August 29, Wednesday - We bid farewell to Nancy. It was time to move on. We packed up and descended the HUGE hill into Nancy.

Once in Nancy, I wished we had descended the hill earlier. Most of Nancy looked like any other French city, and it was a little confusing to get around, but then we stumbled into the square in the middle of the city ... Place Stanislas. WOW!! Place Stanislas is a World Heritage Site, and was designed and built in the early 1700s. We spent a little while there walking around, having lunch, and taking photos.

The plan had been that we would reach Sarrebourg by nightfall, and then Strasbourg the next day. This did not happen. Nancy is not the easiest city to get around ... actually, no city is really easy to get around on a bicycle.

Eventually we did get out of town, and into the suburbs which were busy and chaotic with traffic, and the general class of the area seemed more industrial. And yes, if some of the photos look rather smoggy to you, it was rather smoggy in that area.

Rowan started having trouble with his panniers too ... the problems plagued us till the end of the trip. I'm not quite sure what was wrong except that every now and then one would drop off and either get caught up in his spokes, or land right in front of me. However, fortunately it didn't happen too often.

We made a brief stop in Saint Nicolas de Port and had a look at the Basilica which was built in the late 1400s. The Basilica towers over the landscape!

From Saint Nicolas de Port, we took a wrong turn, and started back to Nancy. I have a compass on my bicycle, and I had the map ... and fortunately it wasn't too far up the road that I began to have my suspicions that we weren't going the right direction.

Some time later, we finally got all the way out of Nancy and all the suburbs, and into the country on a quiet country road. Unfortunately by this time, it was getting late, and we knew we'd never make Sarrebourg. Oh well, on to Plan B.

The road we were on was lovely ... very rural, hardly any traffic, and relatively flat. We were on D2 running along the Canal de la Marne au Rhin. The one thing we could have used along that road was a shop. There were several little towns, but they were all shop-free. Not even a pâtisserie!

We did discover that Parroy had a campground, so we stopped there for the night, and ordered bread for breakfast. But although we combed the town (all two streets) we could not find a shop. Nevertheless, Rowan was able to come up with a meal from leftovers.

The campground at Parroy was interesting because it was also a boat dock for the Canal. That was the first we were to see of many canal boats, and canal boat stops, over the next few days.

August 30, Thursday - After our breakfast of croissants, we packed up camp and made our way to Sarrebourg. We were thinking of taking the train from Sarrebourg to Strasbourg, but found out that the nearest campground was 15 kms away from Sarrebourg, toward Strasbourg, and decided to ride there.

The route from Parroy to Sarrebourg was relatively flat with a few managable hills, but for some reason I felt like I was really working. We stopped at a tiny roadside cafe to get something to drink (Orangina, as usual) which was really nice. It was here, however, that we both suddenly realized it was much later in the month than we had thought. I think we were both thinking it was somewhere around the 28th, not the 30th. It's funny how you lose track of time on tours.

Along the route, we kept catching glimpses of a mountain range in the distance ... in the general direction we were heading. Mountains? Somehow I thought it was basically flat all the way to Strasbourg. It wasn't until I got home that I found out those mountains were the Vosges. And yes, we were heading right for them.

Sarrebourg was very busy and congested. There were some attactive features, but we just wanted to get back out into the quiet countryside. The route out to the campground beyond Sarrebourg was also quite nice ... more relatively flat, quiet, rural roads.

And then we reached the edge of the Vosges Mountains. At that point there is something called the Saint-Louis-Arzviller Plan Incliné. It is an engineering marvel allowing canal boats to cross the Vosges, and replacing the 17 locks that were there. It opened in 1969. We found the canal path more or less by accident (the usual way we find things), and cycled it all the way down to the current canal. It was beautiful, and a bit eerie. All 17 locks are still there, complete with their lock houses in various stages of disrepair ... after all, they had been abandonned in 1969. A few near the top of the path were renovated and maintained, but as we got closer to the bottom, more were on the verge of falling apart. The old canal water was also very dark and full of plant-life.

At the bottom of the path, we found the sign for the town which had the campsite ... and we climbed 2 kms straight up a wall of a hill to get to the town. Yes, I was walking again. Sure enough, there was the town. We cycled every single road in the town (all 6 of them) and hunted in every likely-looking nook and cranny for a campground, but could not find it. Finally we asked someone walking down the street, "Ou est le camping?" As he gave us directions, in French, my heart sank. I didn't understand everything he said, but I did understand his directions to turn left at the intersection ahead ........ and go to the bottom of the hill. AAAARRRGGGHHH!!

Down we went! Sure enough, there it was, over the bridge and around the corner.

August 31, Friday - Since we were in the area, we decided to take a look at the Saint-Louis-Arzviller Plan Incliné. We cycled past it, around the corner, and straight up the side of the mountain. Once we got to the top, we discovered that we would have to pay to get in, and since we were on a budget, we decided not to do that. However, this website has several pictures and a 360° panorama of the area. http://www.plan-incline.com/ You can also "experience" the luge which goes all the way down the side of the mountain. :)

Then we cycled all the way into Strasbourg on the canal route.

The canal route was fascinating! It was very well marked and very well maintained. At times, I almost felt like I was on a canal boat. We watched the locks in operation as canal boats travelled up and down the canal, and I took several photos. People rent these canal boats for a week or so, and cruise the canals. I can't recommend a certain company or type of boat, but I can tell you that there is quite a bit of information regarding the canals and canal boats on the internet.

The architecture was also interesting ... different from the western side of France. The houses are plainer, and newer-looking, and painted in bright pastel colors. The Lock Houses are also painted in similar colors, and are very plain and symmetrical. Some are short, like the one in the photo above, others are quite tall.

From the cyclist's perspective, the canal routes are ideal for a tour. There are signs all along the way to let the canal boats know where they can dock, and where they can replenish their supplies. And of course, that information is very useful for cyclists as well. When we arrived at a docking area, we discovered that they had maps into the towns to help us find the grocery stores, and they had fresh water, so we were able to refill our bottles along the way.

The other nice thing about the canal routes is that they are flat. They are so flat because, before boats had motors, they were pulled up the canals, first by horses, and then by trains. Later, when boats no longer needed to be pulled, the paths were converted into cycling paths. Because they are often edged by trees, wind is also not much of a factor. They were a joy to ride! If I could have, I would have stayed on the canals for the rest of the trip.

But then we arrived in Strasbourg.

Getting into Strasbourg was a challenge because the canal route just seemed to end ... and was replaced with a maze of bicycle paths. Like most bicycle paths in most cities, they never seem to go anywhere useful. You get onto one that looks promising, when all of a sudden it veers off in another direction, or just ends ... and leaves you stranded under a bridge, or at a very busy intersection with no discernable signage. The roads weren't much better at first either, until we became more familiar with the city.

We made use of the maps at the tram stations to find our way around. And this is a tip for other cycletourists in both France and Belgium. If you arrive in a city or town, and don't have a detailed map of the city or town, locate the bus stops, tram stops, or train stations by the side of the road. The ones with shelters (bus shelters) usually had large maps on one wall of the shelter. These maps are bus, tram, or train maps so they may not have all the information a cyclist might want, but they can give you a good idea of where you are, where you might need to go, and some idea of how to get there. And if you've got a compass, those maps become even more useful. We would find one, locate ourselves, then set off in the right direction ... and down the road we'd find another one, stop and locate ourselves again, then set off again, etc.

One of the first things we stumbled on in Strasbourg were the European Parliament buildings for the European Union. If you aren't familiar with the European Union, you can read all about it here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/parliament/public.do?language=en

We walked and cycled all around the buildings while trying to figure out where we were, and where we needed to go, and two things struck me. The buildings came across as abandonned. There were probably lots of people inside, but the whole area just seemed empty. The other thing was that the few people who did venture outside didn't look happy. They all marched down the sidewalk looking very business-like, not making eye contact with anyone, and without a trace of a smile on their faces. So we took a few photos, and moved on.

We had an idea where the campground was from a tram station map, but after using two or three tram station maps, and trying to follow the bicycle paths, we ended up at an intersection with no tram station maps or useful signs. We were standing there debating which way to go, when a man in a van, which had stopped for a ligh,t called out in English, "Where are you going? Can I help?"

The man had an idea where the Auberge de Jeunesse (Youth Hostel) was, and thought the campground was quite close to it. He also had a GPS, and was able to give us some very helpful directions. As we were chatting, we found out he had been in Australia for vacation! We were so thankful that he had decided to stop and help us. So while the area around the European Parliament was a bit on the cold side, the rest of Strasbourg is not like that. We began to warm to the city.

Despite the directions we still struggled a bit to find the campground, although we were now heading in the right direction. We pulled up at another intersection, and were again debating which way to go, when an elderly gentleman asked us in French what we were trying to find. We returned to our old faithful question, "Ou est le camping?". He knew! 400 metres down the road, turn right, and 200 metres down that road ... and there we were.

I find European camping fascinating ... even on the Friday night of a weekend, there is no booking required. We rolled up, and were told to just pick whatever site we wanted.

As usual, the people running the camp office were very friendly. But the initial conversation we had there was amusing. We came in and asked, "Est-que vous parlez anglais?", like we usually did to start our conversations. And he grinned and responded, "Yes, do you speak French?" It was the first time we had been asked! We were able to communicate just fine. :)