Not quite there yet

Whilst in Nancy, I stopped by the tourist office to ask about possible accommodation in

“Oui, yes, there is a guesthouse. I will call for you.”

“They will meet you at the train station,” she said after hanging up the phone. I spent the day walking around Nancy then caught the train to Xertigny at 1730 hours.

Joel met me at the station.

“Parlez vous Anglais?” I asked.

“Non. Parlez vous Francais?”

“No.”

Oh well, we’d manage. We walked to his car, loaded up my bags and set off. Within minutes I saw the sign for Xertigny with a cross through it.

“Er, maison in Xertigny?” I asked.

“Non. Rasey.” Joel said. “Problem?”

It was too late for me to do anything about it. At least I’d have a bed for the night and would worry about a bed in Xertigny in the morning.

We arrived at the guesthouse within ten minutes. Only eight kilometers away, but not Xertigny. Rasey is part of the township/district of Xertigny. It’s the place where Joel and his wife Edith go to vote and is overseen by the Mayor of Xertigny, but it’s not the place I should be staying in order to fulfill me self-imposed rule of staying in the “letter” place. But boy is it beautiful!

Built in 1841, the old farmhouse with its beamed ceilings and stone foundations is nestled amongst trees, just off the roadside. A fountain is in the front yard and ducks, geese and chickens graze in the back yard, next to the Mirabelle plum trees. My bedroom had low ceilings, two beds and floral patterned curtains. There was a shower room and toilet adjoining the sleeping area. In order to look out of the windows I had to bend down.

I took a quick shower and changed before heading downstairs to join Jerome, Edith, and another guest, Lawence, for dinner. Everything we ate came from the garden: duck (”Qwack, qwack!”), goulash and roasted new potatoes. “Artur,” a suit of armor, looked on as we ate. In silence. No one spoke English and my Berlitz phrasebook proved pretty useless.

“Merde,” Joel said. We all agreed, and after several glasses of wine, our attempts at speaking became more frequent, even if ridiculously incorrect. By the end of the evening both Joel and Edith had convinced me that although Rasey was eight kilometers away from Xertigny, it did in fact come under the same jurisdiction and therefore would be sufficient for the purpose of my trip.

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