Nancy/Metz

My landlord worked at Ramstein AFB but actually lived in Nancy, France. He offered his home to us for the weekend, as they were going to be gone. Now this really intrigued me because my oldest brother served his LDS mission in this same city. I couldn't imagine something as neat as to walk the same streets that he may have walked. Even though I took French many years ago in school I was still able to communicate, albeit on a limited basis. I just felt more comfortable in France, I was at ease because I could understand and speak a little french. We followed our GPS to where the apartment was supposed to be, but all I saw were these buildings without a way to get your car inside. I parked briefly and started hitting the remote to open the door to drive through. I walked the street where it was supposed to be and then it happened. These two doors that didn't look like they would be big enough to fit a mini cooper in opened up. Now I was left with the daunting task of driving our behemoth...I mean van through. After some skilled driving that Mario Andretti would be proud of we parked the car and unloaded it. We opened the door to his building and this wide, winding staircase opened up to us. We found his house on the second floor. We unlocked two large wooden doors with intricate details and entered in. Just a very classic french house, wood floors, moldings around the living room, high ceilings and just oozing character. We walked down to the main square and found a nice pizza joint...because nothing says France like pizza. We strolled in the square and just took in all of the sights and sounds. I wish every city, big or small, in America had a square to gather in, it just makes the city so homey. I guess I like the idea of centralized entertainment. The next day we walked to a nice park/zoo area and took a bunch a pictures and just enjoyed the day. Then we went back to the town square that evening for dinner and a laser light show that told the history of the town and the area. The place was packed. We walked home late after the laser light show and never felt a sense of danger. It is nice to be out at night and feel relatively safe. Next we went to Metz, France. We loved this little town. It had this huge catholic cathedral. Every town not only has a town square but every one has a catholic cathedral, some huge, some small, some very ornate, some plain but all very interesting. Metz had a church with the most stained glass in all of France, as well as the oldest church in France. Not too bad for a tiny town in France. Metz had a little canal that flowed through it which made it very pretty. I enjoyed visiting the Knights Templar building which wasn't a church, but a building that the knights templar used as a means of congregating in. Soon this excursion had to come to an end and we needed to get home...until our next one.