we visited the medieval city next door..

All the schools in this region (including ours) are on winter holidays...even though the break came early in the school semester for us, our brains have been stretched so much over the last month that we are all grateful for the time off from classes.

On the outskirts of Albertville, there is a medieval town called Conflans.  It's been around for a long time, dating back to when this area was part of the Roman empire.  Nick and I went and visited on monday afternoon, it was clear and sunny- a good day to see the view of the surrounding area.  

(You can see the chateau in Conflans in the above picture) 

 One of the first things Nick did once we arrived in Albertville was find us some used bicycles, and they have been a great way to get around the city.  

This is the old town of Conflans....

Nick is always the tour guide..."historical facts" from his tours make everywhere we visit even more interesting.  :)

Always watch out for falling icicles....(but they do look pretty)

Here's the church...

This snowman made me laugh...looks like he wants inside :)

In Conflans, there is also a small art and history museum, where we learned about the background of the Savoie region.  

We learned a bit about the culture of the area...

We had the option of listening to the tour in French or English.  I chose English, but Nick was more ambitious and chose French.

This region wasn't part of France until quite recent history, in 1860.  

From what I can gather from the poster below, it's basically saying "habitants of Savoie, congratulations, you are all French now!"

And then one day, a man brought back several pairs of cross country (nordic) skis from scandinavia, and they thought it would be fun to try them downhill....

....and downhill skiing really caught on, and this region quickly became a popular tourist destination

A few more views of Albertville from above in Conflans....