Saturday, July 26, 2008
Despite the proximity of the motorway, we actually had a good sleep, and we were up and on the road by 7 am.
We had a stop at a fascinating service area about an hour later. It was of unusual design, having a 2 peaked roof, and inside, there were no right angles. Everything was tapered and angled, and it was amazing to see the work which had gone into the construction of it. We breakfasted on yummy seedy rolls and cheese like true continentals, before hitting the motorway once more.
We arrived at Metz at around midday, and settled in to our camping car pitch on hardstanding close to a toilet block. Last time we stayed, we arrived much later and got the last pitch, which was actually much nicer, on grass, but it’s only a one night stopover.
We walked in to explore the town – something we didn’t have chance to do the last time – and whilst I returned to get my camera, Annie managed to find a bar to wait in by the river. On the way back to the van, I picked up some interesting-looking bread from a baker’s.
Metz as a city has seen a lot in its history, and there is evidence of this in some of the architecture of the old buildings. However, Annie was on a mission to find a bar which had a TV to watch the last day of the Tour de France. It was like the race wasn’t going on, and although she found a bar with a TV on, they weren’t interested in changing the channel from MTV. Is this what France has come to?
One high point of the walk into town was finding a covered market, and we were able to buy some beautiful fresh salad, unusual local cheeses and wine. Then it was back to the van for a late lunch / tea.
After lunch, we read and chatted and watched the rest of the campsite, particularly the groups of French families with large, double-axle Fendt caravans, tinted windows and washing machines. I don’t know if these people were travellers, but almost every group had their washing machine out, and piped up to the water taps.
