Day three 4th June
Over to reception again to get the bus times, the nice French girl informs me that the one day strike is still on but has the time for the morning again. She writes them down for me, gives me a street map of the town centre and I set off back for breakfast and some decision making.
We decide to go into town anyway and if we can’t get a bus back we can always get a taxi for about €15 (I had asked, this is ten times the bus fare). There’s a bus at 11:10 so at about 10:45 we set off to reception to purchase our tickets, then on to the bus stop with plenty of time to spare. With the strike on we are not sure how precise the bus times will be but there are two other couples waiting (both are Dutch I think), we all say hello, as campers do, and I mention that we still have ten minutes before the bus is due. “Did you get the times from reception” I ask “no need the busses are every ten minutes” answers one of the men. I inform them that the strike is still on and remark that it’s odd that the girl didn’t mention it when they bought their tickets, “tickets?” asks the second man, “yes you need to have them before you get on the bus” I tell him, “I'll be back” he says and runs off towards reception. He comes jogging back with plenty of time to spare and the bus arrives about two minutes late, we all board and have to run our tickets through a card reader.
I am no expert on busses, in fact I have used the busses at home only two or three times over he last thirty years. Once I got my first motor vehicle (a motorcycle) I never felt the need to use public transport again. I have been on many more busses abroad over this period, even travelling abroad on busses but even with a strike on this seemed to me to be a very good service. The bus was clean and comfortable although a bit too hot, a scrolling LED display at the front of the bus gave passengers information on final destination and what the next stop was to be. We where going all the way to the terminus but if we had needed to get off at an earlier stop this would have saved us having to ask a drive (who would usually have no idea what we where on about) to let us know when to get off.
On arrival we have a quick look round to see where we get the bus back, there is a large departures board, displaying what busses are going out in the next hour and from which bus stop they are leaving, so happy we can fine a bus back we set off for the shops. The girl on reception has drawn a red line on the map, showing the way from the bus station to the main square, another quick look round to get our bearings and we head off along the red line. Map reading is something I have no problems with so we also have no worries about finding our way back to the bus station, as we leave the bus station, I spot the other two couples still wandering around the bus station checking for the place to get the bus back.
Our third day and we are eventually in France, and not that small part of England that is our van. Our worries are now that the shops will shut for the afternoon as soon as we start looking around. These worries are unfounded, as most stop open all day, we buy a few things we need, then make our way to the main square the Place Stanislas, it seems like we have been there longer but its still only midday. Now if either of us knew anything about architecture I could now make all sorts of smart comments about this fine square but we don’t, so suffice it to say that it is big and looks very nice, in the brochures we have picked up it looks like it is even better at night.
At the far side of the square Dot spots en petit train touristique the little tourist train, we have a brochure on the train and had though we might do a tour on it. We wander over and see that the tour started at 12:00, it is now 12:15 and the train has gone nowhere, on a small plaque is the information that a minimum of eight persons are required for each tour. The next tour is 14:00, we will come back and try then.
At the end of one of the roads exiting the square is what looks like a Roman arch, so we wander off to have a look. As we leave the square there is a statue of, I think, the architect “well done” I say to him and then to Dot “it’s getting a bit hot Dot, lets get a drink”. At a nearby tobacco stand we get a bottle of water and continue on towards the arch. Well it could be Roman, then again maybe not but over the road is a port on the canal, a good opportunity to have a sit down as the heat is getting to us (this is the year of the heat wave in France). There is a floating restaurant/bar but it doesn’t look like the type of place to just get a drink and have a sit (It probably was but my biggest fear in life is, looking silly in front of strangers, I absolutely hate being embarrassed, so I steer clear of opportunities to show myself up, so we didn’t even ask. This part of me has become quite a lot more relaxed over the last few years. Why be bothered what strangers think when I don’t care if friends and family think I’m an idiot, I know its only a confidence thing but knowing what the problem is doesn’t always cure it). So we just sit in the shade by the canal, finish our water and decide to head back towards the shops to get a sandwich.
The first bar we pass is full of people eating and drinking and looking like they are having a good time but it also looks a bit rough, so we head on under another arch. The next bar has two seats available on the street. Dot claims the seats and I head in to the bar,
“deux biere s’il vous plait”
“pardon”
“two beers please”
“oui”
I wait for the drinks but am shooed outside to my seat. The drinks are delivered and are gorgeous, we are thirsty though, I get Dot to look at the bill, as this is our first drink in a French bar for about ten years and it was relatively expensive last time. €4.40 about £3.25 quite a lot for two halves, still, it was good, its very hot, we have another one each and watch the people of Nancy get on with their lives.
Food, we still hadn’t had any food, Dot fancies a quiche from the patisserie opposite the bar, we have been watch people coming out with them for some time now. There is nothing in there that I like the look of, so with Dot armed now with a quiche we go looking for something for me. By this time its 13:45 so as we search we head back towards the little train, as we pass a sandwich shop I spot a chicken and salad baguette, that sounds good, so I get one.
We arrive back in the square and at the train with five minutes to spare, the train driver is lent against a tree smoking a cigarette and trying to stay cool but not succeeding as it is even hotter by now. I ask him if he speaks English, “no” is his answer, “is the train running” I ask “yes” he says, “do I pay you” and I offer him money, “later” is his reply. We wait until about 14:10 but nobody else shows up and the driver shrugs at us, lights a cigarette and starts to put things away, so we wander off. I thought I had spotted an old arch in the opposite direction to the one we first went to look at, so we set off out of the square in that direction. This is a bigger arch but on a very busy road, on the other side of the arch is a bar, we sit at table where we can watch a very busy road intersection and order two beers.
Some of the striking bus workers come passed, blowing whistles and one has a flare, there is red smoke going everywhere (not a good thing for a busy intersection), they also look like they have been drinking (they all look a bit too happy for people on strike). The man with the flare decides that his flare is on its way out and dumps it on the pavement where immediately children start to gather expectantly, so the flare man has to hang about until it goes out, witch is a lot longer than he thought it was going to be. The last we saw of him, he was striding off down the road while talking on his mobile, presumably trying to fine out where the others had gone when he was preoccupied guarding his fading flare.
The bus station was just round the corner from the bar, so we walked over to see what was happening with the busses, there was one due to leave that passed the campsite in five minutes, we decided that we had seen enough for today and got that bus back.
Small flying insects where being a bit of a problem so we had bought some citronella candles in town toady, we lit two up, had our tea, and settled down to watch another DVD, outside with a couple of beers before another early night but a shower forced us inside, luckily most of the rain on this holiday would fall during the night.
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