Interrail 2025 – part six

Yesterday (Friday 30th) was a travel day and involved a very early start, a tram, three trains and a bus. Heidelberg to Nancy isn’t actually that complicated but the timing & connections made it ‘interesting’ to plan.

As it happened it was a breeze – once at Hiedelberg Hbf we hopped on the next available train to Karlsruhe where we were to change for the quick hop to Strasbourg. Karlsruhe turned out to be a nice place. We had about 90 minutes as there were no other suitable trains prior to the one we had booked reservations on so only saw the area immediately surrounding the station.

The rest of the journey was relatively painless – the hop to Strasbourg took around 45 minutes and was on a very busy TGV (Munich to Paris) but was comfy enough. We were offered refreshments but 10am seemed a but early for a beer and I had had my coffee for the day!

By the time we reached Nancy it was getting seriously warm so we stopped at the bar outside the station for a drink (my first good cold beer of this holiday). Within an hour we were in the wonderful apartment we had booked. That evening we dined (very) locally, by which I mean a 5 minute walk. Nothing fancy but most welcome as we had skipped lunch somehow!

Now to Nancy – I am not exactly sure when we have fallen so completely in love with a place – perhaps it was Cadiz some 7 or so years ago. But never so instantly – this place is stunning, different, friendly, interesting and varied. We know we will be back and probably soon once we work out the best way to get here from Edinburgh (it may involve trains)

This morning dawned warm and we were both refreshed after an excellent night’s sleep. We decided to head out to get ahead of the crowds and the expected heat.

What we hadn’t been quite properly prepared for was Place Stanislas – a massive square (with a statue of Stan in the middle) surrounded by large (monumental even) buildings. We were tempted by the Grand Café Foy but elected instead to choose a smaller place on the other side of the square.

We took breakfast at our chosen café – a good selection of bread, viennoiserie, coffee, tea, etc. – and then moved into Parc de la Pepiniere and, though we were already entranced, Nancy worked the very special magic. This park has so much going on that attracts people of all sorts – the next few photos will only hint at the riches but chief amongst them were several comfy benches to sit and ponder.

Sightseeing done, heat rising and crowds thickening Ally bought some new reading & sun glasses and we stopped to discuss lunch choices. I spotted a café that did a cheese/charcuterie planchette so we ordered up some wine and one of those and really enjoyed it. There was a patisserie nearby where several purchases were made – we like puds and have missed the ‘proper’ stuff!

Back to the apartment (the a/c is a blessing! and yes I will switch it off soon) and it wasn’t long before the storm arrived – thunder was heard and it rained very heavily – for about an hour in total. No idea at all what tomorrow might hold as we are getting to the point of ‘let’s just roll with it on the day’ as we usually do towards the end of a holiday.