The Chambery Adventures

The past three days I have soaked up culture like a sponge. Making productive use of my 19 hours per week of free time during school, Bonnie and I visited 3 stops on our 3 week long tour of Chambery - doing it the way tourists do. While yes, we are tourists, we're here for an extended stay which upgrades our status to that of the 'semi-permanent citizen', and we have to make that special effort to take full advantage of all that Chambery has to offer.
The first stop on our tour began at La Musée des Beaux Arts, a museum of art very near to our school. I was awestruck as I walked through the gallery, the paintings had been painted 500 or more years ago. I have never been within inches of something that old. Someone had conveyed a message that lasted 500 years, and now I was on the recieving end. It blew my mind.
Thursday brought the the trip to La Musée d'Histoire Naturelle de Savoie. I'm glad I arrived without expectations, because if I had, this museum would not have filled them. It consisted of 4 rooms: shells, minerals, animals, and insects. All of the rooms had very little to do with Chambery. Even if they had, it was not explained. There were cases of shells and mineral rocks with labels indicating they came from Afghanistan, Brazil, and on occasion Savoie. The insect room really was no better, showcasing Monarch butterflies from Canada that migrate to Mexico every winter. Who's brilliant idea was that?
The animal room was by far the most entertaining. I was horrified and sad to see a room filled with dead, stuffed animals. There were angry foxes, snakes in coils, eagles with their wings spread, and a mountain goat too. So after Bonnie and I finished being shocked, we pulled out the camera, posed with some of the animals, and had a good laugh over how ridiculous the museum was. Then we got the hell out of there.
Friday allowed us to experience the bus system first hand. We took a city bus to La Maison d'Energies - a house built to run solely on solar power. At first we ended up in the wrong place, about 10 minutes too far from where we wanted to go. After arriving, we had a private tour with a very informative guide, and learned about the placement of windows, solar panels, natural insulators, cooking using the sun's rays, and gardens on the roof.
Making our way home was not so pleasant. We got lost on the bus, ended up at the opposite end of town from where we wanted to go, I left my coat at a bus stop and had to go back to find it, took another bus, used 5 bus tickets, and FINALLY arrived at the city centre.
Nevertheless, our day was hilariously fun and informative. And now, I look forward to the last 2 weeks, of our Chambery Adventure.