Metz, France

My flight to the US is not until Sunday so I could not resist the chance to slip across the border to France for a day. I’ve never been to France before and have also never crossed a border by train.

I went to Metz which is less than an hour by train. It also allows me to train to Frankfurt today and have a night there.

My compartment on the train to Metz. If they had trains like this in NZ, I’d sure as hell use the train a lot more. Was lovely.

A typical street in Metz. The whole inner city is like this – wish I had more time here. I was somewhat nervous about getting around as the last time I learnt French was in 1980! But I managed to navigate taxis, check in to the hotel, order lunch and dinner at cafes in town and even chat to some locals (in English). The French have a reputation for refusing to speak English, even if they can, but this certainly was not the case in Metz.

Oh and the stereotype that there are no ugly French women is not true, but you have to look very very hard to find any. Everywhere you went there were gorgeous women, all dressed in great style, and showing off a lot of tan!

More photos below:

This is the outside of the Cathedral St. Etienne in Metz. It is a huge building which dominates the city.

Inside the Cathedral.

Local Politics. They won!

Had lunch here, with dozens of cafes to choose from.

I think this signifies some sort of military installation, because they got a bit excited after I walked through the front gate and started taking photos.

The road this is on, is called Rue Winston Churchill – a nice touch!

It was very sunny, and a beautiful day to look around.