Amiens, a Gothic church in all its splendour
11 August 2001, with Karl
Amiens is a town in the flat region of Picardie, to the north of Paris and only 1hr away by car.
It houses the biggest Gothic cathedrale in the world. Its vaults are the tallest in the world, topping those of Notre Dame of Paris or that of Chartres. The former always has a lot of visitors while the latter is supposedly the most beautiful church in France!
The town has taken on the restoration of the church façade. Cleaning the façade with lasers, they have uncovered the colours on the sculpted figures present in the 16th century. By play of light, the cathedrale is recoloured in all its splendour every summer night.
The project took 6 yrs to be in time for Amiens in 2000.
There is a one of its kind restaurant in Amiens,
the patatrie. Potatoes are also called patates in French slang and this restaurant serves only baked potatoes, 3 halves to be exact, with special toppings. I had mine with wattles, beetroot and mushrooms. What, u say? That's right, wattles are the first digestive organ of the rooster. Yum!Amiens is also well-known for its "
hortillonages" These former marshes form island gardens in the middle of the river Somme and are only accessible by boat.The show of colours began at 22h, after one hour of opera recital in front of the cathedral. It was very spectacular to see the whole church lighted up. The colours gave the figures a 3D aspect that would lead one to believe that the figures were real!
Say hi to the man in the river for me when u go, ok?