Blogs from Lorraine, France, Europe - page 9

Joyeuse Pâques à tous! J'imagine que dans le froid et la neige... le printemps ne semble pas trop présent! De notre côté, c'est un peu la même chose mais en version accélérée: il pleut 10 minutes, vient ensuite la grêle pour 5 minutes et ensuite le soleil se pointe a nouveau... 30 minutes plus tard voila la neige qui s'en mêle! Et ainsi de suite... On garde tout de même le moral, au contraire des touristes qui fuient plus vite que les nuages:o)! Nous avons occupé notre vendredi et samedi de Pâques à visiter un lieu "saint" pour la France: Verdun. Suivant notre quête pour une meilleure compréhension de la Première guerre mondiale, un arrêt à Verdun s'imposait. Avec Stephen (collègue de Terre-Neuve) nous avons loué une auto (130 euros pour 2 jours et 800 km ... read more

I know that when I return to my home of Boston, MA in June/July that I will be obviously different in some ways more than others. I figured I would list some of them now just so you can be prepared for when I come back! New Habits: *I eat a load of food at breakfast and lunch, but hardly anything at dinner. This is how the French do it! *I don't snack anymore! *I drink MILK... out of a bowl. *I eat cheese more often now, but now as much as the French because you get super constipated sometimes. *I wear black clothes, and I swore before I left that I would never wear black, but here I am. These Europeans love their dark colors, and I simply don't fit in with my bright red ... read more

I just finished up the first day back to school after 15 days of vacation! I was in the Alps for my first week, and the second was spent in the Vosges mountains. In the Alps I was with the Gelmetti family, and there we were stationed at the Grizzly Hotel in Les Deux Alps. Every morning we would take "les oeufs" up to the top of the mountain, and from there we would choose our paths down. I was with my first host family, the Gelmetti's, for this first week. For the second week I was with my host family now, the Galvez's. We left for the Vosges last Friday, and arrived back in Rombas last night after a 2hr. car drive. It was a lot worse going up to the Alps because that took ... read more

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

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