Why You Should Van Life in Metz – France

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Join us as we explore the beautiful city of Metz, France. From stunning Gothic architecture to charming French cafes, this hidden gem in northeastern France has so much to offer. Whether you’re visiting Metz as part of a road trip, van life adventure, or a quick city break, this vlog is packed with tips, sightseeing spots, and local food experiences.

What we cover in this vlog:

Cycling into Metz on our e-bikes, Bert & Ernie

Visiting the Imperial Quarter and learning about Metz’s unique Franco-German history

A walk through Avenue Foch and the incredible Metz train station (Gare de Metz) designed like a German castle

Coffee & lunch at a beautiful Parisian-style cafe

Exploring the breathtaking Metz Cathedral (Saint-Stephen), known as “God’s Lantern” for its world-famous stained glass windows

Touring the Marché Couvert (Covered Market) for local food and a taste of Quiche Lorraine

Scenic bike ride along the Moselle River, spotting charming houseboats and lush landscapes

Realities of van life — from water shortages to campsite life

Metz surprised us with its rich history, beautiful streets, amazing architecture, and relaxed vibe — definitely worth a stopover!

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I’m Lee. And I’m Nick. And we are the Lodge Guys. Having recently upgraded our camper van to a motor home, we’re heading into Europe for the summer. Join us on this latest series where we hit the road in search of breathtaking views, quirky stops, and hidden gems. [Music] Get up. Wakey wakey. Get up. We have a problem. The toilet’s got a light on, which means it’s full. You filled it and it’s your turn. Yeah. We also have another problem. We’ve run out of water. Well, we knew that would happen. How many showers did we get out of it then? Six, I think. No, six each. Yeah. So, that’s maybe 12 showers out of a 10 liter tank. I think we actually got 10. Most of it’s in the toilet. I’ve just tried to fill the kettle and it started glugging and the water pump won’t shut off, which means the tank’s empty. So, we need to refill that today. So, we have no water on board to do the washing up apart from a little dribble in the sink. But, um there’s only two cups to wash up. Well, that’s true. And there’s a there’s a um a water point just here to fill a 5 liter bag. So, um that’s a full test of the tank as actually showed. I bet this thing still shows it’s got some in. Yep. Still shows it’s like second empty, but the pump’s glugging and it won’t shut the pump off. So, um it’s empty. So, we need to fill that when we go today. But, we’re going to do it anyway. We are going to a campsite that has uh water and hookup. So, we’ll probably put about 50 L in it, something like that. So, we’re just not dragging it around. Just put the kettle on and um today we’re packing up and heading out. We’re heading towards Mets. Bye Felicia. I’m off to shower blocks. Are they good showers? Uh they’re all right. Yeah. All right. It’s like an electronic button. You’ll figure it out. [Music] hookup cable, leveling ramps, plants, blinds, and skylights all done. Just doing our check before we leave. Fresh water we need to fill, gray water we need to do, toilet we need to empty, rubbish off done, and outdoor lockers is done. Right, we’ve filled the water. put about 70 liters in, empty the toilet, empty the gray waste, and just give the van a rinse. And I’ve just squeegeed it. Lee’s going to use the um 360 trailer vision reversing cameras for the first time. See how he does reversing it. So um just waiting for him now. There’s not much room there. He’s going to kill a couple of cyclists. Never mind. So, our red thing on the back is actually where the bike rack is. Done it. Yep. Perfect. I just wasn’t sure about the bike rack, but now I know it’s the red guide. The red guide is the end of the bike when it’s unfolded. And I have actually got a um a new configuration file to put on it that rotates the image when you’re indicating. So, if you indicate, it’s currently showing it horizontal there. I’ve got it so it shows it vertical so it looks like it would look out the um from your perspective. Right, let’s Right. We’re ready. Y we’re on our way and we are going to a city in France called Met M T Zed. It’s somewhere halfway in between where we actually want to go, which is a 4-hour drive. We didn’t fancy a 4-hour drive, so we asked Google for somewhere in between that’ be a good stop over. So, it’s 2 hours and 6 minutes to Meds. It looks like a really beautiful city with like um what’s that quarter? Everything we hate an imperial quarter cathedral and it does actually look like a really beautiful uh city to explore. There’s an old quarter that looks imperial kind of look. So we’ll be exploring that probably tomorrow. Um we’re just going to get to the um campsite today and then we might use the bikes to bike into the city. So, we will see a little bit and pick up the package that we’ve that has already been delivered to the Amazon locker. Where we’re actually going to go in the end is spayer. We’re going to a transport museum that has a 747 jumbo jet on on the top of the roof which you can get onto. So, this Met Metz is in the middle. So, we’re looking forward to getting there, getting on the campsite, and then going exploring. We’ve just left Epony. Yes. Well, champagne. Goodbye. [Music] line. I’ been going 5 minutes. Might just be a ticket one. Tolds already. Well, we’re getting on, so it’s probably going to be a ticket one actually. Yeah, it is. Yeah. You can always use the top one. Got it. I didn’t see that top one. It’s time for a pea break. Berry croissant and a cavi. A nice little croc masha. What’s that? Sundried tomato. Does it look good? Yeah, but they’ve got one minute warmed up in middle. Oh, it’s not cold and cold. So, we got a cafe latte. Clap cold. It took a margin to 1 minute. I’m not going back. That was a nice quick coffee stop and we are about an hour away or 45 minutes away or so from our park up. Right. Dilemma. Do we take the van directly to the locker to pick up the stuff or do we go to the campsite and bike in? Bike in because it was something to do. Nice. Us chest mount for the first time as well with the uh the Ace Pro. Right, let’s go. 48 minutes. Not a bad little garage that did have a Starbucks, but it also had a nice coffee shop as well as well as the Starbucks. So we um got the nice crochet. Well, to be fair, it wasn’t a nice crochure. It was a shimmy croachure, actually. But the cafe coffee was nice. It would have been nice. I actually warmed it up, but one person put it on and forgot to start it. The second person took it out as if she as if it had gone off. So when it came out, it was like a lukewarm fart in your pants. And here is the other side of the toll. 15, I reckon. 15. Trying to get a bit closer, but I know it’s like the ticket window. Ticket goes in here. 1760 almost. I’m sure there’s a mosquito out here. Go, go, go. That’s a big combined harvester. Huge one. When you say that, it makes me sing that song in my head. What song? I am a combined harvester. Whatever it is. Many. Well, you’re from 1976. That’s why you’re from 1970s. That’s why you remember it’s not 70 80s. It’s not like that. Three donkeys and three horses. Two girls. And just around the corner, a pizza machine. Let’s stop. No. And this is what a lot of French little towns look like as you’re going through them. So, this town is called Mars Lour. In 300 m, turn right at D952. There’s usually in Siesta. Yeah, I was going to say when you come to a French town at this time of day, it always looks like it’s an abandoned town. To be fair, it’s like that time. They open for like an hour a day. Yeah, but everything’s shut down. Take the next right onto Rudy D952. And we’re off to Ruda Nancy. Hello. Where is everyone? Where do they all go at this time on a day? Only if they’re siestas, there might all be a sleeping bed. Maybe it’s just abandoned. No, it’s not. It’s just This is how it is in certain French towns. So, to be fair, it’s almost every French town we’ve been in ever. If there’s ever office out there, they must just shut their um shutters and go and have a nap. Sounds good to me to be fair. So, we are 11 minutes away from our park up. I expected it to be more sort of lively. Yeah. where we are. We’re about 15 of these little cars here. Fiat Topalino. There’s lots of them in um this part of France. Actually, I’ve seen a lot. Um so, uh we may get to see somebody. Oh, here’s a car. Hi. A car. A car. A sign of life passing through though. Just passing over the Mazelle River, which was actually Yeah. very industrialized in the 80s and ’90s. bottom of industry and now it’s more holiday resorts and scenic. You know your stuff. You must tell me where you get it from. Well, just read it in books now. Yeah. Right. And uh Ooh, are they uh getting a bit close to each other. Yeah. Apparently, you get a lot of barges still coming backwards and forwards, which can be noisy. Oh, he’s mounting pavement. Oh, yes. They got loads of room. I can use the cameras to see where um how close he is. Yes, our uh 360 cameras. What I’ll do is I’ll just street. Oh, bloody hell. Turn left onto Ruda Mets D657. Skimmed us there. 4 minutes away from our campsite. Here we are. Camping Laakis and they’ve got a restaurant bar Terasa. Perfect on there as well. And you can do some like in 200 m turn left onto Velor Charles Le and there is a lot. That’s not where we are though. We don’t want this one. Free hell. There’s a lot of people in there. Just a random field. Is that maybe we could have got there for free? Well, probably instead of paying down here. Not paid yet. Pull over. Let’s have a look on part for nights. Just had a look on part for nights. I couldn’t find what that other place was. Unless it’s all connected. Well, there are they are there. Oh, it’s probably the same place then. Well, you can get down there. Well, no, you can’t actually. Unless Yeah, I bet it goes all the way around. So anyway, we’ll see when we get there. Checked in. I think this is a separate place to the other place, but Ninja just said, “Well, we do actually need Oh, that’s a strange place to put your bike.” Yes. Very strange. Please move your bike. Thank you very much. Um, as Nick said, we do need air con cuz it’s going to be very hot for it. We We do need it. It’s going to be very um hot for the next two days. Thank you for moving your bike. So, uh, so we got to go past that building. Yeah. So, why can’t we have anything here? Cuz this is camping and caravans. Okay. So, anything past this building, we can have any free spot. Doesn’t look super full, does it? No, not really. That electric looks a bit cranky and old. So, what is this? What is this? So, there’s a restaurant in here and the shower block says that the toilet dumping station’s not working today. So, it’s a good job really because we’ve dumped all ours cuz the was spoken. So, we can have any of this. Oh, it’s all under trees. Yeah, we don’t want any of these. We’re on the site. It’s taken us a while to find the best place for Starink. Uh Starink Min is a lot more um needy than the old Starink quarts. We could just park anywhere with old Starink and as long as we had clear up, it always worked fine. But Star Mini um is as I say a bit more temperamental and we’ve had to find this open area to get great signal which we have now and this is our spot. So there’s a space there and this is our space and there were some spaces there which were ideal but the power cable didn’t meet it meet it length. It’s picking up that tree to the left, but it only needs to get the signal from northeast. So, just the best signal, best thing to do is to just do a speed test. But the problem with Starling, you’re surrounded by trees. We’re trying to get a gap to the trees. Obviously, we need Starink just to upload vlogs and back up and all sorts of stuff like that and watch TV. To be fair, we’ve not watched that much TV things. I can live with that. 90 meg. Yeah. Don’t I look a Bonnie Badger with me helmet on? What do I look like? What do you look like? Like I’ve been doing it SNM gear. I’ll come out here then. Let’s have a look. Wait a minute. I’m still trying to fasten it on cuz Nick’s putting his um strap on chest mount on so we can get some shots on Bur and Ernie, which we’re going to use properly for the first time. Yeah, it’s quite late already. It’s already 4:00, but we’re going to go into this Amazon locker. It’s about a 45 minute um trip. I think it’s baking what 28 degrees. It’s about 30° in there at the moment. So, we’re going to go into town of Met. We’re not going to look around there much today. That’ll probably be tomorrow or later in this vlog, but we’re just going to go and get the Amazon order that’s been delivered. We’re not desperate for out like that, but while we’ve got some time, we might as well go. We’ve got a salad for tonight’s tea. Um, but I can imagine we’ll stop somewhere. You never know if we see somewhere nice. We’ve got it right in there and I can’t get to it. Um, so ready. [Music] [Applause] We’re 700 m away from the Amazon locker. just needs to get off the bike for a bit because I’m not used to being on a bike and my ass is killing. Um, so I wanted to show you this really what we’re just passing out. I don’t know what it is. There seems to be like a play area there. So maybe it’s a school. Don’t know. But it will just beautiful looking building that I wanted to show you. And then just stop in this uh shade here and some lovely looking houses here. Some kind of garden as well cuz there’s notices around. How beautiful. So how long how far to go? Just a quick selfie. Hold on. 700 m. Yeah. Hold on. Y. [Music] [Applause] [Music] It’s got us again. Nick’s just got to uh work out how to get some internet cuz we’ve got no internet. But uh they’ve done well and we’re on this street. I thought it would be sort of more in a town so we could maybe go to a Look at that house. It’s like something out of uh an American uh film. Got it. Yep. Right. I’m going to bin the packaging. Put this in your bag and then we’ll go to a cafe. Find a cafe on your app. There you go. That’s all it was. [Music] So, we’re on our way back. We got a drink from that garage where the Amazon locker were rather than go to a cafe. But we had to just stop to show you this behind us. Look at that. What did I say? It’s you. Nick said it looks like the hunchback like the NRA. That is a hunchback. I said it looks like NAR damback. It’s a hunchback. It said NRAAM. I just Googled it and it says it’s called Hold on. It’s not actually NRAAM. It’s called NRAAM. Glizzy NRAAM de Montgi Blesmet built by the architect Conrad Wayne and inaugurated in 1894. And it distinct architectural features, round towers, arch windows, and a prominent dome. Lovely, but it looks nice. [Music] Back at the van. Successful test of um Bur and Ernie. My bike had a little bit of a squeak. So back on. Yeah, Nick’s just fixed that. Um so this is where we are. I’ve not really shown you yet. We are here on this site. Starink straight up in the sky. Starlink is going up there and giving us a good signal. And this is the rest of the site. We are just going to go down to the pub which is on site which pub restaurant. A pub and restaurant. We may even though we’ve got some salad, we may eat there cuz it’s a bit late now actually and I’m uh a little bit pecky. Sustenance. Sustenance. Yeah. A bit of protein. I’m sick of having tomatoes. You know them tomatoes are beautiful though to be fair. But four nights in a row is a bit much. Four nights me. I’ve got two more. We had them for two nights. So people have got their uh temperature chairs out and tables. Well, it is now. It’s about 7:00 at night, though. Yeah, to be fair, it wasn’t like yesterday when it was actually sitting. No, it’s been fine today. Um, so just showing you around as we go. Um, football field over there. This is the um shower blocks and what have you. So, that’s where you wash your pots. Ping pong table. Ping pong table. It’s where you get rid of your gray waste. Oh, this is the I can hear people talking. That’s obviously where you get ready for your poo. Smells like chips. No, I could smell uh I can smell chips. Yeah, but also I could smell this. This is where caravans go. Although there is some um motor homes as well. And then here is ah it’s not exactly a restaurant. It’s a uh it’s like a snack bar. Not quite the restaurant you was making out. Not that bothered cuz it looks very nice food. She didn’t actually say restaurant. No, you said restaurant. She said no. She did say restaurant actually. She said everything freshly made. But she’s not lying, is she? Well, no. They all they all working very hard in there. It’s It’s a very posh burger bar. I would rather be outside than inside. Have you eaten the burgers over there? You get a lot of cheese. I know. You get a ton of chips. I’m going to start chips. Thicker than my finger. Yeah. So, uh Nick’s got a uh well reserve beer. I’ve got a perent 6 and 12%. Is it good? Been dancing back. Was it super G? [Music] I’ll show you what the food is when it arrives. Oh, you going to try that? That’s delicious. Just a sip, mind. Just a sip, mind. Very nice. Very fruity. It’s not fruity. I think it’s fruity. It’s IPA. I think it’s fruity. There’s my salad, which was actually a euro more than Nick’s giant plate of chips. Hope you enjoy. Got to be good sometimes, haven’t we? Yeah, we haven’t for last two nights. We’ve just done 30 km. I know, but you’re going to waste away. I’m a healthy mesh. Nick just said something controversial. He said that burger could have been better than Inn and Out. I think it was better than not on a level. Oh, pissed on pissed on Cold. It was just it were like a Big Mac and a hamburger with like gerkins and like a burger mayo and I just everything was just perfect and it looked like a perfect burger as well. What’s this? He’s had a salad and he’s just said I’m starving. So he’s gone back and ordered a full meal. I’ve gone chicken nugget and chips. Six nuggets and fries and shower. Yeah, but these chicken nuggets are massive. I think they’re massive. €350 for a You went for a per water and came out of the wine. It’s going off water. Thank you. And I’m on my second second Super G. Hydrate. Make sure I’m hydrated whilst um I wish the rest of the trip was this temperature cuz I think it’s perfect. And today’s not been too hot either. Tomorrow well it’s still 28 it says but tomorrow it’s 33 to 35. It said that today and it’s not. Yeah, but it’s going back up on news and even the UK is going to get another heat wave in the next few days. [Music] as morning cup didn’t last long. We forgot to put gas on. Welcome to the next day. should be up. [Music] Ah, this is what this morning looks like so far in Elvis. The laptop’s up there backing things up. The toaster is out cuz we just had a slice of toast. Nick’s tea is over there and Nick’s under bed tinkering. Tinkering with the electrics. Why are you tinkering with that? cuz it’s the first time we’ve used a toaster. He just wanted to make sure it was okay. And it was fine, wasn’t it? It not using much. Yep. And we’re now charging the batteries cuz it doesn’t charge until it drops below a certain level. And Mag Bur and Ernie fully charged outside ready for another 15 km trip into Mets. Well, it’s going to be 31° today. The best lotion up. [Music] We are heading in back into the town of Mets or city should I say. It’s a city me tz in France and we’re going to do a little bit of exploring. Now you know we’re not really city people. So we’re not going to like try and do the whole city in one day as we have done in the past and it just wears out. We hate cities um because of that reason. So we’re just going to do a few of the highlights. We’re going to go to the Imperial Quarter which looks really beautiful and then uh just um see how it goes from there. Nick’s just shutting all the blinds and things. He’s got to get his um sun cream on because it’s going to be 33 to 35 today, it says. Oh, well, I hope not. Nick’s knows better than Google and all the um weather apps. So, we The app that I use is Meteor. It’s a mete. It’s a French. It’s the French Met Office. You’re using Google. We just mix stuff up. We’re going in Bert and Ernie again on Bert and Ernie the ebikes. So, um it should take about you say 16 km to get in. Yeah. 16 km to get in. 16 km to get back. Um so come with us and uh explore Mets along with us. We’re probably saying it completely wrong, but that’s how it’s spelled. M E TZ. Just getting B and Ernie down for the journey. Dusty B and Ernie. Right, we’re ready. Look at you. You’re like a little adventurer with a backpack on and your GoPro and your bike helmet and drone. and drone. Right, let’s get into Mets about 10 minutes down the road. We had to stop. We just had to stop at this lake. Look how beautiful it is. It’s just too beautiful not to stop. And this is where we’re cycling down there. There’s a guy sat in his butt just sat there fishing with all his things that he needs. It’s just beautiful. Now, this is the kind of van life we like. We’re not into cities, but obviously even though we’re going now, we’re going to one now because it it does look beautiful and we came here for the Amazon locker, but it does look nice. The Imperial Court, I’m sure, has lovely cafes. What do they call cafes over here? Cafe. Bian. Um, Bianerie, something like that. Yeah, that’s that’s a bakery. [Music] Isn’t it just like heaven? When you walk into the room, there’s not a thing that’s here. When every eye is on you, can’t get enough of your presence. It’s the perfect point of view, isn’t it? Just like just like just like [Music] come a little closer. Stay a little longer. [Music] I can’t get enough of you. [Music] Come a little closer. Stay a little longer. [Music] We’ve stopped which we think is in the Imperial Quad but we’re going to get us bearings in a moment or two. We saw this cafe and we thought we can’t not stop here in it and she has coffee at the side of the road. Yes. I love this one. Cafe restaurant. And I love that one too. But I think I think I prefer this one. This one? Yeah. Don’t you? We all flowers and bikes and things. [Music] Right, we’ve sat ourselves down. We were going to go to the other one, but it was lunch only. We wanted some Well, this kind of lunch to be honest. They were bit was like you can only eat sandwiches if you take them away. Blah blah blah. Anyway, so we came to this one which is much nicer just next door. And um I’ll let Nick show you what we’ve got. We were struggling to understand what you meant with this. They give you an egg timer for your tea. And we were like, “Can I can I turn this over now?” And we’re like, “What’s that for? Is that is that the only time we go for the tip about that?” Yeah, it was for my tea. That’s a bit posh, is it? So, um, that’s how long I need to brew my tea for. We also got vegetarian bagels, which look and sound amazing as well. And then I got this, um, it’s called a fat cookie, uh, raspberry fat cookie. And I got an ice latte, and I got one of them as well. So, we’re just going to sit in this little environment. Look at that. It’s like I feel like I’m on a movie. Sex in the six. Yeah. Sex in the six when she when she went to Paris. In Paris. So this is the uh the entrance. Everything’s just so janessa. So French. So French. Right. Let’s have a look at these sandwiches. So there’s avocado. Is that sweet pepper or something? Hummus. Cheese. Cheese. You can’t be vegan then. Inside. They have like flavored waters that you can just help yourself for like a for afterwards. They also have bread you help yourself. Um, and if I had got that, I’d probably got some red. But there’s all sorts of sauces like Tabasco and things like that. How the hell am I going to eat that? We could have shared that easily, but we got one each. Mine’s got a uh a yellow tomato on it. Yellow pepper on it. Right. We should have shared because they were monstrously large. And I think the uh the fat cookie as they called them um pushed us over the edge. What you nodding your head for? I’m shaking my head because I said to Nick, we’ll share one of these bagels of massive. I don’t care. Yeah, but in the cabinet they didn’t look that big. They were like a loaf each. Really good though. Anyway, we’re still food now. We were going to get a kiche lane because that is like um a popular dish of the region. We’re actually close to the Lraine region and Kish Lraine is actually from this district. Maybe later on back maybe. Well, it’s actually custard and bacon rather than egg. According to what I looked up, it’s not going to be what you call a key, but if we see one, we might take one back at least a second. Right. So, that that um spot of lunch was delicious. So, we’re now going to explore the Imperial Quarter. So, to give you a bit of history on it, this region of France, Mets, um was actually annexed by the Germans twice from 1871 to 1918. And during the Second World War, it actually became part of Germany. And in 1902 to 1918, the Imperial Quarter was built by the Germans. That’s why a lot of the architecture um is a is very German looking. And we’re going to have a look around some of the places like that. Now, we’re currently on Avenue. Careful. Fork. F O C H. So, it might be pronounced differently. I’m sure it probably will be. Well, it is a derivative of German. Um, so Mets has actually been um a city in France for centuries, but as I said, the two periods when it got annexed by the Germans was um 1871 to 1918 and then during the Second World War. So this road that we’re on, like Lee said, is called Avenue Faulk. Um it’s basically a Google describes it as a wide treelined avenue featuring a kaleidoscope of architectural um blend of designs. And if you look down the street, the left seems to be looking very German looking, especially with the little um like the little balcony sticking out bits. And then behind you looks very French with your um your square balconies. Yeah, you are. And we’re heading to we’re heading to Lagar, which is the French word for train station. And apparently this train station resembles a German castle called Grimeland Castle, I think it is. and it’s supposed to be one of the the um prettiest train stations in the whole of France. I know I said the other day that it didn’t feel like we’d actually got the trip started yet. Today feels like the first day that we’re exploring um like new places cuz everything so far has been Disneyland Paris uh the trip to Peterbr that all they all had like jobs and then yesterday was obviously getting the uh the fuses from Amazon. Today feels like the first day that we’ve actually just gone out and explored. And Nick says there’s somewhere else famous to explore as well around here. Did I? A Primark. Oh yeah, I should just swallowed another fly. Tasted like the one in Cornwall. Um yeah, there’s a Primark. So we’re probably calling cuz I could do with getting a couple of um white t-shirts cuz I brought all dark colors and it’s baking hot when you’re in the sun and the sun today is perfect. Um the other day when we were in Epanet, I thought, “Oh my god, I can’t cope with this heat.” But it was just It’s not 31 though. It’s not But the air is not hot. The other day the air was hot. It was burning your skin. It’s not like that today. When you’re in the shade, it’s actually quite cool. Uh it’s just the direct sun. Okay, Michael Fish. So, we’ve come down to the train station to look at that. Um because it said on Google that it looked like a castle and we found the water tower, which a bit of googling tells me that it was actually the main source of water for powering the steam trains back in the day. Um it’s not open now, so I don’t even think it’s in use, but it’s absolutely huge. And of course, because it was built uh I think it’s in 1902 or 1908, it was built by a German architect, hence why it looks like it’s German. Just walking under the uh arches to go to the Primark cuz yes, we are going to look and we’re just we’re 3 minutes away. So, while we’re here, we’re just going to have a quick look. Like, we’re running out of clothes as well. Yeah, I need a couple of t-shirts just to hang around the van. I didn’t really bring any older t-shirts. So, I just want some uh hanging around t-shirts. Problem with white is something makes them go yellow. I want to get a couple more white ones cuz I’ve only brought two white t-shirts. Right, it’s inside this um mall, shopping mall. I’m devastated. Why? Cuz there’s no CNA. There’s a rituals in here though. I know. We won’t be spending too much time in here. And then we’ll get back to exploring the uh architecture of outside. Can’t go anywhere. You got to carry all this back, you know, on a bike. Too fit me back. Yeah, but we’re going to um work on some silicon sealant. Done shopping. We’re now heading back to the bikes and Ernie and then we I’m afraid we’re gonna get these back on the bikes. We call them Jack Jones as well. And then we are going to our next site which is the cathedral which is supposed to be pretty special. As we’re walking through, I’ll just show you the inside of the train station. So nothing spectacular inside really. It’s just the outside. So the outside, like I said, it’s modeled on Well, it looks just like the Rhineland Castle. Uh and it was built by a German architect. Right, [Music] we’ve made it to Mets Cathedral, which is there. We’re going to go inside before we roast like a freaking It is a bit hot actually. And then we’re going to go in the indoor market which is next door. Hopefully we got air. Hopefully getting freezing cold orange or or a slushy. It’s getting hotter and hotter. It’s starting to feel like Italy did last year. It’s about 17° off. Well, it kind of feels like it. So, here’s the outside of the cathedral. We’ll show you some more shots soon. We’re going to have a look inside. Wow, this is big and cool. Cool. So, the cathedral is actually nicknamed the God’s Lantern because it has it’s the largest collection of stained glass in the world with over 6,500 square meters. So, the cathedral was built in the 12 uh in the 1200s and it actually spanned for about 300 years to be created and it’s made from something called jamont limestone which is like a yellowy limestone. So when the sun shines on it outside, it creates this comforting, glowing, warm look. Um, which is like the the yellow st sandstone look. It also has one of the highest Gothic naves in the whole of France as well at 135.4 ft. [Music] So, we’re just having a wander around. There’s a lot of people in here, so I’ve got to talk quietly. So, it’s a quiet area this and like any church, you can light candles. The the camera does not do the colors justice that shows through on this. Like literally, look at the look at the reflection on the floor. That is absolutely like standing in a rainbow. It just doesn’t do it justice at all. And growing green. Yes, it’s beautiful. [Music] Don’t go in there. You’ll be in there all day. Vicker in there. I don’t know. But we ain’t got long enough for you to confess. What can I do for you today? I’ve sinned. What have you done? There’s Twix. Oh dear. So down at the end, you can see all the stained glass windows. There’s absolutely tons of it and tons all the way around. All at the top. I’m getting Sister Act vibes. Sister Act this stage. All up at the top will be called blading one out and all the audience doing the thing. It’s a nice cathedral. That’s for sure. Just look how impressive this is. Apparently, it took 300 years to complete this. And you can just see why. I bet the glass took 100 years to put in. My name is [Music] Right next to the cathedral is Mar Kuver, which means a covered market. So, we’re just going to have a little look in here. Can’t see it being very cold in here. No, you never know the M come. I expect it to be this quiet. Smells very fishy in here. Cheeses. Lots of fresh fish, prawns, shrimp, oysters. You want to try some oysters this week? Buns and cakes. But this market goes all the way around and wraps around to the other side like a U- shape. They look good. Stuffed tomatoes. Not seen any kisha rain yet. No thank you. Oh no. We not seen any have we? Just as I said it. There it is. Kisha lin. Should we take a bit back? Take a slice back out. Yeah. Two pieces of kisha rain. Yes. We had to pay. We had to get two because it was a minimum £10 on the card. As Nick said, it goes round in a U shape. So, it keeps going round. Might be able to get one here. Nice cold drink. My go-to thing. Orangeina. Oh, look at this. Orange kiche. Vegetarian kiche. Salmon kiche. Olives. Freshly pressed orange. [Music] Right. So, I’m just looking up the uh the history of Kish Lraine. So, it’s actually from the Lraine region in France, which is where we are now. Well, just north of it. And it comes from the German word kuchen uh meaning cake. And it actually is um a savory tart dish with a custard filling. Now, custard to me is like sweet and vanilla. Uh but apparently this dates back to like World War II. became well it became very popular in the 20th century and dates back to World War II. It’s evolved over the years to be what we know it today like eggs, bacon, cheese. Uh originally there was never any cheese put in it but it was adapted to the tastes of like people in the region and then as soon as people started putting cheese in it, it became almost like the staple form of keto and we’re having it for dinner tonight. The last bit that I forgot to say before I uh stop the camera was it actually is a peasants dish because of the uh cheap ingredients like eggs, cream, cheese and bread. That’s all it used to be made of and it was affordable for families that couldn’t afford exotic dishes. Um, but it’s it’s referenced on Google as a peasant food. So, we’re having peasant food for dinner, but you can’t wait. I’ll be a peasant for it. It looks very nice. Me, too. Right, we’re fully hydrated and we’re going to head back to the van now. So, it’s another 15 km back on the bike. We’re a little bit more in the center. We’re going to have a quick look around the rest of the market and then pick up B and Ernie and make our way back cuz the temperature now has peaked. It’s about 31°. less keep saying 33 but term three. The French Met Office app that I use is called Meteo or my my weather mete which is really good when you’re in France for getting really accurate forecasts. Look at the faguars and the ducks. It’s mainly butchers and meats, isn’t it? Yeah. pates moosees. Right. And just outside is Bert and Ernie hopefully. And if not, it’s a long walk back. Yeah. Here they are. Bless them. Hey, Bert and Ernie. Right in front of the cathedral. So, we’re biking back and we came back a little bit different. We came from the city center around the edge. We didn’t actually go through the center anymore. and we were biking along the Mazelle River and we saw a massive load of these uh boat homes. Um now apparently these are from the industrial the industrial times of 80s and ’90s when the river was used for a lot of industry. It’s like I said on the last vlog or really on this one that all that stopped and it’s now more like a nature reserve and a holiday resort. And these boats here uh are converted boats and people’s houses and there’s so many massive ones. This one’s absolutely huge. It probably got about 10 bedrooms downstairs. It’s got a big deck upstairs by the looks of it. Air con. And they’re permanently mowed up here. We just went to a region where there was about 50 something like that. I wonder how much one of them is. Few hundred,000. Oh yeah, easily. We’re back. That was a really nice ride back. We put it in turbo plus and we just literally when you pedal on those things as soon as it detects if you’re on flat ground as soon as it detects that your legs are moving it just puts full pel on assist on and you literally have to put no effort in it because it’s flat ground. We did 15 km very good all the way back. At some points I went to shout slow down slow down because there’s a lot of the path like roots that you went over but my god his backsides are sore now from that seat. And I was even carrying my new cakes from Jack Jones. Thanks for shoving your pants in me face. Um, we got back to the van. Lee had a nana nap. I got some silicon sealant because the shower leaks. Well, it it doesn’t. It’s just the bad design of the way that Elvis have done the door. So, what I’m going to do is I’m going to I can see where it’s coming down. I’m just going to put some clear sealant just to seal the gap. Um, and hopefully that’ll sort it. Can I show you as well if I got these in the UK or not? But apparently, well, not apparently. Well, I think Primark now in the UK charge for bags. So, the bags that you get when you go shopping in Primark, um it was actually €120. Yeah. More than the actual flip flops that he bought. I got brought some flip flops cuz I was so hot out in He was going to have another Rome meltdown. I was so hot in I could tell by look on his face what he were thinking. I thought I’m I need these €150 just so I could take my shoes off and they helped. Well, when we went into the cathedral, he took his shoes and socks off and just stood on the stone floor and that sorted him out within minutes. And it was like a religious moment. Religious experience. Took my shoulders. Yeah. Well, I’d like a religious moment in the pub. If you’d hurry up, please cuz I want a beer. Apparently, thunderstorms are due later on this evening. Um, and it’s going to be 37° in Spayer later on in the week after we’ve left. So, we’re going to get there tomorrow, which I’ve actually booked the campsite now, and I’ve booked the museum for Friday. It’s Wednesday for us. So, we’ve got two nights uh in the uh Technic um museum in Spayer. We’ve paid €23 each for access to it. I think there’s a space shuttle in there. There’s a 747 on the roof and there’s god knows all or loads of other stuff. So, that’ll be a really fun day. Didn’t pay for the IMAX experience because there’ll be a lot to see when we get there. Uh, we are camping in the car park for 2 days and then from there, we don’t know where we’re going yet. We’ll have to decide over the next two days. We’re just kind of planning things as we go. Probably deeper into Germany, but somewhere where it’s not going to be 37° because Nana here will be basically locked in this van with the air con on. We’ve come to the snack bar and it’s not open and there’s not any sign of life. It’s about 10 to 6. We’re hoping it opens at 6:00. So, we’re just going to hang around for 10:00. Le’s just gone for a tinkle and I’m just dying to get a ice cold beer down me. So, fingers crossed there’ll be somebody here in the next 10 minutes. Uh-oh. Half an hour to wait. You want to wait here? A waiting van. Oh, a little tit. I met you. We could always go back and have a kiche first. No, I want to work up an appetite. I do have a few jobs to do. Could change that fuse. Come on then. It’s very quiet campsite. Everybody’s sat out, but nobody’s speaking. Maybe they’re just waiting for the bar to open. So, um we’re going back to the van. We’re going to change the fuse um to a lower rated fuse just so it’s a little bit safer um because we haven’t got that turner switch on the isolator on. So, we’ll just lower the fuse ampage and it can probably stay like that cuz we’re not going to use the Brevel anymore anyway. But, um, and then I’ve got some silicon sealant and I’m just going to put a bead on around the door frame cuz I think water’s getting around the door frame and then running behind it and then trickling out and getting onto the floor. Only like the tiniest bead, but it needs nipping in the bud before it gets any worse. So, uh, we’re back at Elvis to get them done. back into van and um after the band pump. Yes, Nick’s fixed the fuse. He’s put a new fuse in underneath. We were both sort of like there holding the bed up holding wires. It was very hot cuz we had to turn the air off. Um so it’s now 29° in here. So hopefully it’s going to cool down. We went back to the pub then had a quick drink. Had a per water. Nick had a local beer which he said was very nice. I didn’t know it were local but I know that. Um, and we are having a salad with the kiche lane. So, we got two pieces, but this is actually just one piece cut up. Cut up. So, we got another piece for tomorrow as well. Um, so I’ve got another one of these fancy tomatoes. And another bag of um mozzarella as well. I love these tomatoes. Wish you could get them at home. I’m sure you can. You can, but you just can’t get them in like places around Lodge. It’s a bit too fancy for Lodge. Now, that looks amazing. Let’s try the kishin on it own. Very smoky. Not cheesy, but smoky bacon. It’s not as nice as Bev’s. It’s a good kiche. I thought it just You said it had custard in or something. That’s how they make them traditionally with custard, bread, eggs, and stuff. Peasant food. It’s beautiful. Actually, I love good kiche. Thanks, Lorraine. It’s not as nice as beds, though, is it? Where we go in Barsley? No, she makes the best kiche in the world. Right, let’s see what all the fuss is about. So, we didn’t warm it up. It’s a bit controversial. And I got some fresh basil, which when we paid for it in um electric clay or whatever it is, we had to put it through a something else like fennel cuz it wouldn’t come up on the machine. So, I’m just going to try it. Try it on its own. You can get all different sorts of flavors. But I do want a bit of um tomato and chili chutney. Anytime today, I’d love to eat my tea. It’s nice actually. It is good. It is good. mix up more jobs. Excuse the loud sound in the background of the air con, but we need it today. So, um, just putting a little bit of silicon here to hopefully stop. So, what’s happening is water’s getting behind this leak and then running around and dribbling down the front there. So, the plan is that we just seal this gap down here with clear sealant, which I’ve done, and it’s gone pretty well, actually. So, I’m just wiping the excess off. You could work for Elvis. You Lord Muk wants a cup of tea. Excuse me. What? I’m talking about you, not to you. So, got me headphones on. Apparently, there’s a massive thunderstorm on its way. Um, it’s coming up from uh sort of Leyon in France up towards Mets where we are now. It’ll be here about quart 10. I’ve just got the rug in. The bikes are still on charge, but they’re covered in dust. I’m hoping the bikes will finish charging, then we can just leave them to get washed down um overnight. And um I’m actually It’s the first time we’ve had a big thunderstorm in the van while we’ve been in it, apart from in Germany last year, wasn’t we? I can’t hear you. Got me headphones on. Good. Keep it that way. Um Lee wants a cup of tea, as I said. So, I’m just going to make him one and then I’m going to get in bed and just chill out because I want to watch Stargate or Star Trek or something like that. Kit Kat wants me. Yeah. So, we’ve had a really nice day today. The bikes have been really impressive. Um yesterday I was a bit miffed that they didn’t do the full range but we realized that we charged them 3 weeks ago but we didn’t actually um turn them off. So they were before we’d even started they were on four notches and today they were on a full charge and they got us all the way almost all the way back before they actually dropped down to number four and then all the way back we put it on turbo plus and it was just a breeze. His legs were just going like this and it was going at like 15 mph. Really recommend them. Definitely worth it if you got a motor home because they’re really lightweight. Change of weather forecast. The storm is not going to hit at 1000 p.m. It’s going to hit at what time did you say? 1:00 a.m. 1:20. So, uh, we’re going to stay up and uh hopefully show you a nice storm. But Oh, we’ll be hearing it. Trust me. Well, if we hear it, it’ll be in the next vlog. Looking on the radar, we’ll be hearing it. M. I love good storm. Especially when you’re a motor home, you can uh hear it really loud on the roof. So, we hope you’ve enjoyed our time in Mets. Tomorrow, which will be on the next vlog, we are heading to Germany. So, another country. And we are heading to a um what is it? A motor a transport museum. Oh, I think so. And um it’s got a huge 747 uh jumbo on the roof, which apparently you can go and and uh have a look at. So, um check that out on the next vlog. All been well, we’ll get there. So, thanks for watching today, guys. Hit the like button and click the notification bell. Drop us a comment below and we’ll see you on the next vlog. Bye for now. Goodbye. Scared. Not scared, but not scared. Someone just it it felt like someone just whacked the van.