Thursday, August 9, 2012

French Holiday Part I: Amiens


Hi everyone.
Pardon for my quite long silence and  absence as we've been away for a gorgeous holiday and yes it is in France!  10 beautiful days to be exact.
We left just when Olympics started and we did not miss the spectacular Opening Ceremony of course! Anyway, I won't be writing too much as I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

As putting everything in 10 days in just 1 post would be too long and boring, I deem it fit to break this post into 4, so here goes the 1st part.

As we travelled by car (our place to Dover  about 3 hours drive then 1.5 hours on the crossing the English channel) we thought it best to break the trip before we head off to Paris  (which is 4 hours drive from Calais Port) .
We just need to stopped over  in Amiens for 2 days just to get our energies back.
It is a beautiful city  in the North of France but the weather was quite chilly.
I was disappointed especially since we left a very sunny Britain basking in an average 25C of sunshine the whole week before we left.  But still,  that's part of the Amiens charm.

Notre Dame de Amiens - a world heritage site where the replica of the face of St. John the Baptist is being displayed.


A Gothic Cathedral built in 1220, as seen from the back. Magnificent, isn't it?


The impressive nave that greets one right away upon the entering the Cathedral. Just breathtaking.



The Cathedral's doors with its numerous carvings





Beautiful coloured candles inside. Have to light a few for the unborn child we lost earlier this year.


Dearest Husband and Little Girl with their identical trademark folding of the arms pose




My little Girl enjoying the beauty of Jardin d' Medieval



The city was very quiet especially as we were there on a weekend plus the fact that it is summer.
I've heard the French do their long holidays. Some would even take the entire 6 weeks off as we've noticed in the signs on the shops saying they will be away for a couple of weeks.
Dearest Husband also said some factories do the same.
I wonder how they earn a living being off work for those weeks!


We stayed in the city centre and the Cathedral is just right in our hotel's doorstep!













I love how the French adorn their houses with beautiful flowers. Just 1 colour and by the windows.

My Little Girl enjoying the carousel. She had it all to herself. No long queues. Just 5 euros and a then its a few minutes of fun ride.

May be one day we will have another chance of visiting this city, hopefully on a warmer weekdays so I can get to explore their shops.
Au Revoir for now and more on the 3 more parts of this post.
Merci!


3 comments:

  1. Awww the pictures are beautiful! I am so sure it is even more breathtaking in person. I am glad you had a great trip. I like to travel when there are less people around, I feel more safe...not having to worry I will lose my kid in the crowd, that sort of worry mom always have. Can't wait to see more pictures, thanks for sharing!:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great pictures you have there!
    I read that Amiens' cathedral is twice the size of Paris’ Notre Dame, so I can't imagine how beautiful it is.
    I really adore the architecture and engineering of France churches and buildings, great stonework that will leave you goggle-eyed.
    Can't wait to see the rest of your trip...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you both. I forgot to say that in Amiens I am so fascinated with the number of salons. In every street there is at least 2-3 salons and in the city centre there must be around 50! I wonder how often the locals have to go to the salon for this business to be so good.

    ReplyDelete