Checked out of the hostel at 11 and left our bags in the luggage room. My legs were still sore and I was still very tired, and we saw a good chunk of the city. So, we spent the afternoon in the Latin Quarter of Paris.
The Latin Quarter gets its name from the time when there were universities in the area and people studied Latin. Now it is an interesting area full of shops, bakeries, super markets, cafes, bars, clubs... it was quite active at all times of the day. I would guess that something like 15% of the people on the main streets were tourists in the day. That is much lower than other areas we had been in. I enjoyed seeing all of the different labels on the foods in the markets when the products are about the same. I bought an apple, orange, and chocolate from a market and cheesecake from a bakery and called it lunch. Ethan got a sandwich and a chocolate cake desert thing. I miss having fruits and vegetables around.
It is quite amazing that I made it out of London without eating or buying any Cadberry! That looks like I spelt it wrong. I can not find it here :(
We picked up our bags from the hostel and went to the national rail station. After some trouble getting our Eurail passes validated (stamped with the start date) we couldn't find the train. We picked up a train schedule the day before and picked out a train to Nancy, France. It turns out that train only runs on Sunday, but this was written in the subscripts in French so we could not read it. An information man marked the next train to take. Meanwhile the station was filling with smoke. There was a building outside on fire. It was across hte street from the station and you could not see flames just lots of smoke. So we watched, took pics, and then I ate my "lunch."
The three hour train ride here was exactly on time, and Ethan's cousin, Alexis, and her boyfriend, Antoni, were there on the platform. Alexis is from VA and has been in France for three years. Antoni is from France.
We all went for a walk around Nancy (pronounced non-C) and had a three course meal. I had a salad with some meat like bacon on it, fish, and creme caramel. It was all very good and I was very full. Again, I had trouble ordering. Luckily Alexis was there to tell us about speaking. We talked a lot about driving in France and they caught up on family stuff.
On the way home Antoni stopped so we could see a castle. It had a mote full of water and there was a large party going on inside (around 11.30 pm) with colored strobe lights and loud music. The castle is open for tours in the day. It was very large and ornate. The gate over the mote was edged with spikes everywhere.
Alexis and Antoni's appartment is nice. I am sleeping in the extra room and using their internet. Its the top floor of a building in Epinal.
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2 comments:
Did you happen to see a bar called the Latin Corner? I forgot to tell you about it. They only have guys as servers and they begin the night fully dressed, but end up in just g-strings at the end of the night...
haha nope i didnt see that justine! next time
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