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Any Port in a Storm :: Compass Points :: Europe :: France :: Metz
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AuthorTopic: Metz (Read 3,518 times)
lagatta
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Metz
« Thread Started on Mar 23, 2010, 6:17pm »		[Quote]
The Guardian has an interesting little travel article about Metz, in Lorraine, northeastern France (Metz and Nancy are the major cities in the region our friend K2's maternal side hails from) where the new Centre Papineau-Metz http://www.centrepompidou-metz.fr/ will be opening in May.

I hope a stampede of Guardian readers won't raise the very reasonable prices in this article too much! http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/ma....france?page=all
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kerouac2
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Re: Metz
« Reply #1 on Mar 23, 2010, 6:28pm »		[Quote]
Metz is indeed my second "home city." Impossible to pass through town without eating a saucisse grillée at a Steinhoff stand.


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Il s’agit d’une gamme de sandwichs allant de la saucisse blanche grillée avec un zest de moutarde forte dans un morceau de baguette, jusqu’à l’américain avec sa viande hachée et ses frites. Les sandwichs en question sont vendus dans des petites boutiques parsemées un peu partout dans Metz et quelques villes aux alentours.

Seul l’estomac des Mosellans serait il capable de les ingérer ?

En fait il s’avère que n’importe qui peut manger des sandwichs Steinhoff. Il suffit juste d’avoir faim et l’estomac vide. Pour les initiés on parlera de “Stein” à la place de Steinhoff.
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bixaorellana
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Re: Metz
« Reply #2 on Mar 25, 2010, 7:20pm »		[Quote]
When I hear "Metz" or "Nancy", I inevitably think of WWI. So many of us from the US and Canada had grandfathers or great-grandfathers who entered or left France from the port of Brest.

So, reading the above, I went looking for information and found these photos of Metz, all circa 1919. Would anyone have contemporary pictures taken of the same spots?

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Le Pont Moreau

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Vue General

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Canal de la Moselle

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Le Pont de la Prefecture


source: http://www.artbyrobnevitte.com/Vintage-Photo.php
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kerouac2
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Re: Metz
« Reply #3 on Apr 26, 2010, 6:33pm »		[Quote]
Metz has not changed much, Bixa. I will try to find some photos in my archives, but I will also take some new pictures before the end of the year.

In the meantime....

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gertie
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Re: Metz
« Reply #4 on Apr 27, 2010, 12:39pm »		[Quote]
That is a pretty cool building, and only 80 min de Paris? I think I may have a new day trip in mind for my next trip. :)
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lagatta
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Re: Metz
« Reply #5 on Apr 27, 2010, 1:12pm »		[Quote]
Gertie, the TGV trains can be expensive, but you can find good fares if you reserve well ahead of time. Kerouac has already posted on the TGV Est that will eventually be a fast link between France and Germany.
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kerouac2
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Re: Metz
« Reply #6 on Apr 27, 2010, 1:55pm »		[Quote]
I was playing with the SNCF booking site (www.voyages-sncf.com) just to get examples of fares, and the variations are truly remarkable.

For example, if you wanted to go to Metz tomorrow on a day trip (leaving around 8am and returning around 6pm), it would cost 53.30€ + 53.30€ for the cheapest fares available. But I should mention that we have school holidays in the Paris region at the moment, and that has an effect on the fares.

Choosing a day trip one month later, it is 28.00€ for one direction and 58.80€ to come back. Then I looked and saw that it was a Friday afternoon. Normal!

If you want to spend the night and leave the next day, it is 58.80€ to leave Saturday morning from Metz but only 28€ if you wait to leave until the afternoon...

I often plan my trips around the train tickets I can get (the lowest price is 15€) and organize the rest once I have my transportation. The more money you save on the train tickets, the more you can splurge on other things.
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kerouac2
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Re: Metz
« Reply #7 on Jun 15, 2010, 7:39pm »		[Quote]
The first thing that most people see when arriving in Metz is the train station, because the TGV or the ICE are the most convenient ways to get there from Paris or Frankfurt. The station was built between 1905-1908 by the Berlin architect Jürgen Kröger as Metz was at that time part of the Gerrman Empire (since 1870). The popular Prussian style was not really known for its lightness.

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The buildings across from the train station, such as the main post office, are just as massive.

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In fact, the entire "imperial district" around the train station has a style and color that one never forgets.

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« Last Edit: Jun 15, 2010, 9:31pm by kerouac2 »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
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Re: Metz
« Reply #8 on Jun 15, 2010, 7:46pm »		[Quote]
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Re: Metz
« Reply #9 on Jun 15, 2010, 9:47pm »		[Quote]
When I was little, esplanades such as this one (formerly Place de la Gare and now Place Charles de Gaulle) were hideous parking lots. That has all changed in just about every city in France in the last 20 years.

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The train station water tower is nicer than most.

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Normally the first place to go from the train station would be the Centre Pompidou right behind it, but I've already made my report about it so we are going to the cathedral instead.

There is a lovely view of the cathedral from the Pompidou Center anyway.

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First we must pass the Porte Serpenoise to get there. It is the symbol of Metz and the view that you will see the most often on post cards along with the train station and the cathedral... and soon the Centre Pompidou.

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It used to be drowning in ivy but no more.
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lagatta
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Re: Metz
« Reply #10 on Jun 15, 2010, 11:10pm »		[Quote]
Now the obvious question about this impressive place: other than reclaiming the historic centre from postwar car mania, this town has experienced significant destruction in both World Wars. To what extent has all of this beeen rebuilt?
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Re: Metz
« Reply #11 on Jun 16, 2010, 3:53am »		[Quote]

Mar 25, 2010, 7:20pm, bixaorellana wrote:
When I hear "Metz" or "Nancy", I inevitably think of WWI. So many of us from the US and Canada had grandfathers or great-grandfathers who entered or left France from the port of Brest.


For French and Germans it goes back even further to the Franco- German War of 1870/71.

I don't think I've been to Metz but I've been to Sedan twice.
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bixaorellana
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Re: Metz
« Reply #12 on Jun 16, 2010, 4:02am »		[Quote]
The colors and that line of extravagantly differing facades made me goggle-eyed, especially after the massive Germanic fairy-tale aspect of so much shown previously. The train station looks as though some city father yelled, "Bring me an architect who can do BIG -- we need BIG!" So they found someone who'd previously only designed churches.

Whether or not the various styles are ones particular cup of tea, the consistent desire to create beauty shines through in every picture.

I want to echo LaGatta's question above, especially as you've previously shown us cities that had to wait years to be rebuilt.
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Re: Metz
« Reply #13 on Jun 16, 2010, 5:19am »		[Quote]
Well, regarding war damage, when I was little all of the bridges were still temporary pontoon bridges built by the American army after winning the Battle of Metz (27 August-13 December 1944). Naturally, all of the railways tracks were bombed by the Americans but the center of the city itself was pretty much spared, because since Metz was a fortified city, the forts all surrounded the city rather than being inside it.
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Re: Metz
« Reply #14 on Jun 16, 2010, 5:38am »		[Quote]
The cathedral of Metz, Saint Etienne, is built of the same stone as the rest of the city, of course. It was built from 1220 to 1520. They used to take their time with this sort of stuff. It is the French cathedral with the largest expanse of windows -- 6500m².

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It is famous for having a number of stained glass windows by Marc Chagall dating from 1963, as part of the post WW2 program of replacing stained glass destroyed in the war

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no rose windows in the transcept here!
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some windows might wait for stained glass for another hundred years
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Re: Metz
« Reply #15 on Jun 16, 2010, 5:47am »		[Quote]
That's enough religion for now. Time to pop into the covered market next door.

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mist pipes to keep the roquette fresh!
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I have rarely seen such a wide variety of apples for sale on the same stand.
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Many former military buildings have been converted to other uses. The Arsenal is the main municipal theatre.

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bixaorellana
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Re: Metz
« Reply #16 on Jun 16, 2010, 5:56am »		[Quote]
Are we all going to keep pretending we don't see that thing smushed up against the side of the cathedral? What the heck is that?

And now to reveal what a philistine I really am -- I hate those self-consciously modern statues. It looks like all those dreary banners churches hang to show how with-it they are. (not a Chagall fan, either -- clear glass would have looked nicer)

Do you by any chance have a closer view of that magnificent triptych? It's in the fifth photo from the bottom, Reply #14.
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Re: Metz
« Reply #17 on Jun 16, 2010, 7:13am »		[Quote]
reply 14, 1st picture - that's a bit of a pathetic clock isn't it? Not exactly a statement, more like and apology. Maybe they are intimating that time isn't important to Him up there.
Anyway, the covered market shots. Any idea if it's always been one? Or like the arsenal the usage has changed? I ask because the roof is relatively new(?).
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Re: Metz
« Reply #18 on Jun 16, 2010, 7:19am »		[Quote]
Actually, the covered market was originally built as the bishop's palace in 1785. Wrong time to build a bishop's palace with the revolution coming in 1789! I'm sure the roof is not very old. Probably the building was burned or bombed a number of times in the last two centuries.
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Re: Metz
« Reply #19 on Jun 16, 2010, 7:39am »		[Quote]
Bixa, I don't know what smushed thing you are talking about. Surely not the buses?
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Re: Metz
« Reply #20 on Jun 16, 2010, 5:16pm »		[Quote]

Jun 16, 2010, 5:56am, bixaorellana wrote:

Do you by any chance have a closer view of that magnificent triptych? It's in the fifth photo from the bottom, Reply #14.


Nope, those are so common that I had no interest in it.

Anyway, moving along, rue Serpenoise is the main shopping street of Metz and the principal part starts here. The column is a recent addition only about 10 years old, and I think it was mostly put there to make drivers realize that their cars were no longer welcome on that street (pedestrians still share the street with buses). However, it is the transfomation of the Virgin Megastore that impressed me. When I was a child, it was a Monoprix with a white fiberglas façade. It was only when they gutted the building and took the covering off that I saw it was really built out of the traditional Metz sandstone.

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Another transformation on the street was when the Palace Cinéma became a C&A store.

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As mentioned in the Guardian article that Lagatta posted, Place Saint Jacques is the place to stop and have a drink when the weather is nice.

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Although, it is less chic, I prefer Place Saint Louis because it has funky arcades with mysterious cellars.

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And as I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, one of the Steinhoff outlets is the place to go to get an authentic Metz sandwich.

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Of course, there are always other possibilities.

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The old part of Metz has no paucity of funky streets.

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Re: Metz
« Reply #21 on Jun 17, 2010, 4:58am »		[Quote]
The city prides itself on its walkability, which is aided by its numerous waterfront promenades, since several fingers of the Moselle stream through the city.

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Re: Metz
« Reply #22 on Jun 17, 2010, 5:19am »		[Quote]
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Embedded in the sidewalks are directional arrows for various tourist walks.

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There is a huge esplanade in the center of the city which was mostly unphotographable because they were digging up an underground parking lot that they have changed their mind about (it was about 25 years old). This may have something to do with the new administration of the city, which elected a socialist mayor last year for the first time since... ever (meaning since mayors were elected by universal suffrage in 1848).

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thanking the French soldiers for liberating Metz from German rule in 1918
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I wandered into a church which has a very rare item for France. In fact, I cannot think of a single other church in France that has pews instead of chairs.

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As a little boy, I accompanied my grandfather into this branch of the Banque de France a number of times. As mayor of his village, he kept the municipal funds safe here.

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Re: Metz
« Reply #23 on Jun 17, 2010, 5:27am »		[Quote]
Just a few steps from downtown, nature starts taking over along the Moselle. Even though this is an extremely incomplete report on the sights of Metz, it was time for me to move on.

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Re: Metz
« Reply #24 on Jun 17, 2010, 7:09pm »		[Quote]
Fantastic report K2, thanks for sharing it.
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Re: Metz
« Reply #25 on Jun 18, 2010, 1:57am »		[Quote]
So much beauty of all kinds there, this was a lovely visit you gave us.

Pictures # 3, 4, & 5 of Reply #21 appear to show the weir for what certainly seems to be a mill in the middle of pic 3, right side of pic 4. And, it's right in town! Do you know if it's operational or what it's use might be now?
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Re: Metz
« Reply #26 on Jun 18, 2010, 4:51am »		[Quote]
Well, it looks like the wheel is missing from the mill house.
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Re: Metz
« Reply #27 on Jun 18, 2010, 5:14am »		[Quote]
Well, it's certainly a beautiful city. Do you know what/why/how the cellars are used? That's really out of the ordinary. All of your photos are outstanding. The 2nd one in #23, of the swan, is a real beauty.
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Re: Metz
« Reply #28 on Jun 18, 2010, 5:21am »		[Quote]
Swans will swim to anyone along the edge of the water. "You have brought us something to eat or we may attack you!"

I imagine that those cellars are still the storage cellars of many of the commercial establishments, although the outside access has clearly been abandoned or blocked off in some cases.
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Re: Metz
« Reply #29 on Jun 19, 2010, 4:30pm »		[Quote]
Hmm, I have never been to Metz and must admit that I don't really feel like going there seeing these photos. Not that they aren't good, they do give a clear idea of the place -- but all that massive stonework, those heavy buildings! Linked to what I assume is a rather shitty climate -- nope -- not for me. I did like the cathedral though.
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