Tour de Grand Est - Stage 3 - Rollers to Metz

We packed up early and took off before breakfast. We don't usually do that but when it is 10 degrees it is too cold to eat breakfast outside. 

Lucky for me, the little town of Vic-sur-Seille had a Boulangerie that also served cappuccino. Now that's a good start to the day.  Off we set, heading west. 

The clouds came and went, the sun warmed us up when it appeared, the hills warmed us up regardless. 

Gorgeous fields of wheat, it was almost Prairie-like, but there were hills. 

We are still trying to figure out the crops as we go by. Someone told us once that this was asparagus, but we can't figure it out, not even when we pick it to give it a good look and smell and taste. More research required. 

Breakfast was made on a bench in a park, under a cherry tree, in Bioncourt. The cherries were too tart to add to our oatmeal. 

So much farm land covered today. We are definitely not in Alsace any more. No more vineyards, no more pretty little houses. But beautiful all the same. 

As we approached this small town, Chambrey, and I looked to the church steeple, and noticed the stork nest...

So cute!

Such good luck for this town. 

Stopping to grab a sandwich on a Saturday can be tricky. Not everything is open, and what is open sells out quickly.  We stopped in Nomeny. 

We had our choice of Tourte Lorraine, Pate Lorrain or...

Or Quiche Lorraine!

We had quiche Lorraine, in Lorraine, in the rain. 

(It wasn't actually raining at this moment, but has been on and off all day.)

We did not end up going to Nancy, instead we came straight to Metz. It is quite a large town with (of course) and impressive 3,000 year history. 

Between groceries and navigation to the campground before the predicted rain, we only caught glimpses of some of Metz's impressive sites. 

We cycled by these buildings (images from Google) 

We really have not explored any of these cool things but the city was pretty and easy for cyclists. 

Metz is at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. We are quite close to both Luxembourg and Germany here, and the city reflects both influences. 

We are settled in at the Metz Municipal Campground, right on the Moselle River.  Our site has a pretty view of a church steeple, who's bells help us keep track of time. We can also hear the base beats of a nearby music festival. Old and new, like the town. 

To be fair, if you look the other way from our picnic table, it is a sea of camper vans. 

Lorraine is a beautiful region, in a very different way than Alsace. 

We really did roll up and down again and again today. 

Today's daises. 

Good night.