Bonjour, Greetings from Amiens, France

I wrote this post on Saturday 1/7/06, but have been experiencing issues with my connection to the Net, so I'll try to add the rest of the images when I can, but I at least wanted to share with you what I can. I hope you enjoy following me on my trip through Western Europe, and will check back to see the rest of the photos.
Oh and, Mad Prop's to my Loving wife who was unable to make this trip with me! Honey, please keep in mind that I am actually working over here and that most of the posts that I am going to be putting out I composed while attempting to recover from Jet-lag! (I hope that got a smile out of you!)


Well, like I said in an earlier post, I get to travel a little bit in my line of work and this just happens to be one of those times!

I boarded a plane yesterday afternoon (4:10PM Eastern US time) and arrived in Brussels, Belgium this morning about 9:30AM (that’s 3:30AM Eastern US time), and then drove the 2+ hours to Amiens, France where I’m at right now. But hey, it was a nice drive through the Belgian and French countryside all the same (170Km/hr avg, you do the calculations to mph!).

No, I’m not going to go into the time travel thing again, just giving you some perspective so you can hopefully understand my current state of mind while I’m writing this.

Amiens is a small city in comparison to most US cities, but it’s got some interesting contributions to society that are worth mentioning. For starters it just happens to be the birth place, and home while he was alive; of Jules Verne (you know 20,000 leagues and the Nautilus and all). Ok, I have to admit that the Sci-fi part of me is pretty excited about that, but I’ll keep it to myself and spare the rest of you!

Amiens also has claim to one of the oldest remaining gothic cathedrals in Western Europe, the Cathedral Notre Dome de Amiens. This place is definitely impressive, and I don’t mind telling you a little eerie. I tried to capture a few photos for your enjoyment, but I have to be honest with you when I walked inside the cathedral I felt something that I really can’t explain, but I’ll try. If you’re Catholic, and in the US, then you’re probably familiar with the rather warm and friendly faces of the statue figures of the saints that are found in most US Catholic churches. Well, let me tell you a different picture was painted years ago! Theses statues are some of the most macabre figures I have ever seen! The hair on my neck stood up as I walked through. I felt queasiness in my stomach, and a strong need to get out and breathe some fresh air. Yes sir, a serious case of the Heebie-jeebies! I didn’t feel comfortable taking pictures inside, due to the need for flash, as the Cathedral is still an active church and some sort of service was in progress as I quietly toured through.





The outside is very ornate with figures such as these gargoyles, designed to protect the church from evil.











I took this next series of shots to try to show the scale of the building. I couldn’t step back far enough to get a single shot of the entire structure.
The past couple of times that I have been here the Cathedral was under renovation and was covered with scaffolding, so as you may have noticed, I went a little camera crazy since I had a clear shot this time.

But hey, the town’s got more to offer than that. It’s a wild mix of culture, even though Amiens is pretty much out in the middle of farm-land France. There are all kinds of foods, music, styles, and people.
Well with that behind me, as well as a few good French, Belgian, and yes Irish ales in me, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll be here in Europe for the next couple of weeks though so who knows what else may come up that’s post-worthy!