The French Journal

Amiens: From city gardens to majesty

A profile of the city of Amiens, a college town and more in the Picardy region, starts off as if it will concentrate on les Hortillonnages, that is, the city gardens, recovered from swampland, where urban dwellers grow produce to be sold in local markets. It's a false start, however. The piece (taken from The Guardian U.K.) wanders away from fresh radishes and meanders to the other big attractions of the town: a major art museum; medieval squares; a center devoted to Jules Verne (who lived there); and -- of course -- its magisterial cathedral, Notre Dame, France's largest, and "the last resting place of John the Baptist's forehead." (Saint's relics can show up in the most unusual spots.) As long as you're aware that the story shifts direction mid-way, you'll enjoy the stroll.

Beyond the usual in Poitiers and Béziers with Peregrine

In reseaching items for this blog over the past two years, I have learned to anticipate articles by Anthony Peregrine, who contributes to a number of English newspapers. A chief reason for my appreciation: he doesn't cover the usual spots.

For example, this morning I'll line up two of his articles from The Times (U.K.). The first is a visit to Poitiers, in Poitou-Charentes. This town is not the least bit trendy; its moment in the sun was several hundred years ago. Yet from that time as a medieval center, when Eleanor of Aquitaine ruled, much remains to do and see. And as Peregrine notes, for lovers of France, there's no greater pleasure than being in a French town, early in the morning, watching it come to life, "...as people open up food shops, swab pavements, take a first coffee of the day and leg it for work. There’s a rooted sense of purpose abroad."

About a month ago, Peregrine wrote another consideration, one of the town of Béziers and the Languedoc. New airplane routes to Béziers have made it a starting point for a tour of the region. Peregrine guides tourists around local ports, beaches, ruins, parks, vineyards; this is a "great place for wandering." A favorite stop is the city of Sète: "There’s a salty atmosphere of honest labour and, as in all ports, shadowy skulduggery...(T)ourism has added sprightlier shops and blow-up dolphins to the mix of ships’ chandlers, classic frontages, cranes and fish soup. ...(Y)ou’ll bump into memories of Georges Brassens, moustachio’d chansonnier and Sète’s most famous son. Say you like him or face the consequences."

Chartres with Malcolm Miller

For a Monday morning excursion, we are going to Chartres, and our guide will be the renown Malcolm Miller. Miller has devoted his life to giving tours of the cathedral, and he is so identified with the site that to visit it without the benefit of his wisdon might leave you with the feeling that you were unable to have the ultimate Chartres experience. Miller is briefly profiled in The Toronto Globe and Mail; although the emphasis is on the cathedral's splendid windows (with an accompanying Q&A), Miller's mastery extends beyond those features; from my visit, about five years ago, I remember his astonishing familiarity with each of the carved stone figures that decorates the doorways. Another example of the depth of his knowledge is the video above, which shows a younger Miller demonstrating in an amusing way the mechanics of a flying buttress.

Going upscale at Deauville

One of my favorite travel writers, Anthony Peregrine, has visited the Normandy seaside resort of Deauville for The Times (London), with his wry POV intact. The town caters to money, and Peregrine is both amused by and admiring of efforts at extreme customer service:

"I asked one (staff member) where the lift was. He insisted on accompanying me, in case I got lost. It was about 25ft away. Clearly, the really rich are different from the rest of us. They have no sense of direction."

The town has many things going for it: endless beaches, race tracks and casinos, regular events like film and music festivals to attract and distract the rich. Railings along the boardwalk (called here the "prom," as in -- I presume -- "promenade") are festooned with the names of movie stars. To give a pretense of honoring local traditions, nearby mansions have been constructed in the Norman farmhouse style, but "to which a bicycle pump has been applied, blowing them up to extravagant proportions...The whole town is, in fact, such a splendid seaside parody of the real Normandy that it creates its own historical reality – geometrically satisfying, rooted and quite bonkers."

Peregrine makes a side trip to the neighboring, rival town of Trouville. "As Deauville subsequently drained off the worldly, artists, writers and that sort of person stayed faithful to Trouville. Flaubert and Dumas were fans."

Whether it's Peregrine's view, or the towns themselves, the case for a visit is made, even in February.