I enjoyed very much this journey through the Vosges, a region of low mountains, many forests and water sources and of course the town of Epinal.
Mountains with ski resorts like La Bresse with its ski slopes: quiet sport places for families: but in these mountains the visitors can also practice snow kiting and paragliding (Franck Vaxelaire was the pionneer of both sports) or snowshoes tours with Michel Pierrat or Doug Meachan.
About the half of the Vosges is covered with forests: mainly firs and spruce: Mickaël Poirot and his brothers began their wood industrial project in 1997 and are producing wooden chalets. In the slopes of the forests the men used a sledge (schlitte) to bring down the wood and some of them like Charles Poirot produce shingles.
The Vosges is a place of many water sources: we see Philippe Ghin, a traditional water finder (in French sourcier) when he is looking for a source and later Valérie Siegler (Eau de Wawiller) explains that these mountains of sandstone and limestone are full of water sources and now the Vosges are the third producer of mineral waters in France. There are also thermal resorts like Plombières-les-Bains with hot water sources. Then Epinal is the town of the famous Epinal prints: there live Magali Villeneuve and Alexandre Dainch, two illustrators who work for American, Canadian or Japanese companies. Besides there is the School of Art where the students study images making (Rémi Saillard , an famous illustrator is professor in this school) and Erick Mathieu has a startup in Epinal dealing with numeral images.
We meet also Philippe Lavit in the forests of Rambervilliers during a hunting party (wild boar).
I enjoyed the encounters of Sophie with Charles Poirot and his father Martial Poirot, with Jean-Marie , Fabienne et Damien Claudepierre (La Confiserie des Hautes Vosges), with Anthony Maurice (the ice hockey team and the visit of the ramparts of Epinal), with Fabienne Houillon (the Epinal prints), with Yacine El Fath ( the mountain bike tour and the concert), with Cédric Bongeot and Joseph Lopes, and with Doug Meachan and his friend Jean-Marc Antoine; very pleasant encounters with very kind Vosges men and women.