We had a leisurely Sunday morning after our big (read: exhausting) day in Paris. We decided to walk to the center of Amiens and try to see the Cathedral finally, including taking a tour of the Towers. We were out of the house by noon - after a big breakfast - and on our way down. Ethan had to stop at his favorite patch of grass in the center of town. This included (what turned out to be) his last stomp-fest on the stage that you can sort of make out in the ground. He likes to run around and jump on it which makes a very loud noise. Here he is with his "Grand Master Fu" pose. Don't ask.
We got down to the cathedral around 1:30PM but the office where they sell the tour tickets didn't open until 2PM. You can go in the cathedral for free, so we went for a look. The origins of the cathedral date to the 13th century and then there were various additions. The cathedral is very large and is supposedly the largest (completed) Gothic style cathedral in France. It is very impressive. The floor had these great patterns on it, including a labyrinth in the center. Ethan spent much of his time walking around on the lines while the rest of us spent our time looking up. Not soon after this photo was taken Ethan announced that he had go poop NOW - like it was coming out. There was a public toilet nearby but even closer was the potty in the cafe that we used the other day.
So we went over to the cafe potty (back left in this photo) and Nic took him in. Actually luckily the guy that had helped me the other day was there and I asked if we could use it - including that it was an emergency - and he said okay. As I turned around from the potty I noticed that my friendly guy was intercepting another worker who was clearly come us over to get out of the potty if we weren't customers. The French don't like to let you have free use of the potty. Anyway, Ethan tried and of course couldn't go except for the little one that he had let go in his pants already. So we went back to the cathedral, but not without a picture of Gwyneth in front of the chocolate cathedral first.
We walked around some more and got out tickets for the "tour" in the office outside. It turns out that it was really just the opportunity to climb the towers on your own. (Sometimes the French loses something in the translation). Anyway, we bought the tickets and had to wait for the 2:30PM entry time. Somewhere in there Ethan said he had to go poop again so Nic took him back and this time he was successful. Yeah. Soon after it was time for us to go up the tower and we got to climb 300 steps up and then 300 steps down on a really narrow circular staircase. It really was quite a treat as the view from the top was beautiful and the kids had fun with all of the climbing!
From the front, we walked up the tower on the right, about 1/2 way up. Then we walked across the front of the cathedral on the outside just under the big circular window. Then we continued up on the tower of the left (the taller of the two). To come down we just walked down the circular staircase for the left hand tower. Of course Ethan had to walk first and so we let him on the walk up. Coming down would be a different story.
We got a lot of nice view and photos. This was taken from the outside when we had to walk across the front of the cathedral. If you look I think you can see a church steeple in the center of the picture - it is a bit far way. Our apartment is right there.
We continued to the top and were treated to more spectacular views. This one shows St. Leu or the oldest quarter in town. It has this really nice row of outdoor cafes that over look the canal. We tried to go eat there after our cathedral visit but were unsuccessful due to the time and the fact that it was Sunday. Anyway, from the top you could really see the gargoyles up close and all of the detail of the cathedral. After a looksie around it was time to go down. It was going to be a 2 way street until we got to the level of rose window. We had some discussion with Ethan and we finally convinced him that the only way we were going down was if he let Nic go first.
He finally acquiesced and here is a rare view of Ethan going second. Take note. We had to make a few passes around groups of people which was fun given the narrow quarters. It included one where the girl coming up got herself behind the rope you see (there was a little alcove for her to fit into) because she was so petrified. We made it to the level of the rose window where it was only 1 way traffic. The stairs got wider and Ethan was being careful so we let him go first. He lived to see the next day, so enough said.
We were hungry by now (around 3PM) and thought that we could go get a bite to eat at one of those nice cafes near the canal. Turns out that around 3PM no one is serving food except for beverages and perhaps dessert. The only place that had meals was "Tante Jeanne". This would have been much better if it was "Tante Judy" but it was not. I likened it to the Bennigans of French food. We should have known since it was the only thing open and the fact that there were other English speaking people eating and we rarely hear people speaking English in Amiens. So we had a long (service was slow), uninspiring meal with a kid (Ethan) who was in dire need of a nap and just couldn't control himself. So it wasn't quite the perfect end to an otherwise perfect day but we survived. On the way home we stopped at one of the playgrounds by the cathedral on the way home for about an hour and the kids ran off some steam. Then it was home, and later on into bed with a bedtime snack or two first!
No comments:
Post a Comment