any suggestions on a city to visit that is half way between paris and strasbourg. we will be in a car so location isin't a problem. my thoughts were epernay or reims but i would appreciate any suggestions.

Nancy, Troyes, the Ronchamp chapel. Type in Troyes and Nancy in the search box, and you should get all sorts of information.

I would choose Nancy or Reims. I have not been to Troyes, however. If you are especially interested in champagne, I can see why you would choose Epernay or Reims.

Reims is a great stopover. One time we stumbled into Verdun and had a delightfull afternoon enjoying the village and it's history.

In the (unlikely?) event that you were considering Baccarat (not at all at the midpoint, but okay for a late afternoon departure from Alsace), I can tell you that it is a pleasant stop for a few hours, but not all that appealing as an overnighter. Pretty much roll up the sidewalks at 5 o'clock, and no obvious good restaurant.

One of the rare instances in my travels, that we decided to ask to cancel our reserved (two) rooms and move on. We ended up staying in a non-descript place (an Ibis? or Formule 1?) in St. Didier - - and we did find a nice meal there, right on the main town square.

Best wishes,

Rex

We just returned from 3 weeks in Europe which included driving from the Rhine to Paris and then retuning through Baccarat to the Black Forest.
Get ready for some stark, boring landscape! I did not realize that half of France looks just like Kansas, only with less paint on the buildings!
We stopped at Verdun for a few hours and really enjoyed our time there touring the battle sights. But DO NOT take the back roads from here to Paris. There is nothing to see but farm land as far as you can see. Once you finally hit the Champagne region, then it gets really nice and you might want to jump off the main road then. But the in between is quite forgettable.
You'll love Paris, have a great time.

I agree with asbachnate, though I have to laugh as my dad enjoyed seeing this area SO much - - looking at differences in the way farms look.

And France look like Kansas? Well yes, it is the breadbasket of Europe, you know...

Personally I'd choose Nancy because I haven't been there and some of my fellow Fodorites have extolled the virtues of Nancy's art nouveau. However I'd recommend Troyes for you. It's a smaller town (about 50,000) and would be a nice contrast to the much larger Strasbourg which I've visited and really enjoyed.

Here are some links to threads where others and I have posted about Troyes. One is pre-registration when I posted as "David."

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34454266
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34380401

If anyone's a shopper there are two "real" outlet malls outside of Troyes. Here's the web sites for them. Unfortunately the second one appears to be in French only, but if you click on "troyes" and look at the drop down list on the second page you can get an idea of the stores they have available. I'm not a shopper so when I was in Troyes in April of 2002 I didn't head out that way.

http://www.mcarthurglen.com/centres/...?centre=troyes
www.marquesavenue.com

Of course Reims or Epernay would be nice too. I haven't been there either. Too many cool places, too little time...

Good point about the landscape. It reminded me of the WWII movies....stark...I half expected to Snoopy and the Red Baron in the sky above!

Reims is a very nice town to visit. Centuries of French kings were crowned in the Reims Cathedral.

Champagne!! A lot of great underground tours. We did the Piper-Heidsieck which we really enjoyed.

They also have a great walking street with lots of shops and restaurants.