I

GERARDMER AND ENVIRONS

[Illustration: PROVINS, GENERAL VIEW]

The traveller bound to eastern France has a choice of many routes, none
perhaps offering more attractions than the great Strasburg line by way of
Meaux, Chalons-sur-Marne, Nancy, and Epinal. But the journey must be made
leisurely. The country between Paris and Meaux is deservedly dear to
French artists, and although Champagne is a flat region, beautiful only
by virtue of fertility and highly developed agriculture, it is rich in
old churches and fine architectural remains. By the Troyes-Belfort route,
Provins may be visited. This is, perhaps, the most perfect specimen of
the mediaeval walled-in town in France. To my thinking, neither
Carcassonne, Semur nor Guerande surpass Hegesippe Moreau's little
birthplace in beauty and picturesqueness. The acropolis of Brie also
possesses a long and poetic history, being the seat of an art-loving
prince, and the haunt of troubadours. A word to the epicure as well as
the archaeologist. The bit of railway from Chalons-sur-Marne to Nancy
affords a series of gastronomic delectations. At Epernay travellers are
just allowed time to drink a glass of champagne at the buffet, half a
franc only being charged. At Bar-le-Duc little neatly-packed jars of the
raspberry jam for which the town is famous are brought to the doors of
the railway carriage. Further on at Commercy, you are enticed to regale
upon unrivalled cakes called "Madeleines de Commercy," and not a town, I
believe, of this favoured district is without its speciality in the shape
of delicate cates or drinks.

Chalons-sur-Marne, moreover, possesses one of the very best hotels in