It’s Friday morning and we leave Nancy. It is still so hot and I for one will be glad to be away from the city to a quiet place we can have our windows open without worrying. Today is the start of the French school holidays and as we drive north on the motorway, the traffic driving south is manic. We have been told about this – everyone is leaving for their summer holiday and doing so a little early. Every 2nd car is loaded to the hilt with luggage, kids and bikes and are in the huge backlog of traffic thankfully going a different way to us.
We need to find a laundry which has been a little difficult this time. We are going to stop only a short way between Nancy and Metz to have a break from the tourist thing. I have found a place called Pont a Mousson where there is an aire on a marina again with all included in the price for 9.50euro a night. Not bad. We find a Laundromat and get the washing done. These little Laundromats are located with a supermarket and they consist of a small shell with a large washing machine, a small one and one dryer. A lot of people use them to wash their large doonahs as the large machine takes 18kilos. Unfortunately I just beat another lady to the large machine and she is pissed off, but hey that’s life and my whole weeks wash has to be done, not just a blanket!
We head to the marina which I am aware is very popular and will fill quickly so we hope there is still parks available. We are in luck and settle in. Canal boats stop here and it seems to be popular with them too. An English lady who chats as she passes tells us that even the washing machine and dryer are free here, so great value for money with showers and all (except we just paid to do our washing down the road). In the Moselle river which the marina feeds off there are lots of swans and nearby mother ducks with the ducklings which are just gorgeous. There are swans by the marina walkway nesting and she is sitting on eggs that should soon hatch. Shame we won’t be here to see them.
Saturday night we found out there was a concert on in the local market square so we went for an hour to listen to the music. It was quite good and they had a really good crowd gathered. It was standing only unless you got there really early to get a seat. Why is it that being so short, every man and his tall dog seem to want to come and stand in front of me so that I can’t see a thing. It happens all the time and I can’t figure it out. I am feeling like I must be so short I am becoming invisible to the average Jo blogs. Scot said I need to look more intimidating, so am contemplating face piercing and tattooing to see if that works….Lol.
Anyway, this is where we are now. We decided to have a break for the weekend and stay here since the heat is killing us and here it is safe and quiet to keep all windows open at night in the hope some cool air might come in. It has been 26+ every night and the forecast keeps telling us we will have a storm but never happens. Tomorrow – Monday 10th July it will be cooler supposedly and we are heading up to Metz. Our plan for this week is Metz, then Verdan and then closer to Paris – sticking the van in a campground for 3 nights and we have accommodation booked in Paris for 2 nights so we can help celebrate Bastille day there. Our next posts will most likely be on/after next weekend.
