American Hotel Nancy Centre Ville

This is an incredible place...but I don't have any pictures... when I got there my camera stopped working :( But I really think it was a blessing because I just saw everything and didn't worry about getting pictures of everything for later, I just saw and took it all in. It was a much needed get-away and it really blew me away, especially the Cathedral! Mass there was unbelievable...and I have a new-found love of French...and their pastries :)

We left Germany this morning with fuzzy heads after 4 pints of strong German Lager the evening before. We let Pete and Tim know our proposed route and set off in search of some sun!

It was not long before we heard from the lads who said they were still in the mountains probably having fun so we plodded along the motorway heading towards Metz.

Nothing much to report apart from the consumption of BK number two, two in two days. No we are not doing a ...

We got up fairly late and I went with Ben on my parent's grave ... hard to stand there and not feeling emotional. Anyway had to get some flowers as we were invited for lunch "again" at an old friend place have known Phil since as far as I can remember we used to live on the same floor of the housing commission building so we go way back . It was ...

Got up this morning and after our ablutions we took the road for "Domremy-la-pucelle" birth place of Johann of arc. Great trip and pics taken. We then decided to go to the local cathedral to check it out ... this is when we saw he sign for: " ruine gallo-romaines de Grand". Of we pop following ...

... he got dethroned because of the civil war. He tried to get into many countries around Europe but France was the only country to accept him. He funded the building of place Stanislas which would have cost quite allot considering the majority of the iron gates are covered in gold leaf.

We got back to the hotel and had a nap. We then left to have dinner at my uncles house in Point Saint Vincent which consisted of horse steaks and rillettes (pork patte ...

... have a shower when my wife of 16 years remembered that today was my 45th birthday. We went to place Stanislas had a great time and we opted for a light lunch at "l'arrosoir" nice little place close to place carrier. I drove back Marg and the kids back to the Hotel for a rest and I went shopping for the goodies needed for my birthday dinner. Andouillettes, horse Berliner, rabbit pate, and 6 different kinds of cheeses.... not a veggie in sight, this should be a great dinner.

... years old at this time, which was very old for that period, and King Henry expected him to live for 2-3 more years, tops. He selfishly wanted the old man to die, so he could acquire the territory. Of course, the twist of the story is that Stanislas lived not 2-3 more years, but THIRTY more years!! He lived to be 90 years old, and in the end did not even die of natural causes. He used to smoke 20 cigars a day, so one day the 90 year ...

... than we would have liked to see (had some dodging to do on a fairly regular basis - "Elke, watch out!!") and a pub which served over 150 types of beer. I enjoyed yet another flavoured beer (cassis from Belgium) and Mitch had his trip favourite - a Leffe (also Beligian). After having paid, I asked whether they had any Canadian beers in their huge assortment and they said they had one, Maudite. Of course, it would be a ...

... little round things that were like very thin soft bread, covered with a layer of ham or pate or cheese, rolled and cut into thin slices - all really nice. We also had some pastry parcels with normal cheese in some and goat's cheese in others - hot and crispy from the oven. That was all just for starters! For main course we had spaghetti bolognaise and then, wow, the desserts came. One of the guys was a chef and made Tarte au Sucre, (Like a sugar sponge) and Tarte au Pommes ...

Our first exciting barge experience was attending Roger Van Dyken's Barge training course.



Roger and Marlene took three couples, Laurel and I, Brad and Nancy and Steve and Pei Shan (interestingly we have now all bought barges!) and with much patience and good grace taught us all how to run a barge. We left from Toul in Lorraine ...