Metz in daylight

I am a bit late getting this up, but we had a couple of hours to explore Metz by daylight after our night enjoying the Christmas Market and I want to share some photos of this lovely small city.

We started off by hunting down the bridge?  castle? over the rive that so often shows up in photos of the area. It shows up for good reason--it is lovely!

After oohig and aahing a bit, we continued walking along the river (it appears that Minions are everywhere-even France):

Then we headed into town to work our way towards the cathedral, enjoying the architecture along the way:

Then we roudned the corner to the front of a church and it felt like being punched in the gut to see a memorial to Paris victims--I can only assume Marie and Mathias were a local couple who either moved to the city, or were there visiting--likely to see the concert.  So tragic:

After a few solemn moments, we decided to continue exploring and working towards the cathedral and enjoying the lovely city.  I absolutely loved the two little boys peering in the bakery window as the proprietor set out the fresh baked goods.

And then we made it to the cathedral--I had to get a photo of the flying buttresses; I always thought those sounded so cool when we learned about then in school way back when.  It was nice to be inside as services were just finishing up (we waited to move forward until after, sadly a fair number of tourists did not)--and I enjoyed seeing the advent wreath lit up for the second Sunday.

By the time we finished at the cathedral it was time for us to head home.  We did pull over so I could snap some photos of Le Temple Neuf from the side of the road---we will be sure to make time to really visit it on our next trip to Metz (and there WILL be more trips):

--Hadley

Meter Readers--one of those little differences

There are always little differences between cultures that you don't know to expect and which hit people at various times.  Having just had the water meter reader here---that difference in the way that is handled between the US and Germany is on my mind.

I remember as a child (probably in the mid 80s) public safety announcements and discussions at school about not letting people saying they are meter readers into the house--as it was likely they were criminals either casing the house or hoping to take advantage of the person answering the door..  Modern homes had electric, gas and water meters on the outside of the building and no one needed access to the house for the information.  I have not lived in a home in the USA with an interior meter since I was old enough to remember (even our home in Detroit which was built in the sixties).

Meanwhile, here in Germany, we have meter readers come by once a year, every year, for each utility.  They usually show up unannounced (though, if they try a few times when we are not home will leave a card with a number to call to make an appointment, or sometimes with a place for us to fill in the current reading ourselves).  Our rental home is only 12 years old and all meters are inside, in the basement area.

It still feels a little funny, after all that talk of danger when I was a child, to just let in random people who show up with laminated IDs of the simplest design when they say they need to read the meter.  But it is refreshing in way, to not have those kinds of worries be on the radar where I live.

--Hadley

Editing to add that a local friend tells me there have been reports of scammers using -"meter reader" to get into local homes lately in our newspaper.  So it IS on the radar (and yet newer homes still have meters inside---what a conundrum. I am wondering how to be safe and verify now).  She also has meters which can be accessed without coming into the home and STILL gets postcards letting her know when people will be there.  Funny how different it is one town over!  I had called a German friend, and asked the neighbors the first year, as this DID worry me then--they told me it was totally normal and seemed surprised I would worry.  I guess there is a big difference from place to place here.
I still find it odd that a building put in so recently has meters only accessible from the inside if this is a concern and clearly on the radar of many.
Seven years here and I am still learning my way around!

An evening at the Metz Christmas Market

We are staying the Novotel Metz City Center tonight--which is an ideal location for visiting the Christmas Market.  The only drawback is the traffic--getting this far into downtown on a busy shopping day during Advent was a nightmare--the last 2 kilometers took about an hour to crawl through and once we arrived we learned that the "on site parking" is part of a garage for the nearby shopping center with no spaces reserved for the hotel--we literally circled the parking garage over half an hour before finally parking by the space reserved for airing up tires and talking to the parking attendant'S office, who did (thankfully) agree that we could leave the car there until the shopping center closed and then move it to a legitimate space.  Next time I am taking the train!

Metz, however, is absolutely worth the hassle though.  I am completely charmed by the city and am already planing subsequent trips.

Just outside our hotel is a small section of the market with a small carousel and several stalls topped with onion spires: 

Among the offerings were sausage, macaroons and freshly molded chocolates (I thought the nativities were funny--would you WANT to eat a chocolate baby Jesus?)

Winding our way further into the heart of the city, it was pretty amazing when the large Ferris wheel came into sight!

The cathedral is HUGE and the wheel is taller!  It was too dark to get a good photo of the interior by night, but the side sections are as tall as most European churches and the centrail aisle is stunningly high---almost agoraphobia inducingly high.  I thought that lovely Gothic cathedral and the lit up Ferris wheel made a neat combination:

I'm not sure what this building was right across the way, but it was pretty all lit up and flying flags:

We spent a a lovely couple of hours wandering down and around through the stalls, feasting our eyes and having a several delightful treats as well:

A giant pan of noodles with cheese and ham:

How could you not love a carousel with a nautalis???

 Actually, the entire, two story, ride was gorgeous and I spent a good 10 or so minutes just watching it and checking out the details:

One very notable difference between the German and French markets:  everything we bought came in plastic glasses and on paper plates.  NOT nearly so nice, but the wine was tasty in spite of the pathetic and environmentally bad cup.

These candied fruits were so pretty--I wanted to get some to try, but the smallest amount you could buy was 12€, which seemed like a lot for something I did not know I would like:

Oysters on the half shell were on offer--this is not somehting we've seen at any market in Germany:

There were lots of places selling escargot, and all doing great bussiness--again not something we've seen before:

We eventually wandered over to the lovely old train station, where I bought a bag of freshly made churros--which brings back memories of buying churros at the Wednesday market in Spain on my way to school back in 10th grade:

On the way back to the hotel, I grabbed a photo of some of the lights and one more of the cathedral and Ferris wheel, as well as one of those super uncomfortable benches that are so ubiquitous here that they are even in the French pavilion at Disney Epcot.  I always think of Disneyworld when I see those benches!

Tomorrow I will take some photos of this amazing city by daylight.

--Hadley