April 07 – Chateaux and Amiens

Today we are off to another town, the town of Amiens.  The terrain is a bit different here in places.  And spring isn’t fully leafed out yet.

Along the way we stopped at a British World War I cemetery, WarlinCourt Halte.  It takes its name from a nearby railway stop.  The cemetery is mainly casualties from the trench warfare of 1916, the 1917 Battle or Arras and the German offensive of 1918.  It contains the graves of 1262 British, 4 Canadian and 29 German soldiers and airmen.

Nearby was a rape field that came right up to the road so we could get a much better photo.

In researching this itinerary Mary had seen reference to a nearby chateau, closed to the public but visible from the road.  Turned out that wasn’t quite true as it was hidden behind the buildings in the village and surrounded by overgrowth and trees.  But we did get one photo.

But the village at the foot of the hill was charming.

Then we saw signs for Chateau de Picouigny so, again, we detoured to try to find it.  Turns out is was easier to find as it wasn’t buried in a forest and was sitting exposed on the top of a hill.  Unfortunately, it was also closed.  But we got a few photos of the outside.  Just wasn’t our day for finding chateaux. 

Across from the chateau was the town (Picouigny) cemetery that also had the remains of World War I soldiers.  

We made it to Amiens by early-afternoon, found parking and then the hotel.  It was too early to check-in so we left the luggage and headed to a section of town recommended by the receptionist. 

Most of the restaurants and cafes were closed…too late for lunch.  But we found a potato place with table right along the canal…great atmosphere for lunch.  Lunch wasn’t quite what we expected but it was filling and tasty…salad, big potato, a couple of sauces (sort of sour creams but not quite), whatever topping we had ordered (Mary’s short ribs were huge, Paul’s was swimming in melted cheese) and Crème Brûlée.  

A few photos from our wandering.  

We spent the evening on the computers working.  Dinner was at the hotel.