Residence des Dames 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 ...

The day after the night before.. I was a bit heavy headed but it was well worth it and I was well looked after. Today we were heading to Marion's hometown of Epinal for a week at home. To get there via train it would cost an arm and a leg (they are quite traditional still, i think the exchange rate called for a forearm and two ankles.. anything?), so we decided to think outside the oblong and utilise the most powerful ...

... 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 ...

... 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.

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 ...

... 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!

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 ...

... It was great. On the way home, we got to Germany ok, but then on the A6, we couldn't get off art our exit, because the exits were closed off for construction. So, after a 10K detour, we were back in Landstuhl. Quotes from the weekend: 1. "I've got money to blow." -- Bonnie M. regarding her leaving *sniff* to go back to the US on Tuesday 2. "I see a half moon rising over there." regarding the "Say no to crack" campaign we saw at the Cathedral...dude, pull your pants up!