Off-White

Even after we came to appreciate Nancy we marveled at the consistency of their dedication to shades of white and cream.  As you can see from the photos regardless of the age, style, or ornateness of the buildings they maintained the local color scheme.

Shake It Off

Romance in the Air

Timing is everything.  Our evening walk around Pepiniere Park coincided with a lot of animal activity.  The doves were also feeling romantic.  And the peacocks, well I don't know if they had romance in mind, but they were screaming their heads off. 

Trees of Pepiniere Park

Pepiniere Park

Walking through the gilded gates of Place Stanislas we discovered the lovely Pepiniere Park.  It was quite busy with families visiting the zoo, amusement rides, and couples strolling through the beautiful trees, fountains, and playgrounds.  Teens crowded around a concert or maybe it was a dance competition and everyone seemed to be enjoying the lovely summer evening. 

Place Stanislas, Nancy, France

We checked into our strange, drab accommodations feeling uncertain about our choice and headed off to the city center which Matt had read was supposed to be pretty neat.  And in fact it was pretty cool.  Apparently Nancy was the seat of the French government at one point.  The square continued the shades of white theme of the town but added gilding.  Lots of gilding.  And some fountains.  And on top of all that we ate dinner at one of the best restaurants and had the best food.  Ever.  We got the last table sitting out front and were still there when the rain started.  The awning helped a little but Matt ran back to the car for the umbrellas and we finished dinner scrunched together trying to keep dry.  And it was so good we didn't even care. 

Approaching Nancy

After the adorable cuteness of Colmar we drove on to Nancy which was...not so adorable.  The gritty intensity of a city can be a lot of fun unless you are already very travel weary and were expecting more adorable cuteness.  Eventually I realized one of the really striking things about Nancy, France, especially after all those brightly painted buildings in all the other places we visited, was that it was nearly entirely shades of white. 

Colmar, France

We stopped for lunch in Colmar on our way to Nancy.  It's an adorable little town, touting both it's having provided the world with the guy who designed the Statue of Liberty AND it's canal-like resemblance to Venice.  So a little touristy but still fun to visit.

On the Road: Germany to France