Day: August 9, 2014

Thionville (pronounced “tee-own-vee”) is a French village along the Moselle river and just on the border with Belgium. It’s a small village, and because there are no tourist attractions, you’re not likely to find any tourists here. There was some heavy fighting and a lot of casualties during WWII, so there are a lot of historical markers everywhere – but that’s it.

Is it just me, or do other people also enjoy spending time in normal places, without any tourist attractions, where everyday people grow up and spend their lives?

You can find more information about Thionville in Wikipedia – but it’s so boring, even Google won’t return this link on the first page when you search for it!

Metz (pronounced “mess”) is a wonderful old city in the northeast corner of France, in the part of France known as Lorraine. It was here that, in the 8th century, the famous religious chanting of the monks – known as Gregorian Chant  – was developed.

One thing I find so wonderful about this magnificent city is that the only tourists you will find here are French tourists. It’s generally off-the-beaten-path for world travelers, so the only people you’ll see enjoying the sights are likely to be other people from France.

Another thing I find so wonderful are the buses, which I think are among the most unusual buses in the world. They are very long and composed of many cars and they look just like trains, but they move on rubber wheels.

You can find more information about Metz in Wikipedia.