Road Trip, Day 6, Nancy, France

So, today (Sat., 2 June) we set out for Nancy, in the northeastern part of France, which turns out to be a three-hour trip from Karlsruhe. Getting to Nancy wasn't very hard, but finding our way to the Hotel de Guise, which is in the historic district, was a nightmare. Nancy has ~400,000 residents; felt like it had 400,000 km of one way streets as well! I took copious notes from the Google website on how to get to the hotel (no printer at home), but we got hopelessly lost as soon as we missed the first turn. We finally found our way to the Tourist Office in the middle of town, got a map, and spent another 30" or so navigating the narrow one way streets with lots of traffic. Art did a great job driving under some very trying conditions! 

The Hotel de Guise, located on this tiny one way street, was built in 1752 for one of the "favorites" of King Stanislaus. Eventually, it was turned into a hotel and has remained in continuous operation as such for over 200 years. Here is Art parking our car.

Lobby of the Hotel de Guise, complete with marbled floors and great artwork. The hotel was just exquisite, which we were not expecting as I had booked it online. Nice surprise!

Here is our room, which probably contained the original paintings above the doors from the 1800s.

Parking is a huge problem in town, but we finally squeezed into a spot on the side of this grand entrance lined with linden trees (Place de la Carriere), at the end of which is the Place Stanislaus. We bought a 2-hour parking pass, then headed out to find some lunch.

This the the art museum (le Musée de Beaux Arts), which at the other end of the Place de la Carriere. It apparently contains some spectacular paintings by Manet, Monet, Matisse, and Picasso, among others, but we unfortunately did not have time to peruse the collection.

The entrance to the Renaissance Palais Ducal, just around the corner from our next stop, the cafe seen below. This gate is all that remains of the original palace, built in 1502, to house various dukes of Lorraine.

 

We found a lovely outdoor cafe on the Place St. Epvre (Art in red shirt) and had a drink and some quiche lorraine (famous in this region). Delicious!

While we were having lunch, this bridal party appeared on the steps of the Nancy cathedral (Basilique Saint-Epvre).

After the bridal party left (they actually just walked across the street and had their reception at a restaurant two doors down from us), we visited the interior of the cathedral. Since the Middle Ages, three churches have been erected on this site; the current church was built between 1864 and 1871; The church is renowned for its magnificent stained glass windows, and they truly were remarkable (which is saying a lot, given how many churches we visited so far). According to the visitor's brochure, there are 74 windows in all and more that 2300 square meters of stained glass made in Vienna, Austria.

Continuing our stroll through town, we came to this statue of Joan of Arc, who is revered throughout France for leading the French army in several battles during the Hundred Years' War. She was later burned at the stake for heresy by the English in 1431 at age 19.

The Place Stanislaus was built by Louis XV's father-in-law, Stanislaw Lescynski, who was given the Duchy of Lorraine as a consolation prize for losing the kingdom of Poland in 1738. The Place is a huge rectangle, surrounded on all four sides by very ornately decorated buildings, fountains, and statues. This is one of the arched doorways leading into the Place.

In one corner of the Place is the Fountain of Neptune. Talk about a lot of gold paint and ornate wrought iron!

A statue of Stanislaus stands in the middle of the Place.

At the other end of the Place is the Arc Héré. Also known as the Arc de Triomphe, it was built to honor Louis XV.

Leaving the Place, we walked more around town and saw this 14th century gate on the edge of the old town (Ville Vieille) on our way back to our hotel.

The French are well known for their pastries; here's a sample in the window of a patisserie. I do not know how the French women stay so slim with all these goodies available.  

We had a lovely meal in this outdoor restaurant just around the corner from our hotel.

Of course, we had to have flammkuchen, but we also sampled some pate, as well as snails (along with a very nice bottle of vin rouge). 

The scene walking home after dinner. I think I could live in France!

So, Sunday we headed back to Karlsruhe in the rain, after a nice breakfast and one final stroll through Nancy. In all, we put 1607 km on our car, visited some delightful places, and had a great road trip. Our favorite town by far was Rothingen (Day 1 & 2), followed by Lindau (Day 4). We are so fortunate to be able to experience Germany like this.