Europe Day 16: Luxembourg and Metz

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Last night it rained, the first significant rain we have had on the trip. The weather has been amazingly good, although we were also hoping for some rain as a counterpoint to California’s drought. Getting rain in the night and having it let up in time to load luggage in the car is about as good as it gets.

Interior of the cathedral at Trier

Leaving Bacharach, we were surprised to see both our car’s GPS and Google Maps lead us not back to the Rhine, but up a winding road in the hills. It turned out to have a few hairpin turns but wasn’t actually that bad. Following some lingering showers en route, our first stop was at Trier, the site of another prominent cathedral and basilica. It also had a prominent city gate known as the Black Gate that dates from Roman times.

From Trier, we drove to Luxembourg, the first visit to that country by Kenna and Celeste and the first since high school for me. As expected, Luxembourg City had all the trappings of a business center: lots of modern buildings, a convention center, and business people in suits. We walked around a bit, got some lunch, and continued back into France to Metz.

The Moselle River at Metz

Kenna and I had visited Metz, the capital of the Lorraine region, in the late 90s and loved it. It is situated along the picturesque Moselle River, has an attractive city center, and few tourists. Oh yes, there’s a great cathedral there, too.

For once, we arrived early enough to explore the city before dinner. We walked through much of the downtown, visited the cathedral, and checked out quite a few potential options for dinner. We settled on La Cloche, a typical small restaurant near the cathedral with a local menu and a very friendly owner. Kenna and Celeste had pasta dishes and I had a Lorraine plate consisting of local sausage and ham, potatoes, and salad. It was a very enjoyable dinner.

This article is part of a series about our recent vacation in Europe. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.