Paris to Amiens (22 Apr)

Should be quite an easy day today, as it's time to leave our flat and it's 30 min train ride into Paris (and the best Bosch washer/dryer I've ever used). Sue booked a taxi for 9am to take us to Gare du Nord station to board our train to Amiens (1hr 7mins only). We are packed and ready to go by 8.30am, after Sue had a good nights sleep, but is still a bit under the weather.

I do a spot of cleaning whilst we are waiting (I'm always trying to get a good 'host' report on airbnb) and we head down just before 9am to await the taxi. Still no sign at 9.10am and we are starting to get a bit anxious when a Tesla pulls up across the road and waves to me - he's here. We negotiate crossing the road between the heavy Monday morning traffic - with help from our driver - and proceed to sit in the luxurious back seat of the Tesla. Very, very nice car. It's pristine clean and our driver is very apologetic about being late. Thankfully we have wriggle room as our train isn't due to leave until 10.30am - we should be there by 10am.

Had a lovely chat about France, Australia, Japan and Greece with Chris (our driver). His English was a little broken, but we understood him (and he us) most of the time. He dropped us off 60m from the front door and we both agreed that was a much better way to get there than struggling up and down the multiple stairs throughout the Metro train system.

After hanging around for about 30 mins, our train still hadn't been given a designated platform - although the downtime gave me the opportunity to scope out all platforms and I even found the Hotel we will be staying in for one night in a couple of days before travelling on the Eurostar to England. The board finally stated our train was delayed 50mins, so we found a seat for Sue and she gratefully drank a hot chocolate whilst being able to rest. 45mins later, the board was updated to say our train would be an hour late!!

Not long after, our designated platform appeared on the board and we followed the deluge of people to await our train. Finally appeared about 15 mins later and we happily boarded and easily found a place to store our luggage. Passed some beautiful countryside on the way to Amiens. Here's me munching on my ham and cheese baguette for lunch!!

Short walk from the station to our Nanny bags drop-off (which was at the Holiday Inn), where we decided to sit and eat some lunch. Our plan was to drop off our luggage and then go visit Amiens Cathedral. However we realised with the train delay and the fact the Cathedral was 800m from our airbnb, it made more sense to sit tight and stay warm for about 45 mins. So as we waited (with our suitcases securely locked 6m from us!!) Sue tried to locate where a soldier may be buried for a good friend of her Mum's. She succeeded finding mention of him on the Menin Wall in Belgium (his body was never recovered), so hopefully we will have time to visit that tomorrow.

We grabbed our suitcases and headed off to our airbnb which was an easy 10 mins walk. Upon arriving we discovered no lift, so up the stairs we went (carrying Sue's suitcase) - having thought we'd got away without having to do that today 😏. Had some trouble opening the front door, which eventually was resolved by Sue turning the key very slowly at every angle possible, before it finally opened.

And... look who was here to greet us with a smile and ready for a chat:


After getting our bearings, we headed off to see Amiens Cathedral. It is the largest of three Gothic Cathedrals built in France during the 13th century. It has an exterior length of 145m, with an interior length of 133.5m. The soaring nave reaches an elevation of 42.3m at the apex, yet it is only 14.6m wide. It has an elaborately decorated exterior as shown in the 3rd photo:

 


The Cathedral was commissioned by Bishop Evrad de Fouillov to replace a smaller church that had burned down in 1218. Construction of the nave began in 1220 and was completed by 1236, with most of the main construction finished around 1270.

Many years later, additions took place including;

  • the installation of the grand organ in 1549;
  • the erection of a 112m spire during the same century; 
  • extensive restoration work by French architect Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century.

Despite heavy fighting around Amiens during World Wars I and II, the Cathedral escaped serious damage. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981.

The door to the cathedral was open, so we popped inside for a looksy. The height of the ceiling was incredible and it was really large with several different worshipping areas and a good amount of stain glass work. Here's some shots:





We have certainly noticed the 'fresher' air in Amiens in comparison to Paris and the cheaper food prices!!

Tomorrow we are being picked up (again) at our front door, for a full day private tour of the Somme battlefields and Villers Bretonneux.

Sleep well 🛌💤

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rosslyn Chapel and High Tea at The Balmoral - 24 May (last day before flying home)

Image
Very excited about our trip to Roslyn Chapel this morning. We have a booking for 10.30am - 12pm and need to catch a local bus to take us to Roslyn - about 50 mins away. It only costs two pounds each way, which is excellent value. The weather appears to be a bit better than yesterday, although still overcast with a bit of drizzle. We jump off a couple of stops early which works out fine as we have a pleasant 20 min walk to the Chapel (no rain) and arrive with 15 mins to spare - if you are wondering, yes we did align from the bus early by mistake 😃.  Founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair, the Chapel took forty years to build. The beauty of its setting and the mysterious symbolism of its stonework has attracted, inspired and intrigued visitors ever since. No photos are allowed inside (sadly), but here's some from each side on the outside: We were lucky enough to catch a 20 min chat from one of the guides about the history of the Chapel and all the restoration work they are doing. T...
Read more

Thurso Castle (meeting current owners) & John o' Groats - 20 May

Image
We have one more thing to do before we leave Thurso - visit the ruins of Thurso Castle. But just before we head off, this is the view we've had from the front gate whilst in Thurso - check out that blue sky again!! We believe one of my ancestors on Mum's side worked at Thurso Castle as a farmer - perhaps tending the fields. As we draw nearer to the castle, I notice a multitude of 'Private Property' signs. Luckily a lady appears from behind a stone fence, so I jump out of the car and ask her if I could speak with any one about the castle ruins. She was very helpful and told me to go through the stone archway, turn left, walk through the next stone fence and knock on the door of the house on the right, Maryanne should answer. So off I trotted, passing some very old buildings and ending up at the house with their door open and a pair of discarded work boots just inside. I knocked but got no answer. I then used the two prong approach, knocked and shouted out in my friendly ...
Read more

Berlin - here we come (8 & 9 Apr)

Image
It's been a long time coming - 13 months of 'meticulous' planning, countless hours pouring over topography, google maps and 'the 10 best things to see and do in xx websites'!! The day has arrived. One of my oldest friends and I are heading off to the airport to board our plane and commence our travel adventure in Berlin (Germany). Our trip commences on a high as I'm chauffeured to the airport in a new Skoda recently purchased by Sue's youngest daughter. I'm treated to the front seat in her lovely new car. Here's the 2 of us, enjoying the view of the sky through her (very) large skylight: Very comfortable and occasionally interesting ride to the airport as we tackle Melbourne road works. Here we are attempting to keep a lid on our excitement levels at the drop off point. We head off to join the check-in queue. Once we find QATAR (it's moved since my last trip) we join what I thought was the Bus Class queue - which looked large, but given my excite...
Read more