Hotel Atrium 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 ...

... so, so, so, so, so cold but oh so refreshing. The water was so cold that I decided that I can never shower in public again.. Severe shrinkage, there should have been a warning sign. We got some rays and by the time we had had enough we were able to go back to the hostel to change. We had to pay for our stay and after handing the money over to our gay Italian friend, he became very friendly; sankyou verymarch!! We went out for dinner and actually had a nice meal for the first ...

... 1,424m ) from where you can see into Germany. There was still snow on the top of the mountain and as we walked up the clouds came down and engulfed us. I expected to see my Mum and Dad at any minute! The boys ogled a group of Porches with Swiss and German numberplates, and bearing expensively dressed and coiffed ladies and gentlemen. H took a special fancy to a bright orange one! Then a group of bikes arrived, mostly Hondas, and Suzukis ...

... 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 ...

So we took a little day trip to the town Gerardmer which is about 45km away. It's situated around a lake up in the hills so it's a 'pretty' place to visit. There's paddle boats, kayaks, and canoes that you can rent and there's also little beach areas to hang out. It seems to be pretty popular with the locals. There was a little camping/RV lot where tons of ...

... in our workout clothes. I cut my hair really short before coming over here because I figured I wouldn't get to cut it. Anyways, one of the girls thought we were military! Off on a little tangent, but the guys here are pretty weak overall. There's this little gym called Samourai and it's like someones garage.. but anyways, Adam and I are probably the two strongest guys there. It's pretty sad... Back to the Japanese place... the girl ...

So... the company has us put up in the Kyriad Hotel which is a 2-star hotel, whatever that means. It has a really narrow entry-way into the really small garage. Driving the Peugeot in there requires a few three point turns. My room is pretty nice; it's a little suite. The front room has a foldout couch which takes up the entire room when it is folded out, then there's the hallway with the ...

... 90 and 110 km/hr to it wasn't too bad. In the Peugeot though, you really have to plan ahead when you want to pass. I've been spoiled with the Nissan and the Evo where you drop a gear or two, and floor it and it takes off. This Peugeot only has about 207hp and it's about the size of camary. Needless to say, you have to get a running start to make a pass on a car. Anyways, eventually hit some normal 2-lane each ...