we have a five day holiday planned in the Vosges mountains in France and as usual it starts with lots of packing. For only the second time ever we’ve rented a studio instead of booking a hotel room, so the packing requires a bit more thought than usual. I did prepare and make a few Wunderlists, so mostly it’s a matter of finding stuff and throwing it together. As we’re hoping there will be snow, we have large heaps of cold weather gear on top of everything else. We’re also hoping to get there before dark and as it’s a five hour drive, we send our regrets to my five year old nephew and will skip his birthday cake event this afternoon. His present goes into the car, as we’ll see him a week from now when driving home through the Ardennes.
It’s weird how full the car is when we’re driving away. How did we manage in the times of coupé cars a few ago? It’s just before noon when we set off, we’re hungry but determined to hang on until we’ve passed the imaginary boundary of Brussels, just far enough to count as away from home. A piece of pizza for me, a prepacked sandwich for Arne (his stomach is not 100%) and then we’re really on our way. It’s pretty warm for the time of year so we’re skeptical about the odds for snow when we arrive, but then you never know until you get there, the video cams showed white white white the whole week.
Smooth road, toll-free (exceptional for France), no traffic, a Spotify playlist of the best 1000 songs of 2018 (as voted by MNM radio listeners), all in all a quiet drive. We don’t see any snow yet.. The apartment we arrive to is clean, recently renovated and nicely warm, looks just like the pictures. After dragging everything up the two floors and unpacking, we decide not to go out tonight. We heat up our leftover garam masala spaghetti sauce, add some pasta and cheese and have a glass of red wine. The evening entertainment is Robin Hood: Men in Tights – really old and I know most of the jokes by heart, but still very funny.
Febe writes 