Etap Epinal

... of the Dalai Lama. He carves the image into wood and then prints them onto paper. Sounds simple, not so. The images are amazing and so intricate. The work he did for the Dalai Lama (a complete Buddist medical journal) took him 13 years to complete. I toured his workshop and was lucky enough to get one of his originals. We stole a lift to Nancy with Marion's brother and were back in the capital that evening and snuck back into the nunnery for the last week on the continent..

The day after the night before.. I was a bit heavy headed but it was well worth it and I was well looked after. Today we were heading to Marion's hometown of Epinal for a week at home. To get there via train it would cost an arm and a leg (they are quite traditional still, i think the exchange rate called for a forearm and two ankles.. anything?), so we decided to think outside the oblong and utilise the most powerful ...

... of the place. We were actually in a little village called Mennagio. It's a tourist village, very quaint and charming, but busy. As we were locked out of the hostel from 10-4, we decided to make the most of the sun and go for a swim. Turns out, the only place to swim in the village is fenced off and you have to pay €6 to get in!! We payed the dosh and headed for the artificial sand to get some pre-swim sun. We were headed off by a very brown and wrinkled Italian Stallion ...

... to see a nest of baby Bergeronets in the wall of the swimming pool and get a great photo of them with their mouths wide open waiting for dinner. There are also a few cows in fields and I loved the special Vosges cows which are black and white with a large white saddle across their backs. Francois & Gisele drove us around the area, to Hohneck near the Col de la Schlucht (alt.1,362 metres) and up to the top of the mountain range at La Grande ...

They make crystal in Baccarat but we didn't have long enough at the museum for me to understand how it works, much to my disappointment. We stayed with our Muslim cousin, and then his Christian children came over for Christmas, so it was very multicultural/secular. When we arrived, at about 11:30 in the evening, the table ...

... indoors anywhere in France is the number of people smoking in there. I swear at least half the people in there were smoking. BUT, after talking with some girls, they told us that France passed a law that bans smoking indoors starting in 2008! By the way, a small jack and coke cost me 5 euros... so roughly 6.75. It's about LA prices, except this is in a tiny country town! Hate to find out how much it'll cost in Paris...

... 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!

... as few people that live here, there's so many different little places to eat. Just don't count on them always being open... especially on Sunday! Out of the at least fifty little places I've walked by, ONE was open serving lunch on Sunday. The restaurant next to my hotel is pretty good and they take American Express (corporate card)! There's a Sushi place down the block which is just okay. First time Adam and I went in there, we ...

... 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.

Thank goodness for navigation systems... The signs on the highways around Paris are a bit confusing because instead of saying 'north, south, east, west', it says the town that it's heading too. That's great if you know all of the towns, but for someone not familar, it's pretty much useless. Ended up taking a small country highway from Paris towards Nancy which is one lane each direction. The speed limit varies ...