weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

The drives for our summer trip to Europe both started and ended at the Charles de Gaulle airport of Paris. For both these drives from Paris to Switzerland and then the return drive, we made a one-night stopover in different cities in northeastern France. Both stops were in places that we had not previously visited and we were quite positively surprised by both of them. This post will provide an overview of these two French cities at the beginning and end of our drive.

Our first stop was in VESOUL in the Haute-Saône department, a town of some 15,000 inhabitants, first documented back in the year 899. The first 3 pictures below portray this charming place. We had a very pleasant evening here with nice, almost cool temperatures, compared to what we experienced for the entire month afterwards. The following link provides some more info from Wikipedia on Vesoul: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesoul

Our final stop on the way back from Switzerland to Paris was in the town of TROYES in the Champagne Department with some 62,000 inhabitants. We heard good things about this stop, so our expectations were quite high, but we were definitely NOT prepared for a city core that was seemingly almost entirely out of the late Middle Ages. It is a city with a rich historical past, situated on the River Seine which 140km/90 miles further down-river flows through Paris. Its medieval old town features narrow, cobbled streets lined with hundreds of colorful, half-timbered houses, mostly dating from the 16th century. I went almost trigger-crazy on that afternoon following our arrival - and got up especially early in the morning before our departure to the Paris airport to explore the town further, resulting in hundreds of more images. For more information, click on the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troyes

I upload only one post today, as this marks the end of my images from our 2023 trips. Tomorrow I will start with a similar, but shorter and less versatile series covering our 2022 trips to Europe, covering mainly Switzerland plus short stays in the UK, Rome/Italy and the French Riviera.


Notes
TRIP INFO: Set # 1 provides a brief introduction to this series. Please use the link below if you would like to review this intro:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-797460-1.html

SUMMER TRIP INFO: Set # 7 provides more information on this second trip of the year to Europe
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-797711-1.html

EARLIER POSTS of this series: Access my topic list at UHH, the new posts are listed in reverse chronological order:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-topic-list?usernum=45105

MY ONLINE ALBUMS: If you are interested to see more photos of this series, I invite you to view my albums on my photo website. Access my website with the link below, click on the tab "Albums-Chronological" on top, this and past posts are part of the album "2023 Trips - Interim Selection" at the very top of the list. Click on the link "Short" to see the small selection of images I already worked on, more to come at a much later date. Earlier travel series I posted on UHH can also be viewed via my website: Click on the tab UHH on top which provides a link to the UHH pages and indicates the topics and pages where these can be found. Unfortunately the link from my website to the actual albums or UHH works only on laptop or desktop computers, not on handheld devices like iPad or cellphones, as the standard pdf format I use is not supported by these.
Link: www.weberwest.weebly.com

Thanks for visiting, I recommend viewing the downloads and look forward to your comments and questions.

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1 - Haute-Saône/Vesoul - Outside seating of a restaurant on the Place du Grand Puits in the warm evening sun

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2 - Haute-Saône/Vesoul - Statue of a "Lawyer going to plead in court", placed on the Place du Palais outside the Palais de Justice

(Download)

3 - Haute-Saône/Vesoul - Attractive street lights and decorations on Rue d'Alsace Lorraine at dusk

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4 - Marne - Driving on back-country roads under a great sky with whispy and cotton ball clouds through the flat, vast agricultural landscape in the Marne department, on our way from Troyes to Roissy-en-France to reach the CDG airport

(Download)

5 - Champagne/Troyes - Panorama image of a few of the hundreds of old half-timbered houses in this amazing city

(Download)

6 - Champagne/Troyes - View into a small court flanked by ancient buildings

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7 - Champagne/Troyes - Ancient, mostly half-timbered houses on the Place Saint-Pierre in front of the Cathedral St.Pierre/St. Paul

(Download)

8 - Champagne/Troyes - Cathedral St.Pierre/St. Paul, erected over a period of more than 400 years with many interruptions, damages and reconstruction, illustrating the various stages of the Gothic styles: Pure, Rayonnant and Flamboyant

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9 - Champagne/Troyes - Upper facades of 3 of the ancient half-timbered houses on Rue Émile Zola southeast of the park fronting the town hall

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10 - Champagne/Troyes - Hôtel de Ville/Town hall of Troyes, built in several stages between 1494-1672

(Download)

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

For your reference:

Map of France indicating (in purple) the flights/drives and the location of Vesoul and Troyes

(Download)

jederick Loc: Northern Utah

Magnificent scenes...colorful and nostalgic, Joe...love the old architecture as we rarely see half-timbered buildings in the U.S.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Nice set!

NMGal Loc: NE NM

Lovely parts of town, Joe. Your photography does you a lot of credit.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Europe has beautiful stylish old towns. We have learned very little from the Europeans. Great set.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Great series, Joe.

GeneB Loc: Chattanooga Tennessee

Thanks for the European tour.

Jimcamera Loc: Michigan

Excellent shots and processing. Well done.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Jim, glad you like these scenes, they are magnificent as you say, and also of course a sign of the past, I don't think I have ever seen a new building in this style, but these old buildings are lovingly maintained and restored. They help so much to create that magical ambience in the older sections of some European towns.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Bill for your appreciation.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Barbara for your supportive comment, I am glad you like these ancient structures.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thanks Ken, I am happy that you like these stylish old towns. Of course, Europe has a much longer history as measured by us "European descendants" and thus more of these magnificent buildings, but actually America has a good number of quite authentic building styles of its own, just think of the magnificent plantation buildings along the Mississippi, or the quaint New England houses, churches and towns - things we can be proud of as well. For me, of course, I have one foot on each continent, and actually really appreciate many of the Asian dwelling styles, particularly in the Far East.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Earnest, glad to see that you still enjoy the series!

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Gene for looking in on the tour.