RVing in Europe - Amiens, France

June 18, 2007


My daughter Charisse who joined us RVing in Europe for three weeks left from Charles de Gaulle International Airport located in Paris, France to go back home to Surrey, BC, Canada.  She joined her graduation at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) a few days later and graduated with honors with a diploma in Marketing Management.  She did not know she was graduating with honors, she found out only on the day of her graduation, perhaps an hour before she marched on the stage.  I am sorry I was not there to witness this important event in our daughter's life.  I just hope all the shopping in Europe and the free trip makes up for our absence. 

Mar and I declared this day as a day of rest.  We drove to the nearest aire and spent the day just relaxing, eating and sleeping.

The following morning, Mar drove out of the aire early to find a boulangerie to buy me some freshly baked chocolate croissants like he promised the night before.  He got off from the highway and found a McDonalds instead but the shop was still closed.  We found a supermarket which was also still closed.  We drove to town and discovered Amiens, France about 120 kms. north of Paris.  Likewise, no boulangerie was open yet for business.  We found the cathedral also still closed but already, plenty of little children are there, to do what, we did not know.

Wikipedia:
Amiens Cathedral (a World Heritage Site) is the tallest of the large 'classic' Gothic churches of the 13th century and is the largest in France of its kind. After a fire destroyed the former cathedral, the new nave was begun in 1220 - and finished in 1247. Amiens Cathedral is notable for the coherence of its plan, the beauty of its three-tier interior elevation, the particularly fine display of sculptures on the principal façade and in the south transept, and the labyrinth, and other inlays of its floor. It is described as the "Parthenon of Gothic architecture," and by John Ruskin as "Gothic, clear of Roman tradition and of Arabian taint, Gothic pure, authoritative, unsurpassable, and unaccusable."

It was a nice early morning drive to anywhere.  This was the kind of rving I have in mind - no schedule, no place we need to be, no pressure whatsoever, just exploring and finding treasures in Europe other than the popular tourist destinations.

We later spent a lot of money, Euros67, shopping for food and groceries from Auchan.  Some of our favorite things to do in Europe was food shopping, cooking and eating.

Rest Areas or Rest Stops Along Italian Autostrada

Our first experience with Autogrill, a restaurant chain popular in Italy and some other countries in Europe and Italian autostrada rest areas was after we left Verona on our way to our second destination which was Venice, Italy.

Autogrill is a restaurant which happened to be located in strategic rest areas along the highways of Italy.  Autogrill and rest areas have become synonymous with each other thus when one say they stopped at Autogrill for the night they are actually saying they stopped at the rest area for the night.

It just so happened that Autogrill and rest area together is a perfect idea, in my opinion.

There are different sizes of buildings where Autogrill is located.  Some are located in buildings where there is a huge restaurant, a coffee shop, a good size grocery store, washrooms and bathrooms while some Autogrill are located in buildings just enough to house the restaurant and some washrooms. 

From Verona, we stopped at an Autogrill to have dinner (bought some bread and nutella too from the grocery store) and decided to stay in the rest area to pass the night.  We thought it would be nice to target arriving in Venice in the morning.

We locked up, at first we were listening to noises from around and generally from outside and then later, guess what, we were asleep.

Again, a first time - our very first free camping or dry camping.