Villers-les-Nancy

The name looks impressive isn't it - and dont mistake it for a village this means "The city of Nancy". A quiet town located in the quiet region of Lorraine in France, Nancy has it's own charm. It is an old, historical and very important city of France. It has a huge number of students because of the many many universities flourishing here. The weather remains pleasant (around 20° C) even in the summers.

We spent the first weekend exploring Nancy. It has an excellent tram service running from 5 in the morning to 12 in the night. The major stations are Vandoeuvre CHU Brabois (the first station), Velodrome (near to our hostel), Blandan (near our favourite church), Exelmans (near the Afro-Latina Bar), Nancy Gare (the railway station), Maginot (near St. Sebastian), Point Centrale (the main market), Cathedrale (at the huge church) and Essey Mouzimpre (the last station). The city square is called Stainslas and is a beautiful and uncrowded place with a huge park, an opera house, a fine arts museum and the tourism centre on its four sides. The main market is located around Point Centrale and it is lots of fun roaming there. But our favourite shop is ALDI (A German Supermarkt) where we get almost everything and we go there everyday after work.

There is a movie hall 'Cameo' whuch screens movies in English and we saw Harry Potter there for 4 euros. Nancy has some indian restaurants too namely, Le Kashmir, Le Punjab, Le Shalimar etc. We went to Le Punjab once and the Pakistani lady there offered us pakoras and wine for free. The pakoras were tasty and we had a good time. But when we were coming out from there, one of us, Saurabh said "Thankyou Auntie" and the face of the lady was worth seeing. She said tum log to hamare bhai jaise ho. We had a good laugh over it later.

We also saw a rally once near Point Centrale. We had to find someone who could explain to us what was happening. And so I was pushed forwarded by friends to approach a girl and ask hir. This girl, she was not beautiful but very impressive. She explained in good English what it was about. After that we thought we will wait at the scene for some more time and so we bought croissants to eat. We were munching at them when I saw that this girl had also not left the place. She was talking to the police and enquiring about the thing. When I looked at her she replied with a smile.

Then we had to go the Railway Station for booking tickets. When we were coming out we again saw the same girl coming towards us (this time she had taken off her jacket and she was looking very good in her black sleeveless dress). She again passed a wonderful smile (she was tomboyish but smart, somewhat the female version of Harry Potter). I am still waiting to meet her again. I know Nancy is a small place :-) ......