Le Relais Des Empereurs Hotel Epinal

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... told us that our €6 wasn't enough to utilise the chairs and umbrellas. Defeated, I complied (curious about what I actually paid for) and headed for a grassed area that was populated by all the fat old chicks from Mennagio and surrounding villages. I was desperate to go for a swim but after the initial temp test, I got scared and decided on more sun; it was set resemble a swim in Mount Franklin, fresh, clean and ice cold. I finally plucked up the courage and braved the cold ...

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 ...

... 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 ...

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 ...

... 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 ...

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 ...

... space, and mosied around town. First stop was lunch, where we ate ham sandwiches that were on Frnech loaves bigger than the plates. We then went inside the Notre Dame Cathedral, climbed the 330 stairs to the top of the observation platform (my quads are really crying today), took a bunch of pictures, and then headed back down to find some water. We grabbed a beverage, and headed to the Ill Riverbank to get on a tour boat. We floated around the Ill River to an audio tour ...