To round out the Memorial Day weekend, we decided to drive to Metz, France - the capital of the Lorraine region. The city is located in the northeast region of France and is situated at the junction of the Mosel and Seille Rivers. The way we decided to visit Metz, we enjoyed the notion of driving to France to see another country and city on a whim. While a great idea, we were wildly underestimated our communication effectiveness. Having lived in Germany for a month, we have focused on cultivating an understanding of basic German - neither of us knew French - aside from Bonjour, Adieu/Au revoir, Merci, Síl vous plait, and Parlez-vous anglais.
The drive was about two hours and parking in the city was plentiful on a Monday afternoon. Once we parked, we started our self-guided tour with the
Saint Stephen Cathedral (Saint-Étienne de Metz), the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Metz. The cathedral is an architectural and artistic masterpiece - it houses the largest breadth of stained-glass in the world. The gamut of work in the cathedral range from; Renaissance, Romantic, Gothic, and Modern pieces of master glass makers; Hermann von Münster, Valentin Bousch, Charles-Laurent Maréchal, and Marc Chagall (more information found
here). The Dom and Liebfrauenkirche we visited in Trier two days earlier are completely dwarfed by this structure. Once we completed our visit to the Saint-Étienne de Metz we walked across the square adjacent to the cathedral towards the visitor's center.
At the tourist's center, we were able to get an map of the city and sites, but would be the last spoken English for the day. Not knowing basic French was a struggle for us in getting around, so we spent the rest of our time walking the city and picking out a few of the attractions to see along the way. Instead of playing restaurant roulette and pointing at words on a menu, we had traditional French cuisine, sushi. Most of the day was a comedy of errors, however, ordering sushi for lunch seemed to be the easiest option due to our lingual ineptness. The food was adequate and the location was convenient, we proceeded to Place Saint Louis and Porte des Allemands.
The city and sites were enjoyable, but the novelty of ambiance was trumped by our inability to communicate. We plan on visiting another time, by then, (hopefully) we may have more confidence speaking French. Our only gripe with Metz, the almost ubiquitous presence of dog turds on the sidewalks. Clearly, there is a growing concern with local authorities, outside the visitor's center is a billboard that needs no translation - clean up after your dog.
Until next time France, adieu.
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| Saint-Étienne de Metz |
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| Entrance |
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| Nave looking towards altar |
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| Wonderful symmetry |
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| Would have liked to hear the acoustics here |
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| One of many...what ever these are called |
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| Organ pipes |
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| Work of Marc Chagall |
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| Another piece by Marc Chagall |
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| Opposite view from altar |
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| A closer look |
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| Walking down a street towards Saint-Étienne de Metz |
Place Saint Louis
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| Statue of Saint Louis |
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| View towards series of restaurants in Place Saint Louis |
Porte Des Allemands
Unfortunately, essentially the entire grounds of Porte Des Allemands were undergoing restorations - restricting access to the public, hence the lack of pictures.
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| One picture without construction equipment |
