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

... the hills, and he ever present majestic Sapin Tree, a beautiful tall pine. Some of the tiny roads up the top of the hills are rather hairy when you meet a car coming the other way. Great for a game of chicken! Roses seem to grow wild and flower prolifically, none better than the one in Gisele's driveway a highly perfumed fuchsia coloured tree rather than a bush. And the birds are everywhere, and singing at the top of their voices. H was ...

... enough of it to be what I considered the minimum of 'polite' and was fairly sure I had ripped the lining of my stomach. But I'm ok now. They eat late in Europe. And they don't have the healthy fear of carbs that seems to permeate my English-speaking life. It snowed, it was pretty. Not a hell of a lot to do in Baccarat.

... the outdoor tables that the restaurants always have setup. It's a drastic change from a few weekends ago when I was walking around on a Sunday, and I swore I was in the movie 28 Days Later or something. It was a complete ghost town. Anyways, hit up this little bar called Le Wellington. They had a karaoke night going on so it was interesting to hear all these girls belting out French songs. The one thing that sucks about ...

... 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 ...