Ibis epinal centre ville

... and work, me from doing nothing but eating subway.  We had a nice Sunday lunch with Marion's extended family and I think I coped okay. 40% of the people there spoke some English. I had to count how many places to set in French in front of everyone and out loud and I smashed it to pieces. We spoke of Australian actors and animals over lunch, I even got to say "G'day" a couple of times.  Marion's Grandfather is a big deal over there. He is an artist who has worked for the ...

... my thick accent and the fact I don't speak French he presumed I was English. Marion kindly corrected him, sending his brain into meltdown. "Do they speak English in Australia?" he asked in French, "yes, of course" Marion replied, "So they don't speak Australian?" An uneducated Frenchman, what a sight! We payed 20 euro for the four hour drive and the only threat against our lives was **** music.  A week in Epinal ahead.. 

... 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

... no Ducatis Roy!, and roared off down the mountain past the poor cyclists who had managed to struggle up to the top were getting quite wet in the mist the clouds were bringing on the way down. H has been loving the fact that the cyclists are everywhere in this country, even on the highest mountains in the snow, and he takes every opportunity to have a chat with them. That night we were treated to dinner of homemade quiche Lorraine - in the very ...

... 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.

... highways. Imagine this... .slow traffic stays right and passing traffic only uses the left lane! I only saw one person staying in the left lane, but he was hauling ass. If only it worked this way in the US. I never once got held up by anyone. Also, I noticed that when people were passing, they left their left blinker on after having switced into the left lane. At first, I thought someone had just forgotten ...