to speak English mimicking an American and asked me to mimic a French person in my French. We compared France and America and debated the important things... Like which country has better breakfasts. The French eat a lot of sugar, chocolate, and bread for breakfast and can't understand Americans eating eggs and bacon and foods of substance.
Musilac
The lake
She had to get to work to prepare for the festival, and we wanted to start touring the city.
The problem was that we'd stayed with her on the bus so I could keep talking to her, and now we were at the outskirts of the city where the festival was. We had no idea how to get to the centre ville.
So, I proceeded to ask directions from a parking attendant. He quickly became our friend too. When some girls were trying to sell their tickets for the festival, he insisted that he do all the aggressive French haggling for us. They wouldn't lower their price, but it was really great that we had a friend helping us out. He found it hilarious when I said désolé, because the French say "pardon" and usually not "sorry."
Just a side note: the French make an art of their disputes. When they're mad about something or in a debate, you could feel the ground freeze beneath you.... But then it all changes a few moments later. There is so much force, aggression, and passion in just a daily conversation and it still surprises me every time. Two men that are complete strangers will be fiercely debating politics in the street. Like seeing guys take hits at each-other's "team" in an American bar, they don't shy away from speaking about politics at all here.
We walked away having gained little directional help, but two new friends in total.
And we found the trail to the centre ville. Which included horses, and chickens, and slugs, and many train tracks.
We finally arrived at the office of tourism and learned of historical sites to see in the city and the times for the boat to the Abbaye Hautecomb. We toured around the city and had so much fun that we lost track of time. We had only 15 minutes to make it across to the grand port for the boat tour. What did we do? We ran... In jeans and sandals. We finally made it!
But of course, we're in France, and we soon learned that our boat had been randomly canceled that day. We could only take another boat that rides past the Abbaye. On that boat we went.
Sunday, back in Chambery, we set off for our hike. We were to hike to several panoramic views and also hike to the home of Jean Jaques Rousseau.
The hike was so poorly marked.... Here's one of our signs.
The gardens of Jean Jaques Rousseau's home
Our hike was beautiful! We found a field of wild flowers and poppies here
At an Ice cream shop, I was speaking with the guy we were ordering from and he told me I have a "sexy accent." This was incredibly exciting to me because I realized that there's a huge difference between hearing someone struggling to speak your language... And someone speaking your language with just the accent of another country. He, a native French speaker, was hearing my French and just noticed an accent as opposed to the other. That's a big step for me to hear. I was so proud!
We returned to take a tour of the town castle and cathedral, also the location of the Shroud of Turin, or the fabric Jesus was supposedly buried in. Our tour guide was awesome! She had just Abigail and me for the tour and was very enthusiastic. She kept asking me in her French how to say a term in English. I loved speaking with her. Apparently the whole city was built on water centuries ago, much like Venice. Even the cathedral was built on wooden stilts.
Our tour guide on the left
This entire ceiling of this church is painted! It's an illusion! Really it's just "flat"
She took us to see the alleyway where Jean Jaques Rousseau lived (the house we saw on the hike was his summer house). When he was 16, he arrived in Chambéry and met Mme de Warrens, eleven years his senior. She took him in and they fell In love. Mme de Warrens was quite a feminist, she had moved to Chambéry after leaving her husband, religion, and her country(Switzerland). Many people believe that without her Rousseau wouldn't have become the free-thinking and independent writer that he was.
The alleyway
At the end of the tour, we learned that our tour guide actually lives next door to the hotel we stayed in. That night, she invited us to her apartment and we watched the World Cup final match on her tv while drinking a bottle of port. I was excited to speak more hours of French all night long.
Monday was Bastille day! We went to the parade in the town. There was a special event at the Hôtel de Ville; dance groups from many countries such as Bulgaria, Mongolia, Brazil, Belarus, and Gabon had all traveled to Chambéry to perform their native dance in full costume. It was amazing to see!
And that night, back in Lyon, I watched the fireworks over the Basilique de Fourvière on the banks of the Saône river. They were incredible!
Sunset on Bastille day 
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