travels and home: June 9 - Alsace to Metz

Wednesday
We walked/ran on the roads behind the hotel, had breakfast (the place seemed understaffed and a little ignored, the breads etc. were just so so, but there was a stellar cheese plate), then set off for our last wine country visits.

In Traenheim we took one more vineyard walk. The vineyard had views in all directions, and a few stands of cherry and elderberry.

Then we stopped at Frederic Mochel, a well-respected vintner in Traenheim and one of Oz Clarke's tips, for a tasting in the well-appointed cellar. This time there were several other people tasting wine too, including a wine buyer from Holland who was shopping for his home stock. He knew what he was doing, and tried quite a few wines, so we tried more than we would have. But we could only buy one bottle, we tried more than we might have. It was a shame we couldn't buy more.

We stopped in the village of Westhoffen to get some very good blueberry pie from a bakery, then continued toward Metz. Our stops were not so notable - as we say, not peak experiences.

We stopped in two towns: Saverne for a rest, by a 19th century castle by a river (hot, no place to sit, etc.), and then, for lunch, a little further on, Phalsbourg, Lorraine, a big square, where we bought rye-wheat bread, cheese, some pasta salad or something, to eat outside with a draft beer.

We stayed off the big highways - the N-roads are usually just undivided and two lanes, but in very good shape, mostly bypass towns, and pleasant driving.

Metz was busy, parking by the cathedral was a little crazy, weather was iffy, the tourist office had one very frustrating young man, and we weren't sure how to play out the last day, but we decided to stay at the Cathedral hotel, right across the street, which was actually quite nice, full of character and nice furniture, and windows actually facing the cathedral. This is the actual view. Our car is in that parking lot.

Next to the cathedral was a big covered market. I could not reside this display of berries, produce so typical of the area.

The interior was, like the Reims Cathedral, light, but colored with both old and modern stained glass. There was also a modern sculpture installation. I don't remember its title and I wasn't convinced by it, but there it was, very prominent, and I always want to give some credit for the employment of artists.

Undeniably wonderful, though, were the Chagall windows.

Metz is divided by a river and bridges and islands, over which the city spreads. Not uninteresting. We walked for a while, but when it started raining in earnest, we went into a very busy Irish pub for a break.

We had dinner at a comfortable lively bistro near the hotel included three courses, including a first course of what was apparently a chicken giblet salad (surprise, Jimmy!) and a salad with pieces of a small fish; a kind of coq au riesling and a some kind of fish casserole; and dessert - I can't recall what, which happens sometimes when I don't photograph. But it was a very gemutlich place.