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A Less-than-Perfect Visit to Metz

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Over Easter weekend, we took a short (3 days / 2 nights) trip to Metz, a town about 2 hours away from home. It was our first time out with the little guy (nearly 2 years old now) in a while, and I think our traveling-with-kids skills have gotten a little rusty. So, although we didn't get to see too much of the city, we did learn a lot of valuable lessons for our next go-round of a holiday.

What we did right:

  • Find restaurants without the funny French closing hours. There are a number of tourist-centric restaurants around (Buffalo Grill, most restaurants around the central train station, etc) that do not abide by the "normal" closing hours of lunch til 3, then dinner served only after 7 pm. We gave up the idea of eating at a charming French restaurant quickly, once we realized it would require keeping our grumpy toddler up past his bedtime to eat. Nobody wants to see that. Always check restaurant hours, especially in smaller French cities. 
  • Find wide open spaces. We went to the city, but after forcing the little guy into his stroller to wander through the very lovely open market hall, and the very beautiful cathedral, he just wanted to run. So, we spent a lot more time going up and down escalators in an oddly spread out mall, and running amok on a pedestrians-only plaza. So much for sightseeing. 
  • Check out the grocery stores. Cora would have been a lot more fun if we'd had more time. It is insanely huge, and I always love exploring grocery stores when I visit a new country. I managed to grab some French chocolate in my rush to find milk for the kiddo, but wanted to do a little more window-shopping. Next time... 
What to do next time:
  • Stay in a hotel!! What was I thinking. Oh, I know, the idea of a pre-organized breakfast blinded me to the reality that staying in a B&B with a small child is dumb. Don't do it! We stayed at a lovely place with a huge outdoor garden, but it was also just a spare room in a family's home just outside of Metz. Not only did that mean that hubs and I had no private space once kiddo went to bed, but it also meant we had to figure out takeout dinner for ourselves. And our only choices were pizza, or McDonald's. Even when aiming for tourist-centric restaurants, this was a low point. This aspect (unfortunately, and to no fault of the B&B's) might have ruined the whole weekend for us, since hubs and I never got any downtime. 
  • Avoid (or carefully manage) visits to art galleries. The Centre Pompidou was really beautiful and I would have loved to see the art. Instead, we spent more time preventing the kiddo from jumping into the art... and attempting to contain some pretty epic tantrums. 
Though we look forward to our next family holiday, we will be very careful when we plan this one!

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