Stanislas", for which I prefer the name "The Golden Plaza". Martial enriched me with stories of Nancy but I really can't remember many of the names anymore. Nancy et Cologne
With the pleasure of the company of Martial, Deborah et Marium
I declare this page the most colourful one of my site. J
In the honour of Christopher Street Day, aka Gay Pride Day of
Cologne! (Yup, that's where the Ice Cologne comes from…)Let's start from the end. Sundy 08/07/2001, I returned from a greedy weekend without any incidents, except for a guy who signals me from his car 2 steps from Centrale. Well, such things happen.
That same morning, we were at…I'll let Deborah tell u.
"hehehe, yes i already knew what coucou is. cos a friend of mine uses it
quite often.
just wanted to say that it was fun having you guys over... i dont think i
wld have made it to bruehl to see the schloss if you hadnt come by :o)"
Le Schloss is a mini-castle à la Versailles. I've never seen a more original garden though. A real-life secret garden!
On the train on the way back, we were next to 4 women with an unbrella, a friendship band and a pullover, all in rainbow colours. I realised it only when on of them raised the umbrella to make a point. A small cultural shock but I don't exactly disapprove of homosexuality.
For breakfast, yummy Czech crepes. Mmmm.. thanks to Marium who makes them light and unburnt, unlike yours truly.
The night before, we had watched a trashy film, Snatch, produced by Madonna's husband. Who?! Well, I do remember the characters: Frankie Four Fingers and Boris the Bullet Dodger. I enjoyed munching on the potato chips and there were certain subtle moments during the film.
When we had arrived at noon, Deborah had fried chinese noodles with broccoli, cauliflower and many chinese mushrooms. Wow! Too bad Martial didn't want the mushrooms.
Deb and Marium stay in appartments some distance from Cologne. We took the train into the town after calling our darlin parents to assure them that we had safely arrived.
At Cologne, we let Martial amuse himself in a bookshop while we girls go to H&M, a garment store. Deb shows me two sizes of a skirt and I help her decide. Hope she buys it in the end, from the CHILDREN'S section. Sigh, some girls are so lucky.
Ice-cream for the 3 of us.
The shops close at 16h00 in Germany. The open-air disco to celebrate Gay Pride started at 17h in bright daylight !
We did have time to discover that CDs are cheaper in Singapour than in Germany than in France though.
I applaud the fact that the supermarkets don't provide plastic bags for free.
The Dome is a very tall church. We had to move real back to get the whole structure into the photo. Hope it turns out. In fact, Germans are obliged to contribute a fraction of their salary to their religion. Hence, the churches can be built large and imposing with all the available resources.
We go to the most popular restaurant in Cologne. It was lucky to be licensed to sell the beer from the biggest brewery in Cologne. I like it betrer than the Pilsner Urquel, a Czech beer I've tried.
For dinner, I have several medallions of cheese, accompagnied by radish, lettuce and brown bread. Really interesting especially since I've always thought that Germans eat only meat.
Martial had every right to be as tired as he was after the 4h of drive from Nancy to Cologne. Many thanks to him for having drove both ways. Bravo!
In fact, we got a bit lost around Trier. For 18 km. Shush, ok?
I arrived at Metz instead of Nancy Friday night cos' of the storm which had caused several trees to fall on the tracks in Nancy. The promised bus never came and we were finally put on a train for Nancy instead. Poor Martial waited for 1.5 hrs for me.
Quick tout of Nancy by night. The "Place Stanislas", for which I prefer the name "The Golden Plaza". Martial enriched me with stories of Nancy but I really can't remember many of the names anymore.
Here's the
l'office de tourisme de Nancy. Look out for Art Nouveau, a melting pot of art and industry!To the contryside we go. But first, a quick tour of the immense factory where Martial, his father and his grandfather have worked. I will not tell u how much Martial is earning inside and what he's doing but he certainly isn't been exploited.
The cupboards in Martial's kitchen look all alike! I can't even tell where the fridge is.
Deb and Marium heaped me up with food cos' they're leaving Germany soon. They've been there for 1 yr. Next rendezvous at the University of Rochester in the state of New York.
Bad news: the storm during the weekend fell a tree and consequently a tent during a concert in Strasbourg (east of France). 11 people died as a result.