Best Western

This stay in Epinal is proving to be more than pleasant and reinvigorating. We noticed upon arrival on Friday night that our last minute hotel was bang in the middle of a concentration of shopping zones – foremost among which (at least according to the better half) was the outlet selling all forms of the latest Desigual clothing. The male line of this particular designer leaves much to be desired but I must admit that the choice for the ladies is absolutely heavenly.

So we strolled from shop to shop and broke many and austere promise in the process. Epinal was in festive mode with its riversides bedecked in floral gaiety in celebration of sexy Saint Maurice. My girlfriend decided Maurice was sexy as she gazed upon a representation of the Latin saint in the Basilica at Epinal. The town is wonderfully tiny and can be visited in one day – the beautiful side is that every eatery seems to be a wonderful experience. Midday we opted for Breton food at La Cornouaille – sarrasin fillesakpancakes full of blood pudding, apples and walnuts for me and steak haché, gruyère and egg for the missus.

This evening, after the swim in the bubbly pool and sauna we treated ourselves to a sumptuous chinese meal complete with sake digestive spirit. The porcelain set in which the sake was served is sure to prompt some oohs and aahs from the clientele – the tiny shooter sized glass has a glass bubble bottom and so long as the glasses are full of the sake you can perceive an image at the bottom of the glass. Said image is of very naked women (for the lads) and very naked and endowed men (for the ladies). Being the gimmick lover than I am I was thrilled by this particular peculiarity and back at the hotel have started my search for a collector’s set of these porno glasses which seem to be traditional chinese fare.

No luck until now as all ebay auctions on the products in question have closed. Anyways, I am off to get a nice nap. Tomorrow it is the musée des images before heading back north to Luxembourg. Incidentally winter is officially with us here with temperatures hitting the sixes and sevens at night. Time to cozy up! Have a nice Sunday…