After our two earlier stops yesterday at Fort Casso and in Bitche we continued to our main destination for the day. It had taken a bit longer than we first had planned to reach the German city of Saarbrücken, but we finally arrived in the Capital of Saarland.
Saarbrücken: The Capital of Saarland
The German state of Saarland is the smallest state in Germany. That is, as long as you make an exception for the city states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg. During the time after WWI, the French and the British occupied the region around the Saar. France administered the region under a 15-year-long UN mandate. It was at the end of the mandate in 1935 that the region had a referendum. And it voted to rejoin Germany.
10 years later after the second world war, Saarland once more came under French occupation and administration. France and West Germany agreed in 1954 that Saarland would become an independent state. Another agreement two years later led to the reunification of Saarland and West Germany in 1957.
Saarbrücken is not so far from Metz, so we thought it would make a good day trip.
Saarbrücken: an Evening Walk
We arrived in the late afternoon. As we were both hungry, we at once looked for somewhere to eat dinner. Most places only had customers sitting and having drinks. In other words, it was difficult to distinguish the places that served good food. We strolled around in the city until Susann decided that she needed some food very soon or else there’d be trouble. So we ended up in Vapiano. The queuing system in Vapiano is annoying, but at least they have good food.
It was a nice but chilly day for a walk and we stayed close to the center. We actually even had time for some shopping and Susann seemed to be happy about her new shoes and books. We ended our stay with walking across the Saar river, passing by the castle and then back across the river again. At this time Little A started showing signs of dissatisfaction with being in the pram and she made sure that we could hear it. The result was that we soon were back in the car, feeding Little A and on our way back to Metz.
Today we left France for good (for this time). Now we’re looking forward to some adventures here in Germany before heading back home.
Join us on the road through Europe here!
