Nancy is about 30 km from Maron, and most of the time we rode on well-maintained bike paths that followed the canals.
Along the way, we'd see boats and barges passing us and going through the locks.
As we approached Nancy, we left the bike path and joined the regular traffic heading into town.
Then, we rode right into the central Palais de Sanislas square.
We got to Nancy around 1:30 pm and locked up the bikes, with everyone agreeing to meet back for the ride to Pompey around 4:00. Nancy was originally an independent duchy ruled by one of the King's nephews (Prince Stanislas). He felt he was the rightful king of Poland, but, when he lost the throne there, the king gave him Nancy to rule.
Stanislas was very "arts minded" and the city is more ornate than any I've seen (including Paris). This is one of the four gilded gates that surround the square.
In the center of the square is the statue of Stanislas, and behind it is the Hotel de Ville or City Hall. The Tourist Information office is in this building and they have some great, free WiFi, so Kathy was able to post pictures to Instagram and the blog using her iPhone.
After posting her pictures, Kathy and I went with Claus (an older German man, who had been a fighter pilot in the West German Air Force) to the Pharmacy to pick up some cough medicine for me. Then, we set out around the city to look at the famous Art Nouveau buildings.
This is the Chamber of Commerce building with wrought-iron features by Louis Majorelle.
About four doors down is the Brasserie Excelsior where we stopped for a coke. Built in 1910 by Lucien Weissenburger,, the building features furniture by Majorelle, stained glass by Jacques Gruber and ornamental touches by the Daum brothers.
A little further in town we saw the Republican building...
... and then the Reformed Church.
Of course we had to pass Rue Gilbert.
On our way back to the square, we went through an alley filled with bistros. This one hung a bicycle from the window to attract attention.
Not to be out done, his neighbor features a cow climbing out his window.
We also found a bike shop and I stopped to talk bikes with the proprietor. Unfortunately, he spoke no English at all. He said I could take his picture, though. I think.
Finally, at 4:00, we all met up at the Cathedral or Dom.
Since we still had a few minutes, we walked inside and looked around.
Afterwards, we all got back on our bikes and rode to the small town of Pompey, where the boat was docked and which was about an hour's ride away. In fact, it took us about a half-hour longer, so, when we got back to the boat we had an hour to unwind before dinner.
On to Metz
Our next destination was Metz, (pronounced Mess), 55 kilometers away, but over very bad trails. I woke up a little early and took this picture of the boat at dawn.
At 9:00 am we headed out. Today, the French group decided to ride on their own, and one of the German ladies, who had had a bad fall, decided to stay on the barge. So, in our group there were only 8 or 10 people.
Half way through the ride, Kathy's seat restrainer broke. Jacques (our guide) spent a while trying to fix it, but the part was broken. He had to radio the boat to meet us at Pont a Mousson where we had lunch (and I bought a delicious pastry).
After lunch we headed out through a region of small, abandoned canals and locks. As you can see below, sometimes the trail got very narrow. There were a lot of potholes, roots and wood. It was a very rough ride. I didn't try to take pictures of the rough part, though, because I was usually hanging on for dear life.
Here's one of the old abandoned locks the were originally used by the mining industry in this area.
After about 20 km of very bad trails, we picked up some nice sections, and rode through some small villages. Most of the riding was in rural areas, though.
Along the way, we found this memorial at the spot where the 5th army crossed the Mouselle in 1945.
We also passed the remains of this 2nd Century Roman aqueduct, which originally spanned the Moselle river.
We finally got to our anchor in Metz around 4:00 and I talked Kathy into walking into town, even though both of us were completely exhausted. On this island is the Protestant church.
The one thing that I wanted to do was to visit the covered market where the Soupes a Soups booth has 24 different soups every day. The proprietor, Patrick, didn't speak English, so I didn't quite understand what I had ordered, but it was delicious. After I had finished, one of his Belgian friends stopped by and translated for me when I told Patrick how much I enjoyed the soup. When he heard that, he offered me a bowl of his "masterpiece" tomato soup which was even better.
Afterwards, his friend took a picture of all three of us.
When we got back to the boat and had dinner, Kathy was wiped out, so she sat on deck and got caught up on her journal.
The two young German families wanted to walk back into town, though, so I went with them and Jacques and took a few pictures.
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