“Boy, those French! They have a different word for everything.” Steve Martin on his first trip to France

I was a little intimidated about France before we got here, I was afraid that my clothes weren’t dressy enough – and that will probably be the case in Paris, although I did bring a blue blazer – but, in Metz, my clothes fit right in (which makes my complete lack of French even more troublesome). Metz has a long history, more than 3,000 years – I read – and it was a regional center even before it was conquered by Julius Caesar in 52 BC. The center is free of cars so it is a great place to hang out and have a leisurely lunch. Strangely enough, the oldest parts of the city are not car free nor is the area next to the Cathedral which is the local big draw. The stained glass windows, especially a modern set done by Marc Chagall, get the most attention but I was drawn to the modern art that is spread around the interior of the building.  Across a busy street from the Cathedral is a food market comprised of small vendors where the food is displayed like works of art. The Metz area is known for its cheese and charcuterie; their displays were huge – the cheese case, below, is about 1/4 of what was available – but so were the seafood displays. The produce, while it looked good, was nowhere near as varied as our local Farmer’s Market.    So far everywhere we have eaten has been great, but not noticeably better than the Bay Area. The may be because we have not been to Paris, yet, and we have not eaten at any two or three-star restaurants, but I think it is also because the Bay Area is a world-class food area. On the other hand, the old buildings and public art beat the Bay Area, hands down. The old buildings were not a surprise but the public art is.  Speaking of public art, on the way out of town, we stopped at the Centre Pompidou-Metz. I was not knocked out by the architecture which, of course, was designed by an out of town architect, in this case, ‎Shigeru Ban, a Japanese architect. Inside, however, was a suburb show on early twentieth-century artist couples who influenced each other, such as Ray and Charles Eames, and Georgia O’Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz. Then it is on to Germany and The Cousins.