Destination: Nancy

I came to visit this picturesque city thanks to my dear friend Autumn. So picturesque is it that it's been named one of the 1000 places you should see before you die! Awesome right? So one down, about 999 more to go.

First lesson. How to pronounce Nancy. No it is NOT like Nancy Drew, it is with a French accent. Pretend you are British and pronounce Nancy like the Indian bread Nan (Nahhhn) and to see. Thus Nahhhnseee.

Upon arrival, Autumn realized we had much to do in a short time, so we quickly took my bags to her place and I was given the grand tour of Nancy.


Autumn, my Nancy history buff, informed me that Nancy is located in the highly prized Lorraine region of France (I believe the Germans fought at least 2 wars to try and get their piece of Lorraine). As Autumn kindly pointed out, Nancy was never officially occupied by the Germans, and rests very proud of their unwillingness to bow to the occupation.

Our first destination in Nancy, the beautiful Place Stanislaus, reminds me of something right out of a 17th century decadent dream.


Apparently Louis the Somethingth (Aut couldn't remember) gave his father-in-law a dukedom as a present when Stanislaus was kicked out of Poland (he was the former King of Poland). With this dukedom came the difficult town of Nancy, which really didn't want to be a part of France. So the king said, hey Nancy, you can be on your own until Stanislaus dies, but then you become a part of France, thinking his father-in-law would die shortly. But Stanislaus had the last laugh, living to a ripe old age, at least 20 years after the king had given the dukedom.


Everything in the Place is bedecked and gold leafed. Aut gave me a symbolic tour of all the bedecked items, that tried to link both Stanislaus and the King together. The fleur de lis and the coq, signs of French royalty and the thistle and the Lorraine cross, signs of Nancy. It was very interesting. In the French Revolution the statue Stanislaus erected of the King was torn down and the people replaced it with one of Stanislaus himself, as he became a great loved figure in Nancy.


This is a cool looking monastery in Nancy, apparently monks live in there, but Autumn has never seen one of the supposed monks.

This is the declaration from Charles de Gaulle saying that France was liberated. Nancy is quite proud of their ability to remain unoccupied during Nazi occupation of France.



Nancy is a beautiful place but definitely only a day trip. Luckily Autumn and I occupied our time with a nice trip through the Musee des Beaux Arts right in Place Stanislas. It actually a remarkable collection of renaissance and contemporary art including a couple works by Picasso, Manet and Monet.



And Autumn was lucky enough to find a picture of her love, Mr. Darcy. Of course this was the perfect opportunity for a photo op of the happy couple.



After the classical art, the museum had a really amazing display of contemporary pieces. Once piece was this room that only one person could enter at a time and when you shut the door behind it looked like you were in a wonderland of lights.



Part of the contemporary display...



After a lovely afternoon of satisfying our cultural thirst, Autumn and I hit up the most delicious bakery in Nancy for some ficelles, possibly the French equivalent of stuffed pizza or a calzone. What they do is they take a baguette and stuff it with anything they want. We chose 3 cheese as one and then figs and brie. 3 cheese could have been incredible had they not included blue cheese as one of the three cheeses. BUT fig and brie was absolutely INCREDIBLE!

Afterwards we headed to this huge foire (fair/carnival) happening in the center of town. It was a huge carnival full of candied apples and carnies... pretty cool. The only VERY uncool thing about it was that it cost an arm and a leg to even go on a ride. Seriously 4 euros for a fun house? I am not a millionaire.


So Autumn and I just wandered around, eventually watching a game that spun in circles for about 20 minutes. Very cool you had to get a ring to go completely over really cool electronic devices (ipods, iphones, digital cameras, etc.) Spent 20 minutes watching other people win, pretty cool right. Next we ventured over to the exit from the Haunted House. If you have never seen a French person about to pee their pants in fear, I suggest, nay, I authoritate it for everyone. Just look at the photos... the live action though is SO much better.

After another 20 minute stop at the Haunted House, Autumn and I stopped for a minute to take a couple shot at the how intense is your love booth... obviously we are "explosif". Afterward all of the residents of Nancy now thought we were a lesbian couple, awesome right?



Well finished it up with a nice 3 euro ride on the most awesome french rollercoaster ever... Can't get any better than a rollercoaster in France right?

Anywho I had an awesome day and a half in Nancy, I would recommend that everyone visits it once in their life.