Touring Downtown Metz
(France): Visiting the Showplace of the
Lorraine by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
A
tour of Metz, the showplace of the Lorraine in Eastern France, awaited us the
next day. How do you do justice to a
town like this in a few paragraphs?
Metz
is 3,000 years old according to one of the guidebooks I bought (Metz: Découverte)
and merits just as much of a visit as the towns in Provence I thought. Metz is famous for its merchants, bankers,
and warriors.
The
guide went on to say that Metz tried to profit from its proximity to
Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany in the modern era with its university and
hi-tech companies.
I
felt that the town was more Europe-oriented than Paris, because of the
willingness of its inhabitants to speak foreign languages.
The
people of Metz do remember that the European Union was formed by European steel
manufacturers, who needed to sell cars, trains, buses, planes, ships,
submarines, and weather satellites. All
of these items needed to be sold to decision-makers, who preferred to speak in their
own language.
We
began our tour at the Place de la Comédie and walked to Saint Etienne
Cathedral. The Cathedral was being
restored to its lovely ochre color again.
The construction began in the 13th century on this Cathedral.
The
vaulting inspires vertigo. The city had
not begun restoring the interior, so it had black soot and mold
everywhere. Archaeology involved a lot
of sooty scraping I decided. Mass was in
session, so I did not tour the Cathedral.
Outside
everyone was selling Lilies of the Valley for May 1st. We walked to the Place Saint Louis, which was
originally the Place de la Change. It
was built in the 13th and 14th centuries.
The
Place St. Louis is a series of connected buildings with arcades on the ground
floor. The supporting pillar between
each arch ballooned out a bit. During
the Middle Ages, this was the fief of Jewish and Lombard bankers. The Milanese bankers of Northern Italy were
called “Lombards.”
The
day we visited, old paintings were being displayed along the arcades. We walked around town enjoying the sights
until noon when we went back to the apartment to meet Laurent’s cousins. We set out for a little restaurant outside
town called Chez Yvette.
We
started with Kir – a sweet, white wine made with blackberry liqueur. We ate white asparagus from Hoerdt in
Alsace. Laurent’s cousin told us that
Hoerdt is a small village near Strasbourg, which is the asparagus capital of
Eastern France.
The
asparagus were served with homemade mayonnaise or vinaigrette. White asparagus has a milder taste than its
green cousin, but I like them both. We
drank a dry Alsatian Pinot Noir (Gaston Lorentz 1992) with the asparagus.
Then,
we ate magret de canard, which is the fat line from the breast that comes from
ducks and geese. We drank a Côtes de
Beaune from Burgundy with this dish.
As
the cheese course, we ate Alsace’s only cheese that is also superlative –
Muenster. It has a stinky aroma, but I
like it on pumpernickel bread with caraway seeds. It actually tastes better with beer than wine
I think.
We
drank our coffee on the restaurant terrace and watched the children play on the
swing set that the restaurant had for children outside. I went out and pushed the kids in my heels
and dress and did a few “underdog” pushes much to the delight of the children,
who wanted to swing higher and higher.
I
could have stayed there all night, but we had to go back to Paris.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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