"One Short Day in the Emerald City", or Better Yet One Long Weekend in Metz!

When you decide to move to Europe, you may imagine that the town you are moving to is going will resemble Belle’s village or even Oz--pure magic.  At least that’s what I thought. I thought we were getting a home with quaint cobblestone streets and beautiful old buildings. What I got was Forbach. Don't get me wrong--Forbach has its charms. It's small and there are ruins from an actual castle.  The tower is the only thing still standing. Other than that, it's the armpit of France. I may sound like I’m whining, but there IS a bright side.  Living in the armpit of France gives us more motivation to get out of here and see other cool places!

That's exactly what we did a few weekends ago. We went to Metz, which is just a 45 minute train ride. It was exactly how I pictured a magical little European town. When we walked out of the train station in Metz, we both realized, almost simultaneously, that we had been sent there instead of Forbach. It had the narrow cobblestone streets and old buildings that I imagined! We walked the fifteen minutes to our Airbnb flat. (Side note Airbnb is extremely useful if you don't want to stay in an actual hotel.)  The longer we walked, the better Metz got.  After dropping off our bags, we went exploring.  We walked by little shops and bakeries, and visited the beautiful cathedral. We walked by the river and then stopped in at Subway to eat. I think that's when some of the magic started wear off. As we were getting ready for bed that night, we realized we were in close proximity to a club of some sorts. Let's just say that the music didn't die down until around four in the morning. But the next day our explorations led to a patisserie where the magic came back after I ate a real French eclair! It wasn't that frozen, soggy kind we Americans  serve at wedding receptions. It was authentic, and it was so good! We did start to slowly realize a weekend in Metz is a good idea, but so is a day in Metz. We kind of went to all the touristy places you can go to and then ran out of places to go. I should mention that this was a Saturday and we were staying until Monday morning.

I still think it would have been better to be sent to Metz not only because it’s picturesque and they have the best eclairs. but also because it has the closest LDS branch other than the one in Germany. Neither of us speak German, but Wade does speak French, so in Metz only one of us would be lost during the meeting instead of both of us. So come Sunday, I was pretty happy to get up at 8:00 am and walk thirty minutes to the church building. By this point we hadn't been to church for about two weeks, and I really wanted to go. You may be thinking, “But you just said that you don’t speak French.  Why would you be happy to go to church?”  I know, I know.  I knew I wouldn’t understand the language, but I really missed seeing the smiling happy faces of people who shared my beliefs. I missed the spirit that you feel during sacrament. Although I didn't understand the talks, I was happy to just be there. There were probably only about forty people there including, Wade and me. It was wonderful to meet such dedicated members. A few spoke English, so that was pretty nice too! I’ve just never realized how lucky I am to have grown up in Utah. I've lived within a short walking distance from a church my entire life. Growing up, I lived within a ten minute drive to the Bountiful temple. The closest temple to us now is in Frankfurt, and apparently it's closed for two years for renovations.   

This weekend we stayed in Forbach so we could watch General Conference, and it was awesome! It was kind of hard to get used to watching it at 6pm instead of 10am. It was good though because for once in my life, I didn't fall asleep while watching/playing sudoku! I was pretty proud of myself. Anyway, the talks were just what I needed, and I'm grateful for that.

So a few things to take away from this:  if you're going to France, go ahead and skip Forbach. Nothing exciting here but the Wilkeys!  Definitely go to Metz because it's beautiful! They have yummy eclairs and also church. Airbnbs are awesome, way better than staying in  hotels! The final thing to take away is that I’m finally admitting to loving Utah! Next week I'll tell you folks all about our time in Paris. I realized just now that I skipped over it!

Thanks for reading folks!