The sinking Cathedral
The countryside in the north of France on a miserable day
The Eiffel Tower light showFrom Tours we headed to Paris for one night then carried on north to visit a friend who worked out at the caves in NZ ‘Maxime the French’. We arrived at 11am, but he was studying so couldn’t pick us up till 5pm so we had a lot of time to explore the really small town of Beauvais. Beauvais has a huge Cathedral that is sinking, a neat tapestry exhibition and a Mc Donalds with free WiFi. Seeing as summer had fled the north of France after a brief visit of the cathedral and tapestries we retreated to the warmth of Mc Donalds and had coffee and a hot chocolate with our free internet.
Maxime lived a bit further north in a tiny village with his parents on their dairy farm. His parents were lovely and really looked after us, after having a tour of the farm we had the first of a few feasts, mmm that French cuisine is really hard going sometimes.
The next day the weather really crapped out, but we braved the icy cold rain and went for a 2 hour bike ride in the country side, the landscape is really flat and all cultivated land with tiny tiny villages dotted around. We attempted a loop but after getting lost a few times had to double back the way we came, it was nice to get out but not much more as it was very cold and dreary.
The next day was a Saturday and Maxime had to organise a little soccer tournament for the local teams of 7-9 yr olds, Maxime’s girlfriend Lisa gave a us a wee tour of their campus and then we headed to watch the little ones brave the foul weather, Maximes team he coaches came a valiant second, losing only one of their five matches. That evening we headed back to Paris, we arrived at just before 8pm and were dropped off near the Eiffel Tower.
We had heard about a light show that happens on the hour every hour so rushed off to the bottom of the tower to watch. The tower was deceptively further than it looked but we arrived just in time to see it. It was neat but we expected a bit more, all that happened was the tower was covered in hundreds of tiny lights that flashed really fast and made the tower sparkle. We ticked it off the list and headed back to the apartment where we were staying.
Maxime lived a bit further north in a tiny village with his parents on their dairy farm. His parents were lovely and really looked after us, after having a tour of the farm we had the first of a few feasts, mmm that French cuisine is really hard going sometimes.
The next day the weather really crapped out, but we braved the icy cold rain and went for a 2 hour bike ride in the country side, the landscape is really flat and all cultivated land with tiny tiny villages dotted around. We attempted a loop but after getting lost a few times had to double back the way we came, it was nice to get out but not much more as it was very cold and dreary.
The next day was a Saturday and Maxime had to organise a little soccer tournament for the local teams of 7-9 yr olds, Maxime’s girlfriend Lisa gave a us a wee tour of their campus and then we headed to watch the little ones brave the foul weather, Maximes team he coaches came a valiant second, losing only one of their five matches. That evening we headed back to Paris, we arrived at just before 8pm and were dropped off near the Eiffel Tower.
We had heard about a light show that happens on the hour every hour so rushed off to the bottom of the tower to watch. The tower was deceptively further than it looked but we arrived just in time to see it. It was neat but we expected a bit more, all that happened was the tower was covered in hundreds of tiny lights that flashed really fast and made the tower sparkle. We ticked it off the list and headed back to the apartment where we were staying.
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