Day 24 – Thu 03 Jul 14, Metz

July 03, 2014

Forecast: 13-28 deg C; no riding

Even though it cost Euro 15.50 each for breakfast we figured we would probably pay that again for lunch each and as we could sneak some lunch out from breakfast we decided it would be cheaper to pay that. Breakfast was a good spread complete with bacon and eggs. Wendy had wanted a hazelnut crepe for a while and she finally got to have one. She said it was gooood!

It was a really beautiful day to be out wandering around this interesting city in the NE of France. It was worth every crappy path/road to reach Metz; the place is magnifique to say the least. It has a 3000 year history and lucky for us they kept plenty of parks, gardens and open spaces when it was planned and built 100s of years ago. Being fairly close to the German border it has also changed hands several times.

We started our wanderings at the 13th century St Stephens Cathedral which is one of Europe's biggest and highest, over 120m long x 42m high and it has an amazing 6,500m2 of stained glass. It's one of those cathedrals that you walk into and can't help saying, 'WOW!' And to think they finished restoration work (originally built in 1220) on it about the same year Cook "discovered" Australia; 1770. How did they build these enormous structures in medieval times, beyond us? As it was early in the day, there were no people about so it was also very quiet and peaceful inside. Even after leaving the Cathedral we'd look back from different locations in the city and marvel at its size and grandeur.

After St Stephen's, we visited the following interesting places/sights/points of interest: the covered market (basically meats, cheeses and very “French”); 20th century Protestant Temple Neuf; Opera Theatre; Temple Evangeliquede la Garnisom; a man-made white water kayak course (to 'start' the white water they just open a couple of gates on an offshoot of the river); Pont des Morts (a 1^st century bridge); Centre Pompidou, an ultra-modern museum/arts centre opened in 1977. This building has interesting architecture; the roof is made of laminated wood beams with a stretched heavy plastic/canvas sailcloth cover. Metz also has the oldest church (1220) in France and one of the biggest mall areas in Europe. We also saw lots of other interesting things along the way such as a very beautiful art deco tunnel under the train tracks on the way to the Pompidou.

We eventually wound our way through the streets back to the hotel for that lunch we had surreptitiously acquired at breakfast - just another ham and cheese roll with a piece of fruit!! Then, as it is a "rest" day, we had a nana nap then answered emails, updated blogs, etc. Greg went for a ride in the hope that the bike shop we found around the corner from the hotel would fit a new chain for him, as his has started to slip. They did, and also convinced him he needed a new rear cluster, which he knew should be replaced at the same time as the chain, but was trying to avoid. When he went to pay, the lady (probably the owner), who spoke not a word of English deleted the labour component of the bill just because Greg was “Australie”! She knew he was just passing through but made that wonderful kind gesture anyway, a lovely regal lady.

Dinner was had at Chez Gregoire – a 3-course meal which was exceptionally filling. We both felt like very full ticks at the end of the meal and had to have a very slow wander back to the hotel.