Medieval Imagery of Christianity and Judaism on the Portal of the Metz Cathedral

Ecclesia and Synagoga were the names given to the symbolic personification in medieval Christian art of Christianity's triumph over Judaism. This imagery, which first appeared in the 11th century, was common decoration in the sculptures, paintings and stained-glass windows of churches and cathedrals.
 

Shabbat in Metz

Yesterday, we were treated to the warmth and hospitality of the Metz Jewish community. We had gone to the synagogue in the morning to find out the time for services and returned in the afternoon for Shabbat evening services. The synagogue hosts three services each Shabbat - one Ashkenazic, one Sephardic, and one Polish. We chose the Ashkenazic service, and introduced ourselves to some people in the alcove before services began.

There were only two of us in the women's section, which was located behind the men. A hazzan chanted the service and the men joined in; many of them had beautiful voices that lent a wonderful spirit to the prayers. During the service, the woman next to me, in broken English, asked if we would join her family for Shabbat dinner, which we did. We were welcomed into their home and treated to home-made foie gras, roasted chicken and vegetables, and an apple tart. It was a lovely evening.

El Rancho Grill - Le Restaurant Tex Mex

Our search for lunch today in the Metz Technolopole ultimately led us to El Rancho Grill - Le Restaurant Tex Mex in the Metzanine, a large shopping area near the Georgia Tech Lorraine building. We first tried a brasserie in a student housing complex, but we didn't have a university card. Next was the clubhouse restaurant of the Garden Golf Metz Technopole, but it was closed for renovations until January 11. A nearby hotel restaurant was too expensive. So....we found ourselves at El Rancho.

El Rancho is the first Tex Mex chain restaurant in France. Founded in 1992, there are 21 El Rancho's throughout France. The restaurant was decorated in bright colors, and sombreros were hung on the walls. The menu offered standard French Tex Mex fare - tacos, burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, along with steaks and barbeque (see http://www.elrancho.fr/carte/appli.htm). I had chili con carne and David had arrachera (beef and fries), both of which were on the Mexico Express daily special menu. Both of us are feeling fine.

Today was a productive day for us. Before heading off to GTL, we bought tickets for our various journeys on the TGV and bought a carry-on bag on sale in the centre ville. David prepared for his classes and I wrote a summary of a chapter I'm writing on early businesswomen in El Paso. In the late afternoon, Jean Sands, a GTL faculty member who is here with her husband Henry Owen, introduced herself and we're planning on having dinner with them tomorrow night.

Ooh Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Today's high in Metz was 25 degrees with sunny skies all day. We headed off to the Georgia Tech-Lorraine building in the Metz Technopole, where we found the administrative staff all bundled up in their coats. Seems that having the building closed during the winter break did a number on the heating system...anyone see a pattern here?!

David worked on preparing for his classes which begin next week, and I finished "The Time Traveler's Wife" and continued reading "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn, a book that's preparing me for my trip to Bangladesh and India next week.

A visit to Cora ended our day, and David finally found some pantoufles - house slippers - that will keep his feet warm in the apartment!

Four Hours in La Cour d'Or Museum in Metz

Having found out the other day that museum admission is free on the first Sunday of the month, we headed to La Cour d'Or Museum near the Metz Cathedral yesterday. The museum is housed in a former Carmelite convent and its basements contain the vestiges of ancient Roman baths found during renovation of the museum in 1937. Its brilliant archeology section covers Metz's Gallo-Roman and Merovingian periods, and you get a real sense of the city's history by viewing the remains of its past. Funerary memorials abound, with images of everyday life - a fisherman, a merchant selling jewelry, etc. There were countless rooms of artifacts, each more interesting as one proceeded along. We realized at 3:30 pm that we had spent four hours there!

A Sign across from the Verdun Memorial

A New Year's Day Drive

Thinking that not many people would be out on the road on New Year's Day, we set off this morning with a picnic lunch for a ride to Thionville and Verdun. Our first destination was Yutz, a town outside of Thionville, which is north of Metz. Although named after the latin word for justice, Yutz means something else in Yiddish - a stupid, clueless person. So, we had to go check it out.

We didn't spend much time in Thionville and headed southwest towards Verdun. We passed through the town of Hayange, which I referred to as France's Pittsburgh (when we got home I found out that Hayenge has many factories manufacturing sheet steel and rails for the TGV). As it was a cold day, we headed on small roads towards the battlegrounds of Verdun, where the German and French armies fought from February 21 to December of 1916. Indeed, Verdun was the longest and most devastating battle of World War I - 250,000 killed and almost twice that number wounded.

We stopped at battlements and forts, at the Douaumont Ossuary and at the Trench of the Bayonets. Memorials not only commemorate the dead; they remind us of the futility of war.

Noticing that there was an American cemetery in the area, we followed the signs and eventually got to the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. It's the largest American cemetery in Europe, with over 14,000 graves of soldiers who died in a battle right before the end of World War I.