September 13: Palzem to Metz
Click on small photos for a full size picture.
It's Friday the 13th. After a bell ringing wake-up, we hit the road. After the black cat crosses our path, the fun starts. The rear hub is not shifting well, causing us to snap the chain on a short steep climb. Later in the day, more shifting problems result in a stop to rebuild the hub transmission thumb shifter.
Today we cross into France, and immediately notice a change in the people. When we stop for a snack at a bakery, the local people ask questions about the trip and the bike.
One weakness of the maps and guidebooks is the lack of good directions for passing through a town. When we hit a larger town, we generally have to go all the way to the town center, then navigate out, when there are often bypass routes. Thionville has a particularly complex transit, and after reaching it's suburb Yutz, we stop for lunch at a McDonalds (which serves us the worst french fries we will encounter on the trip).
France's bike infrastructure is not as developed as Germany's, but the secondary roads are less traveled and better marked.
The entry to Metz is again complex, but we finally make it to the town center/cathedral square. Jayne arranges a hotel room directly across from the cathedral (guaranteeing us a morning wakeup call).
A cheese shop: 
| Cathedrals... older European towns and cities are
typically focused on the church or cathedral. With their ornate
carvings, flying buttresses, and soaring interiors, cathedrals dwarf the
ordinary mortals whose ancestors built them...
Metz: Strasburg: |
