Ghosts, field trips and Mario

Our first few days at our apartment in Chambery were accompanied by sleepless nights... and ghosts. The second night Tim had a middle-of-the-night spooky experience and the third night Jenn had one of her own. The fourth day we took to ridding our place of ghosts with a ceremonial incense cleansing of every room, saying prayers aloud and flicking salt water on the floors. Whether it cleared the apartment or our minds, it has seemed to work and we got back on track sleeping well shortly afterward.

Jenn attends class for four hours every morning while Tim repeats the most important phrases in the French language: "I would like a croissant, please. Thank you. Goodbye" at the local bakeries of Chambery. There are so many bakeries here you could throw a frisbee from one to the next. Speaking of frisbee, Tim has found a local team to play with a couple times per week. While Jenn has found a couple of new French friends through an online language exchange to meet up with and exchange French lessons for English when she is not in class. Her school has organized a couple of field trips as well: one to a nearby tourist town called Annecy and another to a nature hike through Les Gorges du Fier.

But the most exciting part of our time in Chambery was a short visit from Mario! After we left him in Paris three weeks ago, he made his way south to a rural part of central France where he has been working on a farm in exchange for food and accommodation. He has been working on getting his political asylum paperwork in order and has a meeting with the French immigration office in Limoges next week. We're wishing him the best! 

The ground floor entrance to our apartment (a former hotel from the 18th? 16th? century) was designed for horse drawn carriages to enter. It used to be a hotel back in the day.

The horse & carriage door of our apartment (from the street)

The view from the local hiking hill. (Chambery)

Lake Bourget near Chambery.

The old town (Chambery)

When in France, one must smoke on the balcony. Tim has held on to some cigars he picked up in Myanmar.

Who iz dees 'Mericahn? Huh, huh, wee, wee.

Typical evening on our balcony.

Class field trip to a nearby tourist town called Annecy. 

Lake Annecy.

When we learned that a world champion chocolatier and pastry shop was in town, we had to go. Tim got the most American thing on the menu - cheeseburger-shaped pastry. (Annecy)

Cheeseburger pastry in paradise. (Annecy)

The pony tail is really taking shape!

Nice French architecture (Chambery)

800 year old alleys. (Chambery)

Classic French look. (Chambery)

Old town Chambery

Jenn is looking quite French!

More typical French architecture. (Chambery)

Now that we have our own place we have switched our Couchsurfing profile to 'Host', instead of Surf'. So far we have received only one request from a nice Finnish couple, Laurin and Marja. (Jenn was at class when we took this photo right before they left).

Jenn checking out the Gorge du Fier on a class field trip.

Contemplating the faces in the gorge (you can see a face profile in the wall if you use your imagination)

During heavy rains and snow melts the water in the gorge fills up and has flooded the boardwalk many times in recent history. The water can rise over 23 meters in a matter of hours!

We played in a summer league frisbee game with the local players of Chambery. We drove to Grenoble (1 hour away) for the match.

Mario and Jenn during the solstice music festival. It is a country-wide music festival that has been taking place every June 21 for the last 30 years. Free music shows are played throughout the entire city... all night long! (Chambery)

Tim and Mario (Chambery)