Residence des Dames 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..

... 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.. 

Like Robert Redford was Africa, I am Italy. I must say it is a little bit of a relief. The Italians are not like me, they are loud and for the most part, a little bit obnoxious. I am back in France staying with Marion's family in Epinal. We had a lovely dinner, perhaps a couple too many glasses of wine. I'm feeling a little bit crook! But don't tell the hosts, they are very welcoming; they even had an Australian flag in the doorway for my arrival! So the last day in Como changed my ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...