Mister Bed Nancy

This is an incredible place...but I don't have any pictures... when I got there my camera stopped working :( But I really think it was a blessing because I just saw everything and didn't worry about getting pictures of everything for later, I just saw and took it all in. It was a much needed get-away and it really blew me away, especially the Cathedral! Mass there was unbelievable...and I have a new-found love of French...and their pastries :)

We left Germany this morning with fuzzy heads after 4 pints of strong German Lager the evening before. We let Pete and Tim know our proposed route and set off in search of some sun!<br><br>It was not long before we heard from the lads who said they were still in the mountains probably having fun so we plodded along the motorway heading towards Metz.<br><br>Nothing much to report apart from the consumption of BK number two, two in two days. No we are not doing a ...

... nice to see him and his family again. Fantastic lunch and same goes for the company. As all good things have to end we parted around 4 pm to go back to my brother's place for ... you guessed it another reunion with a childhood friend, Agnes what can I say... she will never change. Love her to bits even though she is a little mad (in a nice way)

Got up this morning and after our ablutions we took the road for "Domremy-la-pucelle" birth place of Johann of arc. Great trip and pics taken. We then decided to go to the local cathedral to check it out ... this is when we saw he sign for: " ruine gallo-romaines de Grand". Of we pop following ...

... br><br><br><br>Day 6There is absolutely no point in me telling you about day 4 and day 5 because I had to suffer the long and boring family lunches and dinners and I do not want you to suffer the same misfortune of having a family of boose-hounds and and nut jobs. I will give you a small insight into my crazy french family. My second uncle (Patrice) lit a bunga the size of a dynamite stick in the middle of a street and run about 2 meters away and yelled ...

Got up around 7 am and got to the restaurant for breakfast. Typical French fare with "croissants plain and chocolate, bread, butter and jam" and the great taste of coffee with the addition of chicory to take off the bitterness. After "mon petit dejeuner" I took some goodies (unfortunately I will have to repeat this over the next few days) to Margaret and the kids so we could all a bite to eat together. After about an hour we decided on the program of the day and were going ...

... two towns. There was originally a statue of King Henry the 14th in the plaza, but during the French Revolution they tore this down, used the statue for cannon balls, and then erected a statue of their beloved duke in its place. Anyway, I really liked that bit of history and thought it was kind of funny. Hopefully you did too. After seeing the town some (my camera battery died, so sorry, but my pictures are limited!), Liz and I did ...

... scenery, snapping tons of pics and yes, eating excellent food. We both have to admit that although we're now in excellent cardiovascular shape and have the strongest of legs, our general "silhouette" has changed a lot less than we would have liked!! Oh well, there are always the bikes when we get home (and lots of crunches). Famous stores in Nancy include not only the Bergamotte candy store (the name escapes me at the ...

Our first exciting barge experience was attending Roger Van Dyken's Barge training course.<br><br><br><br>Roger and Marlene took three couples, Laurel and I, Brad and Nancy and Steve and Pei Shan (interestingly we have now all bought barges!) and with much patience and good grace taught us all how to run a barge. We left from Toul in Lorraine ...

... such an effort travelling (and paying a large sum in total) to go all the way here to Lyon then Nancy, France to see a band from Portland Oregon... but truly, they were amazing! See the photos here .