Well after visiting Amiens once, I decided that as my friend was coming to stay for a week I would leave most of it uncovered and would explore it with her. We did this, and I found Amiens to be a fabulous city with loads to see and do both in itself and in surrounding villages that are far enough away to cycle there.
Check out Samara, Picquigny and Naours for some main ones.
I’ve got quite a few photos of Amiens but that’s because there is quite a lot to photograph. There’s lots to explore too, from the amazing gothic cathedral which could house 2 of the Paris Notre Dames, to the St Leu ancient district with it’s old canal side buildings, to the vast ‘Hortinollages’, the houses built on the canals in the marsh.
One night we were sitting in the square in front of the cathedral, enjoying the peace despite there being an awful lot of people around. We wondered why so many, but we put it down to the fact that it was a lovely night, the cathedral looked gorgeous with it’s lights on and it was so peaceful. Just as we agreed to leave around 10:30pm, the flood lights suddenly went out. That’s unusual as mostly they stay on until midnight in France, but what made it odder was … people were clapping!
We were then rewarded with a spectacular show. As can be seen in the photos, the doorway arches are covered by carvings. Apparently these used to be coloured and it was only when restoration of the west portico began that this fact emerged. So, some clever person set out to recreate what colours would have been there, make some kind of film of it and project it onto the cathedral at night. What a wondrous show! I took closeups to show the detail they’d gone to and how some of the statues looked with and without the colour. We were gobsmacked and my friend was moved to tears by the amazing spectacle, so beautiful and so unexpected. We had to go back a second night just to take sure we had really seen it!
We also visited the Madeleine cemetery just north of Amiens. It’s a cemetery which in the past housed tombs of the wealthy who could afford somewhere for their entire families to be buried. It’s odd to say that it can be fun and interesting to visit a cemetery but it was! Look out for the grave of a very famous author buried there, who settled near Amiens and died there.
Look out also for the tomb that appears to have been broken open. Remains of coffins can be seen clearly but my French isn’t good enough to go and ask what happened there. My imagination is good enough to invent my own story though. 
It’s easy to navigate round Amiens, it’s got a zoo, the Hortinollages, St Leu which has moorings and we parked for a couple of nights in the free car park by the moorings. It’s got a lovely market and a great park which are both well used by residents. It’s also got the Madeleine cemetery and a laundrette and you can read about the laundrette here.
Samara was a wonderful find as we both enjoyed the 2 days we spent there. It’s a reconstruction of iron and bronze age settlements that did exist in the area at the time.
Fascinating thoough … I wonder what it is?
Picquigny was a nice little village that we stopped off in, on our way to 
Naours just north of 
Jack has been chasing wild rabbits for days. He’s not even come close to catching one, but not for lack of effort. He’s loved the exercise and I’ve loved seeing him happy and doing what he’s supposed to do. However the downside is that he has caught dozens of ticks 
Update**
Stupid title, but Troyes apparently is pronounced Trwarr, like the French 3. I came across it after leaving Reims and not really having any firm plan, was just driving to see where I arrived. I came across Troyes and I’m glad I did. It’s a most gorgeous place full of character and old buildings.
cool night. Then I came across this archway, quite small, and clearly part of a walled in structure. I checked it and guessed (rightly so) that I would just say fit through in the van so I drove through it and instantly had to stop, as I saw the most beautiful, characteristic old building to my left. I had to get out and take a picture. When I did, I realised there was more, then it dawned on me that the entire village was an old rustic settlement of some kind. It was outstandingly beautiful and I just started walking round it. Every turn was another old building and they all looked like they were at least 250 years old. I find out later it’s called Dambach la Ville and is only the home of the Vins Ruhlmann-Schutz Vineyard and Winery, which counts among it’s wines Pinot Noir, Muscat and Riesling and has been around since the 14th century. So that explains the weird looking vines behind the car park.