Amiens - City of Canals 

July 1st - July 4th

Amiens is a city in northern France that is very much worth a visit!  We arrived in the afternoon and set out to explore the city.  We kept crossing one canal after another that are branches of the Somme River.  There were lovely stairways leading to homes and canal boats strewn along the flowered  banks.  Our first stop of course was the magnificent Gothic cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The cathedral is just immense, it is said that two of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedrals could fit inside.  I'm sure the pipe organ is something to behold but alas no one was playing or practicing when we were there.  

Notice how tiny the people are up near the entrance

Our view of the cathedral at dinner

Jay's Poke Bowl

Chocolate Lava

The heat dome temperatures over Europe finally began to decrease.  We've had some unusually hot weather in the mid to high 90s so we were glad to take a ride along a shaded canal.  The mostly paved trail along the Somme River Canal was really beautiful which meant I had to take a lot of photos.  We went east on the trail one morning for an out and back 40km ride  where the Hortillonnages boat tours take you.  We decided we could see all the same scenery by bike so passed on the boat tour.  The next day we went west for 50km to Abbeville where we could take a train back to Amiens. 

The cathedral pops up everywhere

Canal Boats

Just because I love doors

Gates leading from the trail to homes

More Canal Boats

Lovely homes along the canal

There are so many restaurants to choose from but with the nice weather we couldn't resist making reservations along the canal side in the Saint Leu neighborhood.  Le Quai was wonderful and we had our first taste of the regional dish, Ficelle Picard. A crepe is filled with mushrooms and ham, then placed in a baking dish.  Next the crepe is covered in a béchamel sauce, topped with gruyere cheese and put under the broiler.  Oh My...was that ever delicious!  We also shared an interesting tapa tray.  We're still are not sure what the little bites were but they were very tasty.  

View from Le Quai Restaurant

Our interesting and tasty tidbits

Ficelle Picard

Sometimes it seems like all we do is bike and eat but we do occasionally make time to visit an interesting museum or site.  The Jules Verne Maison was a museum we thought would be interesting.  The house itself is quite grand and the displays are in French and English.  We had no idea he had written 62 books many based on his travels but embellished with a bit of fantasy.  He also wrote plays and I believe composed music.  On display is the room where he wrote many of his stories, the play posters, his piano and a room made to resemble the ship he was on during one of his voyages.  We're trying to decide which of his novels we want to listen to as we hit the road in the next few days.