Day 8: Metz, France to Yutz, France

May 7, 2014

Using a tablet rather than a netbook or laptop has brought a big benefit in terms of weight savings and having the ability to charge from the dynamo that we have on one front wheel. However, the onscreen keyboard of a little tablet is really not usable, so we had to enter the world of Bluetooth keyboards. These have universally been a pain, and they are not cheap, either. We have run through maybe six of them, at up to $100 each!

So last night I was typing away, and the keyboard stopped working. This is a common occurrence, and \i have learned all the tricks needed to re-pair, to get the tablet to recognize this keyboard and not the onscreen one, to remap the keys because the keyboard is really for Apple and not Samsung, etc. However, after a couple of hours of getting nowhere, and not getting the blog written, I had to admit that yet another one was dead.

So today started with a trip to the electronics store. We left our stuff at the hotel, and walked to FNAC. Apparently, this the place in Metz for stuff like this.

Its the start of quite a long story for today, and I will try to set it down, But in case it does not quite happen, here is the capsule summary:

We found a keyboard, but it naturally has really goofy key assignments. I am trying to learn quickly how to use it.

Update (three days later): I had the choice of a keyboard made for Apple (though my tablet is Samsung) but that had a chance of fitting in the handlebar bag, or a Samsung keyboard that would not fit. This time I went for the Samsung. It was also cheaper, but at around €70, not cheap. Because this was France, the A and Q key, Z and W, are interchanged, and 13 other miscellaneous keys do not produce the characters printed on them when the compuer thinks the language is English. However, the miracle this time is that all the keys are in the right places. That is, for example, the key labelled Q produces A, but the position is where I expect to find A. So later we bought a magic marker and wrote in all the proper labels on the key tops. These will wear off, but we have lots of marker ink. Before coming coming to Europe, I did not realize the QWERTY was not a universal standard and that keyboards from France and also from Germany have their own arrangement. Not sure about other countries.

The next stop was the indoor market. I have some pornographic food shots - everything was so beautiful

The cathedral also was stunning, as they all seem to be. We have some reportage from there as well.

We waited then until the two hours lunch break at the HSBC (bank) was over, and went in to find that despite all their repeated promises, they did not have my new debit card waiting for me. So that had the potential of leaving us stranded in Europe with no Euros, We spent two hours at HSBC. The final resolution is still up in the air.

Getting out of Metz (late in the day) proved a bit of a challenge. Although we are at the beginning of the Mosel cycle way, it was not well signed and had a number of barricades and detours. Even the Bikeline book says getting out of Metz is a bug. We did achieve it, though, and had a short time of pleasant riding on the canal side path. That's when the rain got really bad.

We decided that it was now so late that a hotel was again in order. One of the reasons is that writing the blog is really hard in a dark tent. So when we got to Thionville we asked about a reasonable place to stay. We got directed across the river to Yutz, but could not find the hotel that the people had been talking about. We were on the sidewalk no doubt looking a bit stunned, when a man spoke to us, having noted our Canadian flags. During the conversation we mentioned that we were looking for a hotel and asked for his recommendation. He thought for a moment and came up with a better option: we could sleep at his place.

So that is how we came to meet Roland and Brigitte and their daughter, Marie. Normally we avoid this Warm Showers type of situation, because we know that we will end up talking all night (and not writing the blog). This time we did it, and not only received of course a 6 hour French practice session, but we learned a lot about this region, and its history. That is the tradeoff. Now we have three new friends, our French is improved, and we know much more about the Lorraine region. But, but, more detail here in the blog will have to wait.

I will try uploading a pile of photos now, but they will be mostly mysterious until the back story is there and some captions are added. That will happen tomorrow (local time, of course). Hopefully not much will happen tomorrow, so the blog will not fall behind. Who am I kidding - there is lots happening every day!

Maybe this is thetype of keyboard I really need
.

This 84 year old spoke to us, first in German then in French in front of a window of WWII history books. He was able to say Ï was there". One of his main points was that the conflict was not the fault of the average person. He blamed it on the leadership.

The discussion became quite animated. We really adored this man, He reminded us of Dodie"s Dad.

The indoor market by the cathedral is hsaped as a narrow U, so on enters at one end and exists at the other

Te foods on display in the market are beautifully made and presentd. Following are some photos of what we saw.

Quiche Lorraine is of course named for this region, Lorraine. I am not sure right now of how this quiche differs from others.

Not only were the fish artistically laid out, but we did not recognize the species of most of them. These were decorated by nature with little orange dots.

Like all cathedrals, the one in Metz features many statues standing around the outside walls, or making up the walls.

The inside space is vast, much of it seemingly unused

This is an ancient Roman bath, used for baptism

The stained glass was installed at different eras and done by various artists. They had a whole book on it on offer. This glass is more modernistic than most, and was done in 1957.

At the nearby tourist information, history is very much alive, as evidenced by these books for sale

Detours on the cycle path are ok, if they are followed up on. Too often a sign like this just means "go away"

Then when you try to follow the sign, you run in to things like this!

They are working on improving the path near Metz. As a first step, how about properly erecting the sign that says they are working on it!

The bike path by the river, but in stormy weather

At each town there were signs showing the area and noting what services were available. The maps, though, did not show exactly where the services were.

Roland and Brigette welcomed us to their home, after Roland vacuumed us off the street.

Roalnd, Marie, and Brigitte. Marie speaks three languages well, The evening naturally formed an extended Frenchpractie session for us.

Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 471 km (292 miles)

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