Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Indytravel's Alsatian Adventure in France

Nancy 

 Monday 

I caught the 8:20 train to Nancy. I find it fascinating to watch the smokers on the platform put out their cigarettes and climb into the non-smoking cars. Even smokers don't like the stench from their habit.

From the train in the nature department I saw a pair of partridges, deer, a brown colored hawk and herons. A group of eight soldiers in full camouflage gear were hiking along. I crossed the construction of the new TGV Est line that will run from Strasbourg to Paris. It's supposed to open next year. Around Bar-le-Duc the terrain became good sized rolling hills. We ran along a canal for a while and a river. In the shade in a few places I saw old, dirty snow on the ground.

I arrived in Nancy just before noon. The first thing I noticed was that Nancy belongs to that class of French cities that has a bizarrely out-of-place modern tower near the city center as does Paris (Montparnasse,) Lyon (Crédit Lyonnais,) and Nantes (Tour de Bretagne.) It was at least 30 stories high, boxy, modern and right in front of the train station.

I walked out the east end of the train station, turned left on ave. Foch and walked the 1/2 block to my hotel named Hotel Foch. My room was available early. I was on the 5th floor. My room in the back was quiet except for some elevator noise. Another hotel room with a single, small trash can. A tub with no shower curtain so I had to be careful showering. A very nice couple ran the place. One morning I didn't know if the hot water hadn't reached my floor yet or if it had all been used. Like the Azur in Reims this was a "take it or leave it" hotel. Nothing special but nothing bad.

My first destination was the tourist office located in the Hotel de Ville on Place Stanislas. Along the way I passed the beautiful Brasserie Excelsior and Nancy's Chamber of Commerce which has blue wrought iron curving around windows of stained glass.

Place Stanislas is still having its makeover for the 250 year anniversary special. I knew that beforehand so it wasn't a problem. Nothing at the tourist office really turned me on. They had a package with a reduced price to 2 museums, a 1/2 day bike rental, an audio guide tour and that was about it. Heck I have problems navigating the traffic on foot there's no way I wanted to rent a bike so I passed on the package.

I was surprised there wasn't a tourist or day pass for public transportation. It was all by single use ticket, carnet or a monthly pass. I guess they don't get enough tourists to generate the need for it.

I dropped into nearby La Mignondaise and made a reservation for dinner that night.

I walked out to the Lorrain Historical Museum. It was still a little early. I went on to see the Porte Craffe, then the Weisberger house in an excellent Art Nouveau style. Sauntering along Place Luxembourg I made it over towards St Epvre Church. It was closed and undergoing major renovations.

Knowing dinner would be big, I grabbed a ham and butter baguette for lunch.

I finally made it into the Historical Museum. It's actually two parts, the art museum section in one old mansion. Next door is the Lorrain Folk Museum with an attached decommissioned church. There was a special exhibit of the man Stanislas. It was very crowded so I went briskly through it. Interesting enough but with hoards of people it made it difficult to see or read much.

I went into the much less crowded regular museum section with its very nice paintings, copper engravings and such. I started to smell smoke at one point. Looking about a little worried I noticed some guards looking out the window. Across the street was a 5 story building with flames shooting out the top. The sapeur-pompiers arrived and proceeded to do their thing. In the next day's paper they still hadn't determined the actual cause of the fire.

There were even fewer people in the folk museum. Lots of everyday objects like kitchen set-ups and furnishings. Blacksmith items like horse shoes and anvils and cheese-making gear. I went into the decommissioned church. I was very surprised to see a reliquary complete with bones. Interestingly enough just the ends of the bones had gauze wrapped around them. I've never seen sacred artifacts in a decommissioned church before. There were also several tombs in the sacristy.

I had a little time so I wandered through the Pepiniere Park. Very pretty with a small zoo and flower beds starting to be placed. I watched some construction around the edge of Place Stanislas then headed over to the aquarium.

Ready for an afternoon kir I stopped into the Aquarium Bar across the street from the aquarium. Sipping my kir in the almost empty bar I was writing in my journal when a young man rushed up and started yammering at me in French. I didn't like his tone, his approach or anything else. I said very slowly "I don't speak French" in English as I wanted nothing to do with him. "No France?" he said, then lifted up his coat to reveal two bottles of cognac stuffed into the top of his pants. Quite bizarrely the fly on his blue jeans was unzipped too. I said a loud "No" and waved him off. He dashed out of the building going goodness knows where with his two bottles of cognac.

The small aquarium was interesting. Being there around 5:30 it was feeding time. I saw masses of slugs and worms dumped into some of the tanks. Lots of local fresh water fish that were interesting. I wondered how many of their cousins I'd eaten and was glad that glass was keeping them from getting at me.

Dinner at La Mignardise was exceptional. The chef/owner had taken my reservation at lunch and seated me when I arrived. After a few minutes with the menu he came over and asked in French if I needed any explanation of the menu or help choosing. I smiled and responded that I wanted everything. I should know better then to joke with my limited French. I was given a very gracious explanation of how "le menu" works with picking one item from each category. Sigh.

I finally ordered the gourmande menu that included 3 glasses of wine matched with 3 of the 4 courses. This was 55euro.

An amusée bouche appeared of puff pastry piping hot from the oven and sprinkled with poppy seeds. Incredibly simple and incredibly delicious. There's just something about pastry that's good. While sipping my kir royale I could have munched puff pastry for an hour and called it a meal.

My first glass of wine was from the Loire as it was explained and poured. Appropriately a sweet wine, it was served to accompany my starter of (you guessed it) foie gras. Dots of fig reduction sauce streaked across my glass-ribbed plate. Tart segments of orange stacked with greenery sat off to the side. A mold of agar had been made with pine nuts and herbs cast in it. Though agar is usually just an odd texture to me this was quite good with its crunchy nuts. Hot, crispy toast and two slices of the buttery-est foie I'd had yet this trip completed the ensemble. Alternating the combinations of fig, orange, toast and foie with sips of wine I was starting to get caught in the perfection of the moment. Alas it finally ended as I used the last of the toast to capture the tiny smears of fig sauce on my plate.

A white wine from the Toul region was explained as it was served. This was to accompany my fish course. With the smallest of flourishes the dome was removed from the plate as it was settled in front of me. Substantial pieces of lobster sat upon a perfectly grilled filet of turbot. A passion fruit and peppercorn sauce surrounded the beautiful creation. The combination of sweet passion fruit with fiery peppercorns burst with flavor in my mouth. The lobster and turbot were almost a step-child to the sauce, but not quite. I broke off warm chunks of crusty baguette to make sure this plate was as clean as the last.

The third wine was a glass of Louis Jardot red. The plate un-domed for me held a perfectly medium-rare beef filet. It was in the center of a triangle of cauliflower, carrots & raisins in a cardamom cream sauce and kale & onions. The red wine demi-glaze reduction was amazing.

I guess I was a little crazy with the bread and sopping of the sauces. The cutest table hokey was employed to sweep up my breadcrumbs that seemed to be almost everywhere.

I was given a brief interlude with an ice cream that was made of a sweet wine from the south of France and nuts. It was a harder more crystalline ice cream that was a refreshing change from the over-the-top creamy ice creams that are so common. It tasted like mom's homemade from summer days of my childhood. Well, mom didn't put nuts in her ice cream. And I don't think she ever used alcohol, let alone one from the south of France. I seem to recall a lot of vanilla. :-)

Dessert was served in jiggers. There was a little jigger-sized pot of crème brulée, a jigger of searing hot deeply dark chocolate soufflé, a dollop of melt-in-your-mouth chocolate mousse, a one inch square of tiramisu with whiskey sauce and a one inch square of strawberry tiramisu. The plate was sprinkled with cocoa and sugar while bits of assorted citrus fruits were scattered as an accent.

Overall this meal had some of the best portion control of my trip. Nothing was overly large so I was able to eat my way to the end. Clocking in at just over 2 hours this was my most expensive and most enjoyable meal. 55 for the menu, 6.90 for a kir royale, 61.90euro total plus a tip I left.

After this all I could do was crash at my hotel.

 Pont-a-Mousson Day Trip 

 Tuesday 

Nancy seems to be a fermé mardi (closed Tuesday) kinda museum place rather than the more normal Monday. I packed up my backpack and headed to the train station for Pont-a-Mousson.

A quick 25 minute train ride it was a short walk from the rail station to the main plaza and tourist office. I picked up a city map and chatted with the lady. As I knew the city museum was closed on Tuesday but the Abbaye de Prémontré was not.

I walked around the triangularly shaped main plaza that was lined with arcades. I took several photos. The tall monument with dry fountain in the middle made a nice accent. I found the Fourneau d'Alain restaurant and made a reservation for lunch at 13:00. As I made a complete circuit of the plaza I renamed it the Place d'Amour Practique. I found no less than 4 condom dispensing machines mounted under the arcades.

I walked on the bridge over the Moselle and saw a couple of barges. There was a flock of at least 20 swans that were so gracefully paddling about. As it was spring time a few pairs were making the advances where they bend their necks down and put their faces together. As they stared dreamily into each others' eyes their slender, graceful necks made the shape of a St Valentine's Day heart.

I stopped at a tabac/café for an espresso. A couple of the middle aged Frenchmen standing around the bar were wearing sweats and sneakers. On the counter were fresh chicken eggs. Maybe they were to be used for a croque madame? I knew they were fresh because they looked like the eggs I'd gather from under my mom's chickens in the 70's. I must say we always washed the eggs before we used them.

I looked up to realize I would not be hiking to the top of the substantial hill to see the chateau ruins. The "hill" was much too high for my level of ambition. Instead I stopped at the cemetery up the hill slightly. At the entrance was a map with an index of local famous people and their graves. I didn't recognize any names. Most of the graves were very well tended. Tons of flowers and pretty ceramic pieces were on the stones.

I decided to see if the Fontaine Rouge was not too much farther up the hill. It wasn't. Though a bit swampy from the spring rains I made it. I expected a fountain of red stone. Instead it's La Fontaine d'Eau Rouge. I saw a fountain of white limestone that had the reddest water from iron oxide trickling from it. I took a couple of nice photos and headed down the hill.

I finally found a Pont-a-Mousson manhole cover in full sun for a photo. They're made in the town's steel mill. You can find them all over France.

As I re-crossed the Moselle I watched a couple of boys 14 maybe 15 years old down by the river's edge. I'd like to think they were splitting a big bottle of Coke, but then why would they need the brown paper bag? It looked much more like the glass neck of a 40oz mega-beer. I stopped to pound the mud out of my shoes.

Walking around the Place Duroc I tried the Banque Populaire to refresh my supply of euros. I didn't feel so "populaire" as it turned me down. Down the way was a BNP Paribis where I was popular. It gave me the money I wanted. It gave it to me in 10's & 20's. I hate when the ATM thuds out 50's or worse 100's. Nobody wants those stupid things. All right I'd take one or two if you gave them to me.

Lunch at Le Fourneau d'Alain was excellent. I was seated near the back in the middle of the room. I thought it was a little weird as I was dining alone and there were seats by the window. They knew what they were doing. I had the view of almost all the people in the restaurant and out the three huge windows looking across the plaza. Being a work day there were lots of suits about.

I had the menu for 28euro. Waiting for round one the amusée bouche was pieces of smoked salmon in puff pastry.

Once again my starter was a huge slab of foie gras with a golden layer of fat along one side. Finely diced tomatoes and agar bits came along for the ride. The hot toast points were standing as if marching across the bread plate.

With a decent selection of 1/2 bottles I ordered one of chablis. It went decently with my foie gras and excellently with my mixed fish main. A huge scallop, a piece of salmon, a portion of skate and filet of lot white fish, each one was done to perfection. A tuile made from a crêpe held upright cuts of lightly cooked turnip, zucchini and carrot. The sauce with chives had such the faintest hint of fennel I had to taste several times to make sure it was really there. I've never had the taste of licorice, which I don't care for, so subtly and deliciously done.

The chef stopped by the table. I raved as best I could in French.

The dessert of apple tart was encircled by a raspberry sauce. Rather then the usual pie crust pastry this one was closer to a puff pastry. The razor thin slices of apple that were just ever so sweetened supported a scoop of cinnamon ice cream.

My espresso was served with a mini langue-de-femme cookie, a meringue and a butter cookie.

28 for the menu, 15 for the 1/2 bottle of chablis, 2euro for the café. This was the most enjoyable lunch meal of my trip. Wait a minute. It seems like all the meals are the "most enjoyable." :-)

Waiting to pay I glanced over my left shoulder to realize I'd missed part of the floor show. Amongst a group of five ladies as they departed I saw a particularly interesting one. At least 50 years old she had dark brown hair with thick locks of blond highlights trying to escape her head like Medusa's snakes. Blue eye shadow streaked across her eyelids refusing to stop as it went all the way into the hairline at her temples. Silver metallic nail polish with the nail length measured in inches, her musical note printed mini-skirt went up to "there." To make sure a statement was made she wore sparkling, ruby red ankle boots with four inch stiletto heels. Wow.

After lunch I walked back over the river to the old Abbaye Prémontré. Some of their space is used for special exhibitions. One had just finished so I was watching them break it down. One process was fascinating. A man was crating a marble bust. He would take a rectangle of one inch thick hard foam rubber and carve it with a saw to fit the bust. He would stack these slices of foam rubber to completely encase the bust.

The Abbaye is famed for its spiral staircases, one square, one round and the last oval. I saw all three. I walked the grounds along the water admiring the views of the small city. The day continued to become more gorgeous. Bright blue skies and temperatures just over 70F/21C made it a great day for walking.

Back across the river I was working my way around the main plaza when I started hearing strains of LeAnn Rime's "Can't Fight the Moonlight," the disco version. A blue truck came into the plaza with circus animals painted on it. It looked like a promotion for a traveling circus in town. As it went past me the one side was open and I could see a sign "Danger de Mort" with 3 lions in the truck. A large sign was advertising that "Le Grand Cirque de Paris" would indeed be starting the following day.

I couldn't help but wonder if the lions might have preferred LeAnn Rime's original ballad-like version of "Can't Fight the Moonlight" rather than the thumping disco rendition. The rest of the afternoon the truck continued to circle the town. Never varying its tune the music would fade in and out as it drove to and fro.

I toured the church just north of Place Duroc on my way to the train station.

I must be getting old. I'm still not used to toddler girls having their ears pierced. On the train back to Nancy there was a toddler boy with his ears pierced. Either that or the lady dressed her daughter oddly.

Back in Nancy I shopped for music at the FNAC. I explored St Sebastien church. I entered as mass was ending. I dropped in a nearby bar for a kir with a Johnny Hallyday look-alike bartender who was sipping a whiskey and soda with lots of ice. I guess when you're the bartender you get all the ice you want. Being a pleasant evening people were out in droves. I bought a grilled panini sandwich for my dinner and went to bed rather early.

 Nancy 

 Wednesday 

My first stop was the train station to purchase my ticket to Metz for the next day. There was a change machine to break bills with a stern warning that it was to be used only to get change to purchase train tickets. It had worked fine the day before. Today it ate my 20euro bill.

Afraid to leave my 20 in the machine I glanced around and noticed a lady at a welcome desk. She signaled she'd called someone. A man came and managed to retrieve my 20 and re-enter it. I yelled, "jackpot!" and collected my coins.

Today was to be Art Nouveau day. Though the swirls in the pool of vomit I passed exiting the train station were not exactly the Art Nouveau curves I'd imagined, I took it as a positive omen and started my way south.

As the museum didn't open until 10:30 I strolled past a city pool and stopped for a café. A man at a table next to me was finishing his Jupiler beer as his two young sons were finishing their bottles of juice. A very friendly Boston terrier seemed to be a fixture in the café.

The Musée d'Ecole de Nancy is gorgeous. The finest collection of Art Nouveau I've ever seen. Paintings, frames for the paintings, stair cases, glass art, light fixtures, lots of furniture, all in beautiful, curvaceous Art Nouveau styles. 15 or so rooms stuffed to the gills with beauty.

Parched from drooling over the museum pieces I stopped at a café and picked up a squeaky toy on my way in. It belonged to the resident pooch. He was sitting on the counter behind the bar watching the few patrons. Being careful as the floor had been freshly mopped I took a seat and ordered a beer. Suddenly another little dog lifted his head from his bar stool to look over the counter at the first dog. As they seemed agreeable the owners each set their pooch on the floor and the two started to roughhouse from one end of the room to the other.

The instant the bartender set his pooch down he completely cleaned the entire area where the two dogs had been. After the dogs were done playing he mopped the floor again. As I was finishing my beer he mopped the floor for the third time. All of this cleaning was done in less than 30 minutes.

On my way to the loo I noticed a clipping of the dog from the local paper. They'd taken a picture of him in his little hammock in the window. I guess he had already had his fifteen minutes of fame.

Rambling along the street I headed back towards the center of town. French poodle poo be damned I kept looking up at all the wrought iron. It was everywhere.

I stopped for another refreshment and a pit stop. Speaking of pits I ran into my only Turkish toilet of the trip.

I stumbled upon a tram stop and purchased two tickets. I boarded the next north bound tram and watched Nancy go by. I went over a canal, over a kayak course and over the Meurthe River. I saw some big yachts and houseboats. At the very end of the tram line it completely circled a McDonalds. I rode back down into the city and exited at the cathedral stop.

At this point I didn't notice a low bench on the platform. This oversight brought about my decision to remove my kneecap from my left leg. Babies aren't born with kneecaps, why would I ever need one as an adult? Thinking, "that'll leave a mark," I watched where I was going and limped into the cathedral.

A beautiful sunny, 70F/21C day outside but those big old blocky cathedrals hold their temperature. I was freezing inside. I swear I could see my breath. It had some nifty reliquaries and the almost complete skulls of 3 people. You don't see a skull relic every day of the week. Usually it's just part of a femur or a tibia or maybe a finger bone.

I walked down the street to the Telephone Museum. It's very interesting if you like technology as I do. Examples of early undersea cables, 100 year old manual phone switching devices, more recent mechanical ones, old telephones, toy telephones, a couple of minitel terminals and more. Upstairs was a classroom where older people were being taught the wonders of the internet. The lady had just reached the point of explaining how you type in www.google.fr when I walked by.

Being such a gorgeous afternoon I delayed the Fine Arts Museum. Instead I went back to the Pepiniere Park. I saw peacocks, peahens, deer, guinea pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits and a nursery with several baby animals and their mothers. Signs said you could feed non-sugared popcorn to the beasts. I didn't. Kids were riding the merry-go-round, adults were exercising and playing sports, people were everywhere. I wondered if anyone had any work to do at 14:00 on a Wednesday.

I watched a little more of the Place Stanislas construction. It's that "Bob the Builder" thing. It's interesting to see how they do it. One small crane had a motor and suction pad hanging from its arm. The suction pad would sit on a smooth stone then the motor would pull a vacuum so the heavy block could be lifted without scratching it.

The Fine Art Museum is very good: a Monet, a Reubens, a Tinteretto, a Manet, a Picasso painted near the end of his life, a Brueghel and a Delacroix. There was a huge Prouvee in the biggest Art Nouveau picture frame I've ever seen. The basement was filled with Daum glass and I saw a Dali piece. This was all displayed around old city walls that were discovered during an expansion project.

I stopped at an Irish pub to ask about St Patty's day. I figured if a pub in Nancy was celebrating it there would be one in Metz the next day. The sign said the St. Patty Party started at 4:00 in the morning. Yikes! I'm hardcore especially on vacation but not up to that level. While there a couple of 18 year olds came in and shared a 1.5 liter glass boot of beer. I assume it was the most economical purchase though I almost always have my own beverage.

Dinner ended up at the Brasserie Excelsior. Another member of the Flo Group I wanted to eat in their practically untouched Art Nouveau space. Just dang pretty it is with tiled floors, zinc bar and curving light fixtures.

Without a reservation I was seated in gentlemen's row. There were 4 of us all next to each other at our tables for two. We were seated to see the main entry path and bar areas so there was plenty of people watching.

My kir royale apertif was served with olives and peanuts. The French gentleman next to me ordered his whiskey apertif with extra ice. It came with a few cubes that quickly melted. He had the waiter bring him more ice. I guess even the French have a hard time getting enough ice in their drinks.

I ordered the Menu Brasserie. My nine raw oysters arrived on a platter of shaved ice with rye bread, butter, a vinegar sauce with green onions, a lemon half and a wetnap. Quite the production and delicious too.

The waiter was impressed when I ordered my steak rare as he'd offered well done. Served with a perfect peppercorn sauce the steak was nicely room temperature inside not icy as rare sometimes is. Potatoes dauphin and rough country bread made the main dish. For my dessert I had the cheese plate: bleu, camembert and masterre. At least I think he said "masterre" when I asked, but I can't find it on the internet.

I was trying to order a digestif and somehow ended up with a mirabelle dessert tray. Darn the luck. :-) I had wanted to try the mirabelle as it's a local treat.

I really wasn't expecting a frozen mirabelle mousse with mirabelle sauce, a slice of cake soaked in mirabelle liqueur, a mini-mirabelle crème brulée, an almond tuile cupping a scoop of mirabelle sorbet and mirabelle hard candies. Several of the treats were glued to the plate with freshly whipped cream. Precariously balanced in the middle of all this was my digestif, a snifter of mirabelle liqueur.

8 for the kir royale, 31.40 for the menu, 9.50 for the dessert and 2.60 for the café. A total of 51.50. Once again the espresso rounds out the menu for an even amount.