The weather in Metz wasn't particularly agréable but we found ways to fill the time and our stomachs.
This particular meal was one of the few we made at home. It's a duck confit salad that was the product of a whole duck that we bought a week back, cut up, and used for multiple different meals. It's a very economical way to enjoy this scrumptious and usually expensive meat.
We went on multiple walking tours of Metz and as it turns out, there is much more to show that I had realized. I think we managed to walk off a good portion of the deliciously high calorie meals that we were ingesting every night by going out to dinner. Mom and dad are pictured here in front of the Knight's Templar Chapel (whom you might remember from The Da Vinci Code).
We also showed them the normal sight of St-Pierre-aux-Nonnains basilica which is widely believed to be the oldest church in France right in our beautiful little city.
As expected, Dad made more friends with the local fauna.
And across the river we found and explored more about the Temple of the German Garrison which has a very interesting story. It was built around 1880 during the occupation of the region by Germany solely as a Lutheran church for the German soldiers. The locals though it was ugly, being of the Gothic Revival archetural design and all, and they were offended by the bell tower which rivaled the Cathedral in it's height. After Lorraine was returned to France in 1918, the church was abandoned and day dormant for decades. During WWII it's nave was badly damaged by allied bombs and in 1946, the roof of the nave caught fire. The locals could ignore the church no longer as it was now a safety hazard. They had the nave demolished but kept the tower as a monument that was later incorporated into Metz's Luxembourg Garden.
While exploring the other side of the river, which we rarely visit we happened upon this beautiful view of the Cathedral. Too bad they're busy cleaning it right now; I may have to photoshop out the scaffolding at some point.
After dinner one night we were walking along the Moselle river when we were bombarded with hungry swans. One minute we could see 3 and the next thing we knew, there were 11 following us along the river hoping for a morsel. Sadly we had none, we had eaten everything (and it's not like it's kosher to take a doggy bag here in France).
The next day we packed everything, including an extra large duffel bag filled with our belongings into the tiny Twingo and set off for the Luxembourg Airport yet again. As expected, we had a wonderful time with my parents. I was so happy to see them in the flesh after over a year of not seeing them and while it was sad to leave them at the airport, we've made it over a year without seeing them in the past and at this point, today, we have only 3 weeks (eek!) here before we will see them again. And just for a tiny plug: I can't say enough how much skype and other voice/video calling has made this year and a half away from family more bearable. Thanks to it, I never felt too far from home.
Swans freak me out. They're so big, and ... birdy. And they hiss at you, which is weird. But anyway, three weeks!! Yay! Can't wait to see you guys - in the flesh - after a year and a half!!
ReplyDeleteThey do hiss at you and one was getting pretty brave, biting mom's hand when she wouldn't give him food, but these ones are pretty tame for the most part.
ReplyDeleteBut yea, less than three weeks! We're getting excited (and freaked out cause there's so much to do!)!