Nancy and Cheese

The weather ended up ruining my big plans for hiking up a mountain to see some medieval castles this weekend, but I did some other interesting stuff instead. Yesterday, even though it was cold and rainy, we decided we had to go out and see somewhere new, so we biked down to the train station and hopped on a train to the other large town in Lorraine called Nancy. Here's a map of the region so you have an idea of where it is in relation to Metz.


It was a surprisingly short train ride that went along the Moselle river most of the time. Just south of Metz near a tiny town called Aurs-sur-Moselle, we saw some ruins of an ancient Roman aqueduct that used to cross the river. It was pretty enormous and still impressive today, although only part of it was left.

About 35 minutes after leaving Metz on a regional train, we arrived in the city of Nancy. The town and architecture was really similar to Metz--the same building materials and mostly French-style buildings with a little bit of a German influence, since the whole region used to be part of German in the 1800s. There were some pretty glaring differences between the two cities--Nancy seemed like a much more youthful town to me. There are lots of colleges in the city, and the town was kind of an artsy more vibrant version of Metz. I noticed that there were a lot more "Brasseries," which are breweries/restaurants, and trendy little cafes in Nancy than Metz. I also noticed a lot of small art galleries, which I haven't really seen any of in Metz.

The coolest part of Nancy is the main square, called Place Stanislas, which is basically the main square of the town. It's HUGE and filled with lamposts, arches, and fences decorated in real gold. We also checked out the art museum and I wasn't really expecting it to be anything too exciting since Nancy isn't really that big of a city, but it ended up being really cool. They showcased a lot of work by artists that lived in Nancy in the 1800s, and there was one that I really enjoyed: Emile Friant. He was a realist painter that seemed to focus on human interactions and the museum had a lot of his work.

Place Stanislas in Nancy



Emile Friant - Les Amoureaux

Another thing i've been trying to do while in France is try every possible kind of cheese. Here's what I've tried so far, that I can remember

Emmental
Brie
Gouda - not French, but still delicious
Roquefort: My favorite one so far, made from sheep's milk in Southern France.
Chevre - goat cheese. Probably my second favorite.
Munster
Bleu - different than the blue cheese in the states
Boursin
Camembert de Normandie
Comte

Here's an example of the regulations for my favorite cheese, Roquefort. If these regulations aren't met, the cheese can't take the name of Roquefort.

1. All milk used must be delivered at least 20 days after lambing has taken place.
2. The sheep must be on pasture, whenever possible, in an area including most of Aveyron and parts of neighboring départements. At least 3/4 of any grain or fodder fed must come from the area.
3. The milk must be whole, raw (not heated above 34 °C), and unfiltered except to remove macroscopic particles.
4. The addition of rennet must occur within 48 hours of milking.
5. The Penicillium roqueforti used in the production must be produced in France from the natural caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.
6. The salting process must be performed using dry salt.
7. The whole process of maturation, cutting, packaging and refrigeration of the cheese must take place in the commune of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.

One important thing i've learned since I've been here: the French don't mess around when it comes to their cheese.