The railway station of Metz is one of the strangest and most impressive in France, a grand Romanesque-revival building of grey sandstone with a tall clock tower, dramatic arched windows, and elaborate carved decoration. It was built during the German annexation of Lorraine (1871–1918) as a symbol of imperial power, and the architecture has nothing in common with the rest of the city — it looks transplanted from a German Rhineland town.
It is still very much a working station, with TGV connections to Paris in 82 minutes. The interior, with its arched ticket hall and stained-glass details, is worth a look even if you are not catching a train. The neighbourhood around the station — the Quartier Impérial, a UNESCO-listed grid of broad avenues and elegant German-era apartment blocks — gives the city its second character, very different from the medieval centre.