We picked Metz because it is close to Nancy which is a city we really enjoyed visiting in a previous trip. Metz is famous for being the city that claims the invention of Quiche Lorraine. Metz was a fortress town defending the Moselle River and was fought over extensively in WWI, and twice in WWII, once between the French and the Germans at the beginning of the war, and near the end it was fought over again by the Germans and the Americans.
Our first stop was the market to try some Quiche Lorraine. The mixed heritage of the region, it has changed hands between the Germans and the French at least 4 times in the last 150 years showed up in the meal. The Quiche Lorrain was very French, but it was served with Sauerkraut. They also had a Picon beer on the menu, we had read about it but never tried it. We enjoyed the food, we really enjoyed the beer. It is a mixture of a local beer and a liquor we discovered in Belgium earlier on the trip called Picon which is made from oranges.
The Cathedral in Metz is referred to as Gods Lantern as it has the most stained glass in the world. Along the side it has three stories of stained glass.
It also has the highest ceiling of all the Cathedrals in France to allow for the abundance of glass. Many different styles of art are represented in the glass, not just from the medieval times, modern artists also have contributed glass windows such as the cubist artist Jacques Villon, and the modern artist Chagall.
The Cathedral is not only used for religious services, but it occasionally hosts plays. There was a video playing showing what looked like a historical drama that used the Cathedral as a play house in an intriguing looking way.
The other must see site in Metz is the train station. The train station was built by the Germans during the late 19th century after they had annexed Alsace and Lorrain following their victory in the Franco-Prussian war. It is reputed to be the most beautiful train station in France.
If this is the most beautiful station in France, then the French somehow missed out on train station architecture in the 19th century. We have seen many better looking train stations in our travels in Europe.
We had wandered quite far from home at this point and with the shorter days were running out of day light. So we began heading back to François for the night. But on the way we saw a nice corner bar and thought that one more Picon beer was in order. We enjoyed our beer while watching the regulars in the bar go through their evening socializing.
Our stop at the bar had accomplished something we rarely do. We saw a bit of Metz after dark. The campground here is located close enough to the city center where we didn’t feel the need to scramble back to François before dark.
We really liked Metz, over our last few trips to France we have really enjoyed our stops in the north. We had a great time in Nancy when we stopped there a couple of years ago, and in Strasbourg. The north is quickly turning into one of my favorite parts of France.
