Best Western Hotel La Fayette Epinal

After hitchhiking our way across the plains of northern France, we arrived in Epinal at midnight. We waited in the cold for a while as Marion's Mum had fallen asleep when she realised she still had 20 mins before she had to pick us up. I was happy for the wait as I was well-rugged up and Marion was complaining about the cold.. It made me feel really tough and I even stole her scarf and threw water on her to complete my triumph. We spent a week catching our breath; Marion from ...

... in our disposal; our thumbs. That's right, we hitchhiked! Well sort of, we payed and it was pre-arranged but it was a strange driver in a strange car driving us from Paris to Nancy, so I'm chalking it up!  We were picked up from a tube station at the edge of town and were met by our driver. He was wearing a matching tracksuit and didn't speak English. Of this I was glad, he didn't have much going on upstairs. Because ...

... since Firenze. We headed back to the hostel and decided to watch a movie; Everything Is Illuminated. It is a really great movie and is a true story (I finished the book on the train to Como). Do yourself a favour and check it out! We had to get up early to get the 7.15 bus back into Como to catch the 9am train. We would travel to Zurich, then onto Nancy and we ended up here in Epinal 11 hours later! I'm really tired, a little drunk and feeling a little sick.. Until next time, The Dog

Lucette had arranged with her sister Giselle and husband Francois for us to stay with her in Lorraine in the north east of France. They live in the most delightful little place called Cornimont, which is nearby a popular skiing area at La Bresse. The whole area is a maze of hills covered in bright green grass and a sprinkling of wildflowers (mostly yellow, purple and white) with lovely stone house or wooden chalets dotted at uneven intervals all ...

... set and we sat down and had a 3 course meal. After the delicious stuffed artichoke entree (which I just realised I forgot to get the recipe for) I was given a portion of pasta roughly the size of my own head. I'd eaten on the train, and would have been quite happy without the artichoke, but the pasta was ridiculous. I ...

So the first two weeks here.... well, just about everything was dead. Now that much of France is on vacation, there's actually stuff going on! It's like the population of Epinal increased 10x! The other night in the main square, they actually had a big platform set up for some live music and the square was full with probably about 300 people; much more than the typical 30 I use to see. There are also people actually using ...

... were; basically groups for friends with a tent just hanging out. Adam and I ended up just going for a hike around the lake as there's a trail that goes all the way around. I'd guess that it took us around an hour, maybe a bit more. Afterwards, got some food at a restaurant by the lake and then headed back to Epinal. Overall, not a bad place to go for a daytrip!

... us how to use the soy sauce and wasabi for sushi.... it they only gave a tiny little clump of wasabi. The second time I went in, the girl instructed me how to use soy sauce and wasabi again... Uh, I guess French people don't know? There's a kebab place that I like to go to, called Snack Attak, or something close to that. It's pretty good and it's cheap. Tons of other places to check out... I guess I have another 2.5 months to do it!

... shower and sink) and separate room for the toilet. I think the toilet is designed for Germans as it has a thing at the bottom to stop the **** from sinking. When you flush it, the water level comes up and then its like a big vacuum and sucks everything down. If any of you REALLY want to see what it looks like, I can take a pic. I'd much rather have a regular toilet like in Adam's room.

... blinker on but numerous people were doing it. Adam and I decided to stop off in Nancy for dinner and found their centre-ville/downtown area. It's a big open square with restaurants on all sides. Lots of outdoor seating set into the open square area, like a hundred tables, for just having an appertif/drink. For actual eating, you sit next to the restaurant. One thing I had forgotten about France was that lots of ...