Metz

 Metz

Metz has been on my list for a while. I can't remember why. Maybe i read something, maybe I had planned to come here and changed routes. Maybe it's hazy memories of 90s alcopops. Who knows?  Whichever way it came to be on my list, it seems to have been worthy of its place. 

I started at the Cathedral. I spent my time wondering at the breathtakingly beautiful stained glass - 6,500m2 to be precise. It's like a gallery, details wherever you look. When the lights hits the windows the colour is everywhere. 

After spending far longer than I'd imagined I would staring at the glass I headed to the covered market. It's not quite the same as Ulverston, quite a few cafes, lots of fine meats and speciality cheeses. (Not that Ulverston doesn't have such things, just a slightly different product range.)

The final point on my tour was the Pompidou Centre. What a find that is.  Its main exhibition is a response by Maurizio Cattelan to the centre's collection. It took me a while to work out that he was The Banana guy.  The exhibition featured the great and the good of 20th Century art.  

Sold for millions, the artist didn't see a penny. 

It always amazes me that I get to enjoy these things when it's quiet and as such I get to look properly. I don't think I've ever really seen Francis Bacon portraits before, here I could look really close up. They're amazing - I get it now. 

The next exhibition was Louise Nevelson - an artist I have a soft spot for. She's one of the first names I remember when I really started exploring.  Again, didn't disappoint. I knew her collages but hadn't seen her 'environments' before. 

Finally there was one more artist who is right up my street - Francois Morellet. Much as his work and concepts are something I'd like to stare at for hours, black on white with added neon doesn't do my eyes any good so I had a selective look around. The journey his work took is fascinating. 

It's hard sometimes to convey how much joy I get from days like today. I love discovering and re-finding things. I love that I can turn up at random places along a route I took a notion to do and find all these things that excite and intrigue me. I love knowing things at the end of the day that I didn't know at the beginning.  

That's what keeps me exploring.  It's why I love cycling, and the trains and boats to get to the cycling. The slower pace gives me the chance to discover things along the way and that's what I truly value.