Friday 7th September 2007

We had fully intended to go on to the Black Forest today via the 'Parc Naturel Regional des Vosges du Nord' but we were distracted. At the camp office last night, I found a leaflet for a Roman site with a large mosaic and amphitheater. We couldn't resist the temptation and decided to take the diversion some 40 km in the opposite direction. We arrived too close to the lunchtime closure (1½ hours – the French like their lunch) to see the amphitheater, so time for another diversion. 'Le Cul du Cerf' is a natural limestone valley created by the collapse of potholes created by an underground river. At over 120m deep and very wide and long, it is an impressive site. The river still flows and is dammed further downstream.
Back to Grand – a Roman town, on which is a French village. The amphitheater was impressive, although the seating itself was in poor condition. A reconstruction of the seating had been constructed over the top of the ruins, both to show how it would have looked and to provide seating for outdoor performances. The arena and places for housing the wild animals were intact. We walked into the village (via excellent information boards showing what parts of the Roman town were underneath us) to the building housing the mosaic. It is enormous (224 sq m) and, except for a small part in the centre, intact. Very impressive.
We spent so long on this diversion that we didn't have time to get to the Black Forest. We chose a site, 'Les Mouettes' (The Gulls), next to a small lake in Gondrexange. The early evening was spent in the bar / restaurant at the end of the lake with a view over the lake with the wildfowl and fisherman, made more romantic by the fact that we were the only people in the restaurant (again!).
Two bits of good news – we arrived in time for the first game of the Rugby World Cup and, before setting off for the restaurant, I managed to get the satellite system working. What a fantastic opening match and an excellent result for Argentina. A little disappointing for the French but, luckily, there were no French Rugby supporters near us!