Metz; Friday, 02 May, 2025

I’d stayed overnight at a hotel on the Bath Road, but it still meant I was catching the, admittedly last, night bus down into the terminal. This trip also marked the start of the 12 month countdown to me losing status with British Airways after they decided they didn’t want anyone other than the highest of high end corporate customers being members, so I’d decided that every chance I’d have I would rinse my status at the maximum cost to BA – so breakfast was going to be with Cathay Pacific before also a coffee and croissant with BA.

The flight boarded on time and with 10 minutes to spare we were all closed up and ready to go, and then we just sat there. It turned out that with poor timing an Emirated A380 had been sent to pull onto the stand next to us, which meant we couldn’t start our pushback until it was pulled up, so in the end it took nearly 20 minutes before we were finally pushing back and heading out towards Luxembourg.

A smooth and quick journey across to Luxembourg and through the airport, confirming to the border guard that I was intending on leaving their very nice country within the hour. I headed out of the terminal to the bus stop, only to find that the previously very frequent service to the central station had been dramatically reduced. A quick look back at the terminal building revealed why – the tramline had been extended, and that was now the main route it.

Having not immediately spotted it meant that I’d let two trams go by the time I finally set off, and that meant I was now down to a 5-minute connection at the station onto the next train to Metz. The following two services were showing as cancelled, so it would either be a quick change, or an hour wait. In the end, helped by the fact that Luxembourg has free public transport, including up to the border on cross-border services provided by SNCF, I did make it, though it left me having to purchase a ticket on the SNCF app in the 10-minute window whilst we were still in Luxembourg – not that anyone actually did a ticket check.

We arrived into Metz on time and I walked the kilometre or so into the centre of the city and my hotel, where I was able to check in straight away, despite it being only 13:00, and drop my stuff off before I walked the short distance up the road to the central Place d’Armes home to the Town Hall, Tourist Office and the city’s Cathedral. I spent a bit to time wandering around the square before heading into the Cathedral for a look around that. On exiting the cathedral the Petit Train, because this is France and every city appears to be legally required to have one, was outside ready for it’s next tour – but it turned out it was already full a good 10 minutes before it was due to depart, so instead I made a check on the time of a later one and then went for a wander.

As I was feeling a bit peckish – Dim Sum breakfast at 07:00 had been some time ago – I headed into the very pretty covered market for a look around and a hope that I could come across something for lunch, which I was able to – a small café selling sandwiches – which I quickly consumed on a bench in the shade just outside the market. From there I had a wander around the surrounding area, heading down to the Moselle River and having a walk around the area by the city’s theatre and opera house that both sit on a small island in the river. After spending a bit of time there I headed back up to the cathedral just in time for the previous Petit Train tours arrival at the end of it’s tour so I was able to grab a seat for the next tour.

It turned out I was right to get there as early as I did as this tour also left completely full leaving some people behind. The tour itself takes in most of the major sites in the city, with access into areas that are only accessible for pedestrians or public transport, so you do get to see much of the city, and get a good understanding of where everything is in relation to everything else. It also coincided with a short but pretty hefty shower that passed through, which meant I was able to stay dry.

After the tour I had a bit more of a wander around the city centre before heading over to a supermarket to pick up items for an evening meal as many of the restaurants already had long queues outside and then heading back to the hotel to relax.

With the sun finally set and the last of the light gone, at this time of year well after 21:00 in Metz, I headed back out to take some photos of the city at night, first heading over towards the Place de la République and the Jardin de l'esplanade. From there I headed down to the Moyen-Pont to take in the views of the Moselle island and cathedral on the hill above it at night, before heading back through the Place d’Armes and my hotel for a well earned sleep.