Troyes (by Kerouac2)

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Everybody in France is of course familiar with the city of Troyes, but it is not at all considered to be a prime tourist destination. However it is extremely famous to the French for two other reasons -- 1. It has the largest collection of outlet stores in France and there is even a bus service from Paris to visit them. The stores are not technically inside the city of Troyes at all but somewhere in the suburbs and I have never seen them myself. 2. It is the French capital of the andouillette -- pork intestine sausage -- and that makes it the world capital because the only other two places in the world where some local variations can be found are Louisiana and Vietnam.

True andouillette will be an oblong tube. If made with the small intestine, it is a plump sausage generally about 25 mm in diameter but often it is much larger, possibly 7–10 cm in diameter, and stronger in scent when the colon is used. True andouillette is rarely seen outside France and has a strong, distinctive odour related to its intestinal origins and components. Although sometimes repellant to the uninitiated, this aspect of andouillette is prized by its devotees.

At least half of the French -- probably more than half actually -- despise andouillette, so it goes without saying that 95% of the rest of the planet wants nothing to do with it, since they think it both smells and looks nauseating.

The food blog that I took that photo from said this: It was served with a dijon mustard sauce and some fries. Upon cutting into it the smell of intestine hit me and everyone else at the table hard. The taste was not as sharp, though, with just a hint of stink. The andouillette typically does not hold together well and this was no exception. The bits spilled out, as you can see. But it was incredibly tender and really quite tasty.


If you are not a shopping or food expert, your only encounter with Troyes has probably been the troy ounce, the standard for measuring precious metals. It has been in use in various versions since Roman times.

Troy weight probably takes its name from the French market town of Troyes in France where English merchants traded at least as early as the early 9th century. The name "troy" is first attested in 1390, describing the weight of a platter, in an account of the travels in Europe of the Earl of Derby.

Anyway, I did not go to Troyes for shopping, eating or weighing my gold. In fact I just stopped there on my way back from the Vosges this week, but I had always wanted to see the old town, which supposedly had a fabulous medieval section. So I checked into a cheap chain hotel 400 meters from the historic centre and went exploring without having the slightest idea of what I was going to see. After walking through a social housing complex, I began to see some of the old buildings.

The shutters on some of the windows looked pretty old, too.



Streets are always quite narrow in this sort of area. It's probably lucky that horse carts were as wide as modern cars or no vehicles could get through these places.





I entered the courtyard of a more impressive building, apparently a guildhouse for architects and builders.











Back out in the streets...





Some of these buildings are just barely holding together.

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A surprising number of the old wells have been kept in place around town, even though they are obviously all closed off now.









I came across an old church. Naturally, there were lots of old churches, but most of them were closed that day.





It had a lot more statuary than most churches of that size. That's because it was used to store statues from other churches to protect them after the revolution.









The pews clearly used to be private and were in a style that I had not seen before, with even a door to close off the space.



The stained glass windows looked much more contemporary but actually date from 1531. They inaugurated a new style invented in Troyes and eschewing bright colours.









Just across from that church is one of the dozen or so museums of the city. This one is the dedicated to the history of the city.

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Troyes had some of the most remarkable manhole covers that I have seen anywhere, combining wood with the cast iron.



There were a number of little passages to squeeze through some of the buildings.







I often found myself released into a large open space.







Some of the old buildings that were covered by plaster when the exposed beams went out of fashion are now being uncovered at great expense.



I saw the train station in the distance.



The main war monument was in that area.



I learned a little bit of history as I walked around.



The "Bourse du Travail" in each town is the trade union building.



Some of the old inscriptions have been retained.



However, this magnificent building in a perfect location is currently unoccupied. I am curious as to what they will do with it in the future.







Another closed church. All of the niches at ground level were free of statues.

[breeze]

I tried andouillette, in a restaurant I had confidence in. The smell wasn't horrible, but once was enough.

Troyes has some fine old buildings. Too bad some of these aren't kept up, but it's probably difficult to find a modern use for them, with their awkward interiors.

Are those leatherworkers about to break into song?

[Deleted]

Oh my. Andouillette. No thanks.

I love half timbering and I love this thread.

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I have learned never to say "I don't like x-x-x" but instead "I have not yet learned to appreciate x-x-x."











I was very impressed by the wood carvings on a lot of the buildings.









In some cases, it was clear that there were some recent restorations/re-creations.



Other times, the carvings appeared to be quite old.



I liked the way that a lot of the modern constructions adopted the irregularities of the old houses without making a parody of them.





Some things were just a tiny bit odd.



I continued wandering.













Some of the old carvings were protected.



It was easy to understand why.

[htmb]

These photos are quite impressive and I plan to study them further. I wouldn't mind walking through Troyes. The state of the various architecture seems quite interesting.

[Deleted]

another carving in a cage



But anyway, there are really tons of interesting carvings to see on many of these buildings.

           

           

After considerable wandering, I actually arrived in the real downtown section.









This church was closed, too.

[htmb]

The wood carvings are incredible, especially since most are so exposed to the elements.

I love seeing the iron over the wells, too.

I suppose a town like this would be a dream to those who are over-awed by half-timbered buildings. Many of the buildings not only look like they are barely standing, they also look like they are about to slide into each other.

I imagine the history of the town is quite interesting.

[Deleted]

This appeared to be the chic hotel in the nice part of the historical district.

Locals of my age instantly recognise this sort of building as obviously having been the former Magasins Réunis department store, which was the dominant chain of northeastern France with over 40 stores in that area but also around the country. It was absorbed by Printemps in 1980. Printemps and FNAC had the same owner for about 20 years, so many of the stores that did not become Printemps became FNAC, notably the huge FNAC store on avenue des Ternes in Paris, which is perhaps the most impressive one.

The principal covered market was next door, and this is the biggest food truck (bus?) that I have ever seen.



City Hall was also here, still bearing the revolutionary name "Maison Commune."



It faces a huge square.

[htmb]

This town doesn't seem to be quite as "provincial" as I had imagined.

[Deleted]

It was bigger than I expected as well, but the population of the city itself is only 60,000. The metropolitan area is 188,000 though. After seeing how big it looked, I was surprised that it did not have a municipal bike system, but that might just be for political reasons since it is under the control of one the most important right wing politicians, albeit one of the least annoying ones. His career probably would have had a greater impact except for the fact that he looks 15 years younger than his age (50) and even people in his own party nicknamed him "Harry Potter" until he finally traded in his round glasses for contact lenses.

www1.rfi.fr/actufr/images/069/baroin220.jpg
François Baroin, mayor of Troyes

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Mar 19, 2015 21:44:40 GMT htmb said:

I suppose a town like this would be a dream to those who are over-awed by half-timbered buildings.

   I only said I loved them (because they remind me of my childhood).

[htmb]

Yes, with those glasses he's only missing the scar on his forehead.

[bixaorellana]

Super interesting, Kerouac, & great pictures, too -- wonderful interiors of the church.

Re: the stored statues -- do you know why Troyes would have been considered a safer place for them?

And all the wood! Considering that it's even incorporated into contemporary items such as manhole covers, the area must have lots of it. Forests? Lumbering? All of the wooden statues are fascinating.

It was a revelation seeing all of the old wells. There's always a token well in historical stories or movies, but seeing them in this thread brought home to me how many would really have been needed.

I'm not going to commit myself absolutely, but I'm pretty sure Louisiana doesn't have any chitterling sausage, at least not produced commercially. I believe the only things La. andouille and French andouillette have in common are the name & the use of pork. Of course back when sausage was produced on the farm, it's likely that the more exotic piggy parts got stuffed into casings.

[breeze]

When I think of Troyes I think of the Champagne fairs held there and a few other towns, when thousands of people came to buy and sell cloth, leather, furs, spices, and whatever. The fairs were well organized and secure, a tribute to the Count of Champagne and his bureaucrats.

You can see the wealth that poured into Troyes in these houses. Amazing that they have stood so long.

How long will those discount malls stand?

I am a sucker for half-timbered buildings too, lizzy. Before our last trip to France I found a website listing historic buildings and knocked myself out trying to map them for each town we were going to. Then we went to Bernay in Normandy and in one afternoon I saw enough wonderful buildings that the pressure was off for the rest of the trip.

Bernay is not a patch on Troyes for number of buildings, but the buildings in Bernay were in much better condition and most were in use.

[htmb]

Mar 19, 2015 22:36:14 GMT @lizzyfaire said:

Mar 19, 2015 21:44:40 GMT htmb said:

I suppose a town like this would be a dream to those who are over-awed by half-timbered buildings.

   I only said I loved them (because they remind me of my childhood).

Oh, Lizzy. My comment was not meant to be negative in any way. I can certainly appreciate your sentimental feelings.
I really would like to visit Troyes, to be sure. I am a sucker for historical buildings of all types.

[fumobici]

Troyes looks quite alluring actually. I too like the half timbered look. I find myself wondering what Paris would look like if more of this old construction had been preserved as it has here. Thanks for the spin around town k.

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I walked a bit away from the centre and came across the canal.









The former Hôtel Dieu (hospital) was along the water. It now houses two museums: the museum of pharmaceuticals and the museum of stained glass.











I entered another historical area surrounding the cathedral.





The outside of the building was relieved of most of its statues by the revolution. ISIS in Mossul would be proud.





















On the same square as the cathedral was the local art museum.

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I went back in the area of my hotel and noticed how a lot of the buildings were quite old and crooked, but the timbers had been plastered over when people decided that they were no longer fashionable. Also they tacked on modern additions to keep up with the times. Guess which streets look crummer now?

I found this re-renovation a bit questionable even though they exposed the beams again.

I saw there was a fun fair just opening for the evening. No, I didn't go.



After dark, I went out for a final stroll in the old town.

And that wraps up my short stopover in Troyes...

[Deleted]

Thanks for all of your comments. I just "discovered" Troyes this week myself, never having even been through the centre of the city on all my travels around France since towns like this always have bypass roads to keep you out of them if it is not your destination. Basically the city goes back to Roman times when it was a major crossroads. All of the old wooden buildings that I photographed date from the 16th century, because the city burned to the ground in 1524 and had to be completely rebuilt. Its main activity was in textiles until the mid-20th century. Even though I didn't show the river in my report, it is along the Seine, which curves around the centre of the city rather than going through it.

www.carnets-voyage.com/routes-gourmandes-aube-plan-troyes.jpg

[breeze]

So it looks like all these buildings were built after the Champagne fairs ended (which happened after 1285; I looked it up). Even more evidence of wealth in Troyes, then.

I had the sinking feeling viewing these outstanding photos that if I ever went to Troyes, I would see about a tenth of what kerouac saw and photographed for us.

Thank you, kerouac!

[bjd]

Troyes looks really interesting. It's strange how some towns become well-known tourist attractions, while others that have so much to show -- like Troyes (which I only knew about the outlet stores) deserves to be much better known.

It's a shame that so many of those old houses are in poor shape, but it doesn't look like a wealthy city and is fairly small while restoration and upkeep are expensive.

Thanks for these pictures.

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Mar 19, 2015 23:06:17 GMT bixaorellana said:

I'm not going to commit myself absolutely, but I'm pretty sure Louisiana doesn't have any chitterling sausage, at least not produced commercially. I believe the only things La. andouille and French andouillette have in common are the name & the use of pork. Of course back when sausage was produced on the farm, it's likely that the more exotic piggy parts got stuffed into casings.

Actually, andouille and andouillette are completely different things in France. Andouille is generally from Normandy and is a compact sausage often sliced thin and mostly eaten cold.

frenchgites.com/gallicblog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/andouille-de-guemene.jpg

The photographs that I have seen of Louisiana andouille appear to indicate that a totally different item is using the same name.

[nycgirl]

This place looks incredibly charming. I had seen pictures before of the half-timbered houses, but I didn't know there were so many interesting wood carvings. Some of the wood statuary is quite expressive.

I would love to take a stroll or bicycle ride through this town. (As for that andouillette, though, no thank you.)

[anshjain97]

Just saw the first bit of thread- very interesting and would certainly read more. Thanks for sharing!