not Metzing around.

So before we go back in time to a lovely land called Metz, I have to announce that we went to the best concert ever last Thursday evening. Sure, it was outdoors, where it was raining and cold (thanks, July in Switzerland!), but it was unbelievable. We went to see Rodrigo y Gabriela, whom we've loved for several years now, and on whose concert we spent a pretty penny...but it was entirely worth it, even in the wretched weather. I guess you could kinda describe their music as flamenco-guitar-meets-hard-rock, but that's not really exactly it. He plays the melodies, more or less, and she provides the rhythm guitar, but quite literally, both by strumming and by drumming on her guitar (to the extent that the first time we saw them, Mike kept trying to figure out where the drummer was hiding). They're extraordinary musicians separately; they each played a lengthy and mind-blowing solo--his was so fast in parts that it was like Flight of the Bumblebee, but on guitar, and the rhythms and music in hers was so intricate that at times it sounded like there were three people playing (drums, a wood block, and the guitar!)--but together they are astounding, and absolutely tremendous to see live. It's just the two of them and their guitars on stage, and no matter the size of said stage, they own it. She's this little pixie of a person who twirls and jumps while she plays, and he tends to end up in the power-guitar stance when playing a particularly intricate solo, and they are mesmerizing and charismatic and utterly unmissable. People, if they play near you, GO. GO NOW. Drive long distances, pay lots of money, and gear up in your finest raincoat and wellies if you have to. You won't be sorry.*

 I really just took this photo to show you all of the raincoats in the audience. It was cold and wet, people, but nobody in this crowd was in a bad mood. Such a great concert!

And now, to Metz, (which is in the Lorraine part of Alsace-Lorraine--parts of France that have alternated several times between French and German control, FYI, as if you didn't already know that, my dear, savvy reader!). Ahh, France: each time I visit you, I like you a little more. Back in May, the Goog (and maybe also Switzerland) was kind enough to provide its employees with a few holidays back-to-back, so off we went on the bike to do a little explorin'. Metz had been on my radar for a while, although I'm not entirely sure how I stumbled across it...I just vaguely remembered photos of picturesque buildings around rivers and something somewhat castlely-looking, and since Mike's a good sport about going wherever, we went. And we found this.

A canal from the Moselle River runs through town. Cathedral up the hill on the left.

Funky building next to old stone bridge, the road across which runs through giant arches in said funky building. Love it.**

First on our list to visit, predictably, was the city's cathedral, Saint-Étienne de Metz. This thing was built (roughly, of course...) between 1220 and 1520, and consecrated around 1550.

Check out the insane detail around this southern portal...!

Super high nave, over 41 meters. 

Apparently, this cathedral has one of the largest expanses of stained glass in the world; collectively speaking, it's around 6,500 square meters, and contains windows made during the 13th through 20th centuries (!). Appropriately, then, the cathedral's nickname is "God's Lantern." This is the gigantic rose window at the western end of the nave.

Our favorite little discovery: this place is full of graffiti from centuries past. Here, one as old as our homeland. (I think the oldest inscription we saw was from 1694.) Oddly enough, none of these are marked for visitors, or--even stranger--protected from visitors.

Purty stained glass patterns on the floor.

Love me some Gothic vaults 'n arches. 

...and some old script. I speak approximately zero French, but Google translate (and the handy-dandy interpretive sign next to this, which was, sadly, only in French) leads me to believe that this is the tombstone of a master mason who died in 1400. 

More windows (rose at top right--SO HUGE).

Detail of the rose window. Yes, I loved this thing. It's so vast, and so high up, yet has all these weeny, woony details going on that you really can't even make out from the cathedral floor. Amazing.

Next, we roamed the streets, as we are wont to do in a new town, and found some dinner at Le Bouchon. We shared an order of escargot (snails: shockingly edible when drowned in garlic and butter and basil!), then Mike had a veal cutlet with reblochon cheese, mushrooms, cream sauce, a salad, and some seriously amazing fries, while I went for the house burger with smoked ham, reblochon, and my own salad and fries. For dessert, we shared the café gourmand, which is one of my favorite French inventions: it's generally a plate of baby desserts--in this case, tiramisu, crème brûlée, and a wee ice cream bar that tasted suspiciously like a Snicker's--served with espresso. Good stuff.

Stumbled across the remains of this Gothic church, which now house a little pizzeria. (Normally I'd wait until the person walking through my shot is gone, but this woman was so...slow.)

The center of Metz is wicked charming, with little glimpses of the cathedral all over the place.

Speaking of which. (Yep, you'll see it again.)

Temple Neuf, the big Protestant church in town, built between 1902 and 1905. 

Day two began with a quick trip through the covered market (Marché Couvert), followed by a stop back by the cathedral to see the treasury and crypt, both of which had been closed by the time we got there the day before. (Totally worthwhile: both are full of all kinds of amazing old stuff, like models of the major cathedrals in France, a 16th-century effigy of the dragon that supposedly harassed the city in the middle ages, and lots of really old gold, silver, and ivory goodies.) Then it was more roaming of the aforementioned streets, but slightly less aimlessly than the day before (i.e., we had places to go!, or at least, I had places to which I needed to drag Mike!).

Interesting tidbit: the covered market was originally built as the bishop's palace--it's right next to the cathedral--but then was never used as such, due to that little uprising known as the French Revolution.

So...many...cheeses...

Hot chocolate callas, which I've never seen before. Incredible color. (They don't bear a huge resemblance to any hot chocolate I've ever imbibed, but maybe they make it differently in France...? Like, really differently?)

No photos allowed in the treasury or crypt, of course, but allow me, if you will, just a few more cathedral details. Like these, around the south portal: DRAGONS! (There was another one nearby that looked like Falcor.)

That's a fairly self-satisfied-looking Madonna, in my opinion.

Outside the cathedral, on the Place d'Armes, were these two rather interesting statues, which turned out to be a monument to the liberation of Metz by the U.S. Third Army. Which happened right here.

Place Saint-Louis, with some of the city's few remaining 13th-century vaulted arcades. (Impossibly charming.) We caught a lovely lunch behind the arcades at Le Saint Louis, wherein Mike had the assiette Lorraine, with the local ham, quiche (but of course!), roasted potatoes, and salad, and I had a perfect warm goat-cheese salad. (Ohhhhhh, but the chèvre chaud in France...could eat every day.)

Next we were off to find the Porte des Allemands, and saw this lovely little Gothic gem (St. Eucaire).

The Porte itself! An honest-to-goodness 13th-century fortress and bridge. Which was currently under restoration, and so I couldn't go climb around on it. Bah, humbug.

The good news is, this city is absolutely covered in ancient remains: here, some 14th-century walls and towers along a river walk. Sheesh.

And still more: the remains of the 14th-century Eglise des Grand-Carmes de Metz. (Which, of course, is right across the street from the gigantic and outrageously Art Nouveau-y Debussy primary school, of which I didn't manage to take any good pictures. Nevertheless, trust when I say that this city is one giant architectural gem.)

Eglise St.-Segolene, parts of whose interior date back to the 13th century, but whose Gothic-appearing facade was actually built at the end of the 19th. 

And inside, it's absolutely covered with Art Nouveau details! Super interesting little church, this.

It's also home to the the oldest stained glass window panel in the Lorraine region: this one, from the 12th century. 

And on to yet another church! On the way to our next point of interest, we walked past this little guy. It wasn't open at the time, but it looked like an interesting building, and as it turns out, it was built by the Knights Templar themselves between 1180 and 1220 (!).

Maybe more impressive, however, was this place right next door: the Basilica of Saint-Pierre aux Nonnains, the oldest church in France. Which was originally built as a Roman gymnasium...i.e., it's been around since 380 AD.

The interior's pretty spartan, but one could assume that over the centuries, a bit of earlier grandeur has been lost...

...as indicated by the small collection of carvings that decorated the chancel around 600. 

And a teensy bit of fresco showing through the plaster in this arch. Neat.

After our mostly-accidental tour o' churches (only the Roman one was on my official "Things to See in Metz" list), we decided to take a stroll through the German Imperial Quarter, which was built during Alsace-Lorraine's first annexation into the German Empire in the late 19th century. Emperor Wilhelm II decided that the city needed a bit more of a German flavor and built a new district with a crazy mix of grandiose styles, thus creating the most amazing street I've ever seen. Soooo much architectural awesomeness in one brief little stretch of street. Mike will affirm that we spent at least half an hour walking two blocks, as I couldn't stop dashing from one side of median (which, by the way, had a gorgeous garden in it) to the other, in order to take photographs of everything.

So as not to bore you entirely, I've just included a few pictures. Here, the north side of Avenue Foch...

...and the south. I just can't. Too much awesomeness.

Look at these details. Look.

Heh, and this place: half Art Nouveau mansion, half Bavarian chateau-y thing, all nuttiness.

Oh yeah, and there was this little guy, too! This is the Tour Camoufle, or "Camouflage Tower," a watchtower built in 1437 and later incorporated into the city's defensive wall. 

In retrospect, I feel as though I should have taken more photos, considering how enthralled I am by this place even now. (I should really learn more about architecture; apparently, I'm a crazy person for it.)

Anyhoo...after that we headed back into town to find dinner. Along the way, we passed this in a store window: 

This bit of sartorial insanity could be yours for the bargain price of 250 euros. (Who knows whether that actually includes the other shoe, if there even is one, because why?? And this is in a grown-up size, people!)

...and then caught dinner at Au Marché, a lovely little restaurant near the cathedral. We split a starter of local meats 'n cheeses (hooray for charcuterie et fromage!), and I don't remember what I originally ordered after that, but they brought me the wrong dish, and thank goodness. That was the best roast pork I've ever had, and it even came with honest-to-goodness vegetables (and some terrific mashed potatoes). Mike had a duck breast with a side of incredible gratin (that's sorta like scalloped potatoes, to us 'mericans), and then the café gourmand for dessert. I opted for the cherry clafoutis--a sort of custard with a ton of fruit baked in--which always sounds good to me in theory, but then turns out a bit too eggy for my taste. At least it was pretty. And had cherries.

Mmmm...dessert...Mike's had the best butterscotch ice cream ever.

After dinner, we strolled across the river to the terrace in front of the Opera House, where we found this lovely, if a bit trippy, little band playing, and had a nice little nightcap outside. 

Temple Neuf--so very pretty in the dark--with the opera house behind.

All of which is across the river from this. I firmly believe that at no point in time would this view ever become tedious or unimpressive.

Even walked past some 15th-century church ruins on the way back to the hotel. Srsly, this city is just magic.

But wait, there's more! Although, in reviewing the current length of this post, I'm going to end it here, just so you can take a little break. Next up, a side trip from Metz back to dear Luxembourg, plus a little catch-up on what we've been watching and eating and stuff like that. See you soon.

*Ooh, and one more thing: they actually did a little sing-along bit in the middle and played Plush by Stone Temple Pilots (and pulled a guy out of the audience to sing it!!), the opening to Bomb Track by Rage Against the Machine (which they then stopped, 'cause nobody knew the words--need some of the ol' KFH crowd for that one!), and then Rodrigo actually sang Radiohead's Creep, which was also one of our favorites from KFH. Sigh. Nostalgia. I don't sing along at concerts, people, but last night I did.

I'd also like to praise the venue, for a moment, if I could: we went to Live at Sunsat at the Dolder, which was the yuppiest venue I've ever been to, but of course, that's right up my alley. Everything was clean and well designed (they put down anti-slip tiles over the concrete! the bathrooms were immaculate, even for Switzerland!); they were handing out free raincoats to those of us who didn't spend quite enough dough to rate a covered seat; they had at least three restaurants/snack bars up there, the food from which smelled and looked absolutely delicious (didn't try any 'cause we'd already had a lovely sushi dinner beforehand, but they even had the local upscale vegetarian chain, Hiltl, there); all drinks were served with actual glass glasses, which they let you take to your seats; and speaking of seats, as we found ours, a lady walked up with a squeegie and chamois cloth and wiped our seats down so that they were dry when we sat. Yes, please. I'll take a dry seat and my water in a wine glass, thank you.

**In the course of trying to figure out the name of this building--it doesn't have a name so much as it's named for the square in its center, Place Valladier--I actually stumbled over an available apartment in it. We could live in a rather large space in this fun building in Metz much more cheaply than we do in Zürich, but let's face it, I'm just not ready to switch over to French quite yet. It's fun to look, though.