Blogs from Nancy, Lorraine, France, Europe
September 4th 2011
Hallo allemaal, Een nieuw jaar, een nieuwe blog. Toch? Zoals jullie gewend zijn live vanuit San Francisco.... Met zijn tweetjes! Oh nee, toch niet.... Dit keer, is alles anders.... Dit keer zijn we met zijn drieeen. Ons allerliefste kereltje Jamey is er bij!!! En als we dan toch gek aan het doen zijn: Niet vanuit de USA, maar vanuit FRANKRIJK! Om toch nog een beetje bij de vertrouwde basis te blijven, hebben we er een soort van rondreis van gemaakt!!! . Geen FLAUW idee waar we ons in gestort hebben, maar we zien wel waar het schip strandt!!!! Onze vakantie is begonnen met een weekend centerparcs. In Frankrijk, dat dan weer wel! Het is een vrij nieuw, super bosrijk park. Uurtje ten oosten van Nancy. Afgelopen vrijdag met een familie auto (heb van auto gewisseld met ... read more
July 22nd 2011
I apologise for my lack of blogging recently, but the internet situation is pretty bad. It's either too expensive for my budget or I've only had 15 minutes! I'll upload the photos when I get home. We arrived in Nancy and took a long bus ride to our hotel, which was situated in a lovely industrial estate that wasn't actually in Nancy. As we didn't have a kitchen we went and ate a croque monsieur in a small café in a supermarket. The next day we travelled into town and we went shopping as it was raining. I bought a bit too much, mostly clothes, and then we went to the botanical garden and followed the tourist train because it was slow enough for us to get a free tour :D In the evening we watched ... read more
January 24th 2011
Et oui un voyage, c'est avant tous des "Au revoir", mais temporaire vous en faite pas. :) VOUS oui VOUS tous autant que vous êtes, soyez sûr que chaque jour de mon périple j'aurai une pensée pour VOUS... pas qu'une même. Et j'espère bien que vous penserais un peu à moi aussi quand même. :) Et vous êtes tous cordialement invités à venir me rendre visite quand vous voulez... Bisous tout le monde.... read more
August 10th 2008
Aug 10, 2008 Today we want to travel around the wine region of Alsace and try some of the local wine but we are disappointed. Apparently the wineries in BC, Washington and California state have something special as here when directed off the wine route you head to a winery but all you see are signs at the end of little roads explaining what type of grape is planted and what food you should drink it with. There are many little roads throughout the vineyards which you can drive and cycle on but there is no tasting room with the local wines at the end. We decide to carry on and head to a larger town to find some food. In France Sunday shopping does not exist and I mean nothing is open, no corner store, ... read more
July 15th 2007
Place Stanislas - the most impressive puplic square I've seen and recognised by UNESCO as a world heritage site. Black and gold gilded wrought iron gateways surround it, also includes the impressive Hotel de Ville. Arc de Triomphe - Nancy's own, off the Place Stanislas. Parc de la Pépinière - very nice and green, rosary and a small zoo, the usual statues and fountains Nancy catherdral - unfortunately was being restored so was partially covered in scaffolding Bizarre bronze sculpture (how Lonely Planet put it) - near the station, a column with what looks like a load of doggy doos on the top!!??? Nancy is very nice - Large commercial throughfares with department stores and shops displaying crystals and jewellry glittering in their windows. As usual there are heaps of cafes and brasseries for people ... read more
May 31st 2007
Days have passed slowly but surely, and finally tomorrow it's time to catch the train again. I haven't really packed yet, but as the process of “packing” will be this time something like throwing my light explorer a.k.a. sleeping bag, toothbrush, journal, camera, mp3 (with a superb voyage-collection to fit every possible mood!) and some important papers inside the backpack and go, I'm not really that concerned about not having the time to do it. Yesterday was reading packing tips from one web-page, and after reading this list, I panicked for two seconds about being very ill-prepared, but then, if I need something I'll buy it there, and if can't find it, I won't need it. Simple. A well-known fact is that the Nordic people LOVE planning! So, surely we have one: the plan is to ... read more
May 5th 2007
For the last few days we have been heading ....south west - not exactly in the right direction to get to the Far East. Is it the strong pull of the mother land calling us back? No actually it’s the beautiful Moselle river, leading us from Koblenz in Germany, along the border of Luxembourg, and into Lorraine, North east France. We’ve been a bit more intrepid since leaving Cochem, wild camping for 2 nights in a row and was never more grateful for a shower than yesterday arriving in Nancy (those wet wipes don’t quite cut it for more than 2 days!) Entering France was a bit like leaving toy-land (Germany) and re-entering the real world ( the world of no cycle lanes and graffiti) as we head into the industrial cities of Metz and Nancy. ... read more
May 7th 2006
Hello everyone, We had the most interesting visit to the Maginot Line. We were told that the French started building it in 1929 in a spirit of "never again" after they were so badly hit during WWI. The purpose was to protect that part of their border that wasn't protected by friendlies--Belgium or by natural defence--mountains. Also, military service had been reduced to one year, so this conserved manpower. It was five hundred miles of subterranean tunnel that contained a rail system for moving ammunition. The walls were constructed of brick, cement and gridiron and were almost four feet deep. During WWII it accommodated 1,000 men and forty officers. They worked in three shifts, eight hours of defence work, eight hours of sleep, six hours of repair and maintenance work with the final two hours to ... read more
