2006 Letter from AMIENS: In the morning we bought a baguette and a fresh apple-filled croissant from the bakery van that visited the Bertangles campground, had our breakfast, and then started off for Amiens. We got to the bus stop only to find that we had missed the number 14 bus by a few minutes. Then we fortunately noticed the sign for a number 50 bus. As we talked about finding out where the bus stopped, a bus came the other way. We motioned to him and he waved as if to say that he’d be back. Were we ever surprised that he did come back! We got on and said thank you – and he spoke English. He thanked us. We were the only riders he had. He drove us to "C Cial – Amiens Nord"…that is the commercial center on the north side of the city. It took us a while to figure that abbreviation out! From there we quickly got a bus into town. As we got on, we asked the bus driver if he would tell us when we should get off to see the cathedral. He said yes, and we sat down. We were both apprehensive. There were a lot of people on that bus. He could easily have forgotten. Not only did he remember, but he stopped the bus where there was no bus stop and said "A gauche". And there to the left was the Cathedral! We got off and he motioned for us to cross in front of the bus, which we did. Who says the French are not helpful? Not us.

There is no vacant space on the Cathedral’s exterior at all. It is covered with carved stone figures everywhere. It makes one marvel at the amount of work that went into it. And it is not just work but finely wrought, detailed work as you can see in the pictures.

We spent a very long time inside the cathedral. We learned that the vault over the central nave is 43 meters high—about 130 feet. It is apparently the second tallest in France, and it provides a soaring and enormous and beautiful space. It is unusual in that it had a recognized architect, who is acknowledged with a street named in his honor. It is also unusual because it was built in 50 years (1220-1270!), so it is all of one design. Most Cathedrals were built over many generations of architects and over time spans lasting well more than a hundred years. The Cathedral has been designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Amiens is really working at cleaning the dirt off. The entire front has been cleaned. It is now white and they are working on other parts. This is especially amazing in the main chapel where the entire, enormous inside roof and the walls are so clean. Cleaning the stone on such a high ceiling must have been quite difficult.

A display case inside has a placard that tells you that the Kings of England when the Cathedral was being built were Henry II, Richard the Lion Heart, and John Lackland. Another placard informs you that a relic held here is nothing less than John the Baptist’s head which is displayed at certain times of the year. Indeed, one of our guidebooks asserts that the Cathedral was built to house this relic. Now we have been in the Cathedral in Cologne, Germany that purports to have the bones of the Three Magi, and a Jacobin Church in Toulouse where the remains of St. Thomas Acquinas reside. Believe it or not!

Some of the most affecting scenes in the Cathedral were the plaques put up by the survivors of the World
War I battle at Amiens to their fallen comrades.