First Stop: Metz

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We started our excursion to France very early and after driving through western Germany and Luxembourg, we crossed the French border. Our first stop was the city of Metz, in the Lorraine region. We had almost the whole day to discover this rather small, but very beautiful city. The first sight we visited was the Cathedral of Metz (Saint Etienne de Metz) from the 16th century. The inside is very impressive, but reminded us a lot of the Dom or Cathedral in Cologne as well. We continued from there and walked through the mayor part of the city, passing stores and houses. Finally we reached our destination: the main railway station (Gare de Metz-Ville). We went inside and passed the main hallway and visited the tracks as well. The station was build by the Germans and opened in 1908. The highlight of the visit was the possibility to see the private appartment of Kaiser Wilhelm II inside the station, where he slept when he came to stay. A stained-glass window of Charlemagne sitting on his throne in the livingroom was very impressive. We left the station and spend the rest of our day in the city center of Metz. We turned in early because the next day we were supposted to head to Verdun.

I'll tell you about it next time...

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