Metz and Verdun

We decided not to go north to Germany or Luxemburg as we were running out of time and energy. We decided to head west to Paris very slowly. We stopped at Metz, a vibrant little city, beautiful in its autumn colours. It has 34m square of park land per capita and they are very proud of it! 

Cait and Andrew enjoying the interactive park in the heart of Metz. they had about 6 gardeners putting in new plants for the winter and tidying up the fallen leaves.





Swans landing on the Moselle River at the base of a 16th centuary church




walking through cobbled streets in Metz near the uni



After leaving Metz we made our way slowly west and stopped overnight at Verdun. Verdun is a very quiet almost depressing place, especially compared to Metz. On the outskirts of Verdun are numerous WWI memorials. They are several grave yards with rows and rows of crosses marking fallen soldiers.



Moving tribute to the fallen





All thats left of a once quiet little village. The French government gave the land to the forestry dept to re-vegetate because the surving locals couldn't rebuild the town or farm the land. There were about 5 villages that were completely destroyed and all thats left are holes with their surrounding mounds that bombs left. Very moving and devestating.