Highlights from Amiens & Noyon, France, Day 16

Today I had to say goodbye to my first travel buddy, Jason. It was time for him to fly home and be back with his family and attempt to get back to work. Michelle and I had an early start by getting on a train to head about an hour north to the town of Amiens, France. Amiens is sometimes nicknamed the Venice of France because of its numerous canals throughout the town. It’s also well known for being home to the largest cathedral in France, Notre Dame of Amiens (not to be confused with the also well known Notre Dame of Paris).

The cathedral was huge, and since we were in a fairly small town, there weren’t too many people roaming around inside, which was nice for a change (I hate tourists). There were two things inside the cathedral that captured my interest. First, in the church’s treasury, they had a relic they believe to be the skull of John the Baptist. The second thing was a maze of sorts in the center of the church. Apparently, devoted Catholics use this to make their confessions and time of prayer…they walk following the black line until it ends at the center. I followed the black line (avoiding the dizziness as much as possible), and made it to the center in about 20 minutes.

We ate lunch at this potato place along one of the canals in Amiens. These baked potatoes are like the giant ones at McAlister’s Deli, toppings and all. I ordered one that, on the menu at least, looked good…barbecue chicken. But, when they brought it to me, it was a baked potato, with buffalo wings laying on top. A little weird, but tasted okay.

Anyway, we hopped on a train to go to Noyon next. Noyon was a VERY small town, but a nice one. The big highlight for me here was to see the Musee Calvin. Basically, it was a reconstruction of John Calvin’s birth home turned into a museum. Time to geek out again! The museum was getting ready for the 500th Birthday celebration which was two days after our visit, but that also meant the museum was still not quite in top shape. Several original copies of Calvin’s commentaries, and even an original copy of Calvin’s first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, were on display. It was awesome! They told us we couldn’t take pictures, but of course, I was “bad Andy” and didn’t cooperate when they weren’t looking. Ooops.

We also visited the main church in Noyon, which would have been where Calvin was baptized and grew up as a youth. They were about to close by the time we got there, so we didn’t see much, but let’s just say that once you’ve seen one Gothic-style church, you’ve seen them all.

Back on the train, and back to Paris for the evening. Long day, but fun to see some different parts of northern France.

Notre Dame of Amiens

Cafes alone one of the canals in Amiens

The “maze” I mentioned in this blog

Notre Dame of Amiens relic, the skull of the John the Baptist

Noyon Train Station

Musee Calvin; Reconstruction of John Calvin’s birth home

Original copy of the first edition of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion

Calvin’s church as a youth in Noyon