One day in Amiens

After one too many months, we finally come to the end of our road trip through Normandy and Brittany. I can’t believe how long this dragged on but many seasonal posts interrupted the series. And now we finally come to Amiens, our very last stop! While we technically didn’t spend one day in Amiens, it amounted to that much in the end. After leaving Mont Saint-Michel, we arrived at our Airbnb and headed straight to the city.

As a former art history student, my first stop was the cathedral. That magnificent Gothic church is renowned for so many things. For its stunning 13th-century sculptures, stained-glass windows, and the tallest finished nave. Also, this is technically the biggest cathedral in France since it has the biggest interior volume. And you can see that when you visit it. It’s clear this church was reaching for the heavens. I am not a religious person, not in the slightest, but I spent a full hour inside the cathedral. Marveling at so many different aspects of it. And mostly feeling so lucky to have seen it with my own eyes.

When Grégory finally dragged me out of the cathedral, we walked around the city center. On the whole, Amiens doesn’t feel like a big city. The Saint-Leu district, lined with canals, is rather small. The canals are quite different from the ones we see in Belgium and the Netherlands. While I could still recognize certain aspects of the architecture we saw elsewhere, it was much more sensible here. Less adorning and more practical. But I still managed to find some charming corners! Eventually, we found a place to relax in, at DASI Frères. They had a huge selection of coffee and tea, so we got some coffee for Grégory and spéculoos tea for me!

While there are plenty of things to visit in Amiens, we limited ourselves to what interested us. Also, we tried not to encumber our schedule. By this point, we had gone through seven different Airbnbs. And I don’t even want to think of how many thousands of kilometers we weathered through! So we just discovered the city center and enjoyed the warm summer evening in Amiens.

The following morning inadvertently ended up being dedicated to Jules Verne. First up, we drove to the Cimetière de la Madeleine d’Amiens. There, we found Jules Verne’s tombstone, which frankly, must be the coolest one I’ve ever seen! And outside of that, the cemetery made for a lovely walk because of all the impressive sepulchers covered in greenery. Finally, we arrived at the Jules Verne House early, first in line.

This gave us the opportunity to explore the house on our own, and boy, what a house it was! A late 19th-century building where he lived for 18 years and wrote some of his novels. From the first floor, you climb up all the way to the attic. There are more rooms than I can remember right now but all of them looked charming. My favorite ones had to have been his office and his “writing room”. Just a tiny little cubicle with a desk and a bed where he would shut himself up in order to finish a book. It looks like the coziest little nook!

Even if you’re not a huge fan of Jules Verne, the house is worth visiting for its beautiful rooms which look as if they were frozen in time. I love visiting such houses, where the rooms look like the owners are about to walk in dressed in coattails and bustle dresses. Nothing transports you back in time as much as a house still filled with the owner’s furniture and his belongings. They even perform dramatized tours of the house on special occasions! And if you are a Jules Verne fan, you’ll love the museum because the rooms reveal his personality, memories, and the inspiration for his books.

With our day in Amiens at an end, we drove back home to Belgium. What a whirlwind 10 days! Rouen, Étretat, Dinan, Dinard, Saint-Malo and Saint-Lunaire, Bécherel, Rennes, Mont Saint-Michel, and finally Amiens. Looking back on our first road trip, I feel such happiness! I look at the thousands of photos we took and it almost feels surreal; how did this marvelous road trip even happen? I wholeheartedly recommend a road trip through Normandy and Brittany. And frankly, it could have continued on because there is so much of Brittany left to explore toward the west. But that’s a thought for another day. One thing is for sure, I am certainly coming back! Until then, I’ll enjoy going through the photos and this lovely map of our road trip that Grégory created!

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