Weekend in Picardy: Marché de Noël

 

Here are some more photos from Picardy! 

 

The impressive cathedral isn't the only reason to go and visit Amiens. 

Amiens also has an enormous Christmas market - the biggest in Northern France.

There was two kilometres worth of Canadian maple syrup, miniature car models for collectors, woollen bonnets and scarves and mittens, wooden toys and puzzles, amber jewellery, all kinds of candles and candle lanterns and even hand warmers in the form of teddy bears and local beers and so on and so on. Fortunately, quite a lot of the goods on sale are still made by artisans, even though there are many others, that are - sadly enough - less than unique.  

 We stayed in a small hotel just a few steps away from the railway station and Tour Perret, an impressive apartment building which was designed in 1942 by Auguste Perret, a specialist in concrete construction and rational style.

 

We did find some nice Christmas gifts at the market and in the boutiques Amiénoises, but that's still a secret, so shhh!