The last post is going to be pretty short.  Sadly, today we had to drive back to Wiesbaden.  After a nice breakfast, we cleaned up the house.  If we didn’t want to clean, we could pay another fifty euros. Honestly, I would have been alright with paying the extra money, especially since this was such an inexpensive place to stay.  We were extra careful to make sure everything was neat and clean.

Bill went to Alexandre’s parents’ house and the dad came over to check over everything.  He gave the house a casual look and asked Bill to show him where we’re from in America and where we live in Germany.  He was super nice and friendly and even said goodbye to our “babies”, Zane and Arran.  It was a very refreshingly pleasant checkout.

What I’ll remember about this trip…

I did manage to catch a few photos on the way out of France, as we drove through little towns.  The one thing I miss about where we lived in Stuttgart is the country lifestyle.  I like living in rural areas.  Where we are now is very convenient for Bill and our home is much nicer.  But this area, as a whole, lacks the picturesque beauty of the rural areas near Stuttgart.  Although where we were in France is much flatter, it’s still quite striking.  There are lots of trees, and a beautiful, clean looking river swiftly flows through the area.

I’m glad to know that we can be back there in about four hours.  It’s about the same for us to go back to Stuttgart.

We passed through an area that had these signs about World War I.  If you’re a history buff, this is a good area to see.

On the way to and from France, we had occasion to use their roadside restroom.  I must say, they varied wildly in quality.  On the way to Robert-Espagne, we stopped at a place that was very basic…

Squat toilets for everyone!  Although I think it did have an automatic flush.  Bill used the handicapped stall, which had a regular toilet.

Very bare bones… but better than what we’ve encountered in Belgium.

And then there was this one, on the big road back toward Metz.  This toilet was not only clean and high tech, it even had music piped in.  French pop, I believe!  I was struck by the difference in this rest stop and the first one we used on the way in.

How mod!

Here we are, back in Germany…  

I’ll admit, we were preoccupied during this trip and didn’t do as much as I would have liked.  Robert-Espagne is kind of out in the boonies… but I really recommend doing a trip to the boonies at least once.  It’s a great way to get to know the “real” France… or really, the “real” any country.  And there are things to see if you work to see them.  I would go back to Robert-Espagne if the opportunity presented itself, but I would especially recommend it to anyone interested in World War I history, champagne, or hanging out in rural France, getting to know the people.  This area is maybe 3.5 to 4 hours from Wiesbaden, and slightly longer from Stuttgart.

Edited to add: Looks like pets are no longer allowed as of 2020.