The World Wide Webb

Today was very much a travel day. I enjoyed my final hotel breakfast - even having a few M&Ms because I felt like I should! I then packed my rucksack for the final time and headed to Metz station to catch the train to Paris. There was a slight delay, but nothing significant, and I was soon in the French capital. There were lots of nice looking restaurants near Paris Est, so I decided to go all out and have a steak lunch, even with a caramel ice-cream afterwards. Stopping off for a geocache, I then headed to the Gare de Nord to catch the Eurostar. I spent the journey home trying to follow the rugby, golf, and football, with quite limited internet, and was delighted to follow the Red Roses in particular! We actually arrived at St Pancras early, which allowed me to catch an earlier than planned train back to Hertford East. A quick stop at Tesco and then it was home time! It is crazy to think that it has been ten weeks since I left, and over 7500km without a single plane or car. I will...

Today has been the last full day of my European adventure, and it has been a fitting end to the trip. I woke up happy as the Blue Jays won overnight and was excited for my day in Luxembourg City. After a hotel breakfast (I still did not have the M&Ms), I caught the train from the nearby station into the twentieth country of the trip. I have been to Luxembourg once before, but have to say that it was nothing like I remembered it! To be fair to me, it was a very long time ago that I visited. I walked from the station over one of the city’s many bridges, via a small war memorial, and my first major sightseeing stop was the Gelle Fra on the Place de la Constitution - the ‘golden lady’ is the war memorial for Luxembourgers who died in WWI, WWII and the Korean War. Just over the road is another Notre Dame Cathedral! I have definitely seen a few cathedrals lately. Sadly this did not have a tower for me to climb though. From there, I walked to the Place D’Armes and Place Guillaume II, the ...

I was very impressed with the breakfast spread this morning - lots of cute little pastries and general nom-iness. I was a little confused by the presence of M&Ms, but like with the Prosecco offer in Bratislava, appreciated their availability. The weather is still pretty rubbish here, but I took a lovely walk back into the centre of the city, getting lots of AdLabs on my way, which was a great way to notice lots of the details on buildings. As I said yesterday, there is so much history here, as Metz really does seem to have often been on the front line of European geopolitics. My main aim for today was to ride the little train that I had seen yesterday - my third little train in the past fortnight! Annoyingly, one was just leaving the square by the cathedral as I arrived, so I had a couple of hours to wait until the next one. I popped into the impressive tourist information office (photo below) for ideas and found out that I was very close to the main city museum. I therefore went t...

With a late-morning/early-afternoon train to Metz, I had a slow-ish start this morning. I stopped off at a cafe for my croissant breakfast, and attempted (with limited success) to find a few more caches on my way to the station. The weather, like yesterday’s, could best be described as autumnal. If I was being less forgiving, I might simply describe it as grey and chilly! The train ride to Metz was just under two hours. The station itself is seriously architecturally impressive. My hotel in Metz was pleasingly close to the station and I was therefore able to check-in and have a brief stop in my room before heading out - waterproof coat very much on - to get my bearings in the city. Just having a wander, I saw some really cool sights. Metz is so historically significant that it is on a tentative list to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of its historical features that I somewhat stumbled upon is the oldest church in France - the Basilica of St Pierre aux Nonnains, dating from the...