It took less than 100 feet to see the difference between
night and day.
I think I mentioned about how the weather in Colmar
yesterday was nothing like it was forecast.
It was supposed to be sunny and 75 and ended up being cloudy and
60. Well, when we woke up this morning,
the forecast said sunny and 75 again, while reality was something
different. We weren’t too concerned;
today was mostly a driving day. But we
were still curious as to why it was happening, and we found out when we crossed
the Vosges Mountains
on the way to Troyes.
Driving up the mountain it was cloudy, cold &
gloomy. As soon as we hit the summit of
the mountain and started the drive down, and I’m not kidding about this, the
sun came out and the temperature jumped 15 degrees. One side of the mountain was horrid, while
on the other side, no more than 100 feet away, the weather was beautiful. So THAT’S why Colmar
was gloomy yesterday!
Speaking of which, driving up & down the mountain roads
was quite interesting, even with two big trucks in front of us, as evidenced by
this picture Loraine took
Anyway, greetings from Troyes,
where it IS nice outside. In fact,
here’s the view out of our hotel window, a view that prompted the title of the
blog—
It’s a bit of a shame that we didn’t get to enjoy the
weather more, but like I said it was mostly a driving day, with two very
important stops. The first?
This is the final grocery store chain at which we needed to
stop and buy chocolate and cereal, and it took us until today to find one. I
think I’m now completely stocked up, while I believe Loraine needs one bar
which was usually available at a Super
U.
Either the one in Munster
didn’t have it or they don’t just don’t make them any more.
I think she’s hoping for the former.
The other stop was at the Epinal
American Cemetery—
Epinal, in my humble opinion, is probably one of the most
beautiful of American military cemeteries.
It sits in a valley between a couple of hills, and just has green as far
as the eye can see. And you know what’s
a shame? It only gets about 5% of the
visitors of, say, the Normandy American
Cemetery.
That’s just not right.
We stopped here because of this guy—
And because of the two people surrounding Loraine and her
geeky sidekick.
That’s Nathalie Colin of Chantraine (near Epinal), joined by
her mother, who are two of the people who’ve adopted the graves of individuals buried
in the cemetery. One of Nathalie’s “adoptees”
is the dude pictured below, Gerald Morin of Munising. Loraine had provided Nathalie with
information on him, and when she found out we were gonna be in the area, she offered
to meet us at the cemetery and say “hey”.
Which is exactly what happened today.
As with everyone we’ve met so far on this trip, the kindness
and generosity shown by Nathalie and her mother was amazing, whether toward a
guy from Alger County
who died 70 years ago or two Americans who stopped by to pay their
respects. So to Nathalie and her mom, merci
beaucoup. We hope to see you again.
We then made our way to Troyes,
the old town portion of which is shaped like a Champagne
cork. No, I’m not kidding. This is the heart of the Champagne region of
France (apparently, the only place in the world where you can actually make
sparkling wine and legally call it “Champagne”) and when the old rich dudes who
founded the city hundreds of years ago were putting it together they decided to
do it in the shape of a cork.
So the next time that topic comes up in conversation, and
I’m sure it will, you’re all ready to go.
Here’s what the old town looks like—
There are a lot of old, leaning, half-timbered houses and a
big public square in front of the town hall (no parks, though). And as you’re walking through Troyes
you start to notice a few strange things, including this guy outside of a
store—
And the fact that you can buy shirts just like the one on
the right in France—
Speaking as a Michigan
State grad, I’m appalled. Just appalled.
Dinner tonight was from this amazing bakery—
And since a few of you have sent me comments about the stuff
we’ve been eating, here’s your bakery beauty shot of the day—
After eating the cherry custard/flan/whatever-it-was piece
of heaven (as well as some real food, Mom) we had to go back and tell the guy
running the bakery just how good it was.
Now, I know I’ve said this a lot over the past week, but it was
amazing. Simply amazing!
Here’s your animal picture of the day, at least an animal
picture of a sort. See this drain pipe
attached to a building in Troyes?
Well, this is how the water comes out of the bottom.
Because, really, would you expect anything different?
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