Arras FR 5-8 April 2022 We arrived in Arras on Tuesday afternoon and settled into our small apartment. It was located on la Petite Place (now known as la Place des Heroes). The other famous square in Arras was nearby (la Grande Place), and our car parking was under that square. Both squares are delightful and picturesque, but la Petite Place was a pedestrian zone and so was more picturesque, and had a market there on Wednesday morning just outside our door. At the end of la Petite Place is the Belfry and Hotel de Ville, where the Tourist Information is located. La Place des Heroes La Grande Place On Wednesday morning after a visit to the market we visited the Tourist Information where we saw the local geants (giants), who participate in festivals. Now a family - father, mother and 2 kids. There was a walking tour around the city, but because of my sore foot, we decided to do it by bicyle, using the foldup bikes we brought along. We took a little detour to also see the canal/river up to the Mooring at Saint-Laurent-Blangy. After lunch we visited the top of the Belfry. Lucky for me there was a lift most of the way. We picked a good time - no rain and a clear view. The next morning we did a tour of the Boves, tunnels and chambers under the Hotel de Ville and la Petite Place. This was quite interesting as they started out as a quarry for chalk for buildings, and were used for many things since including food and wine storage for the markets and shops, access for soldiers and bomb shelters during the war. I was impressed with one stairwell that had a matching stair in the ceiling, so that people coming down in the dark could find the steps using their hands on the ceiling. In the afternoon we visited the Musée des Beaux Arts, which is in the Abbaye Saint Vaaste. There we were able to see more of the building and their plans for restoration, some of the history of Arras and of course their collection of art. On our last night we went out to a restaurant nearby - Le Petit Rat Porteur. Apparently Arras was sometimes known as the rat as the name sounds like a rat. While at the restaurant we heard the welcome news that our new central heating boiler had arrived, so we did not need to extend our little side trip. So in the morning we packed up and headed back to Ieper.
We had been very happy with our little apartment. We had been behind with our washing as we don't have a dryer on the boat - we have a drying rack where things usually dry overnight with the heating. So we did 3 loads of washing while we were there. We also watched the complete 2nd season of Bridgeton on their netflix which was most enjoyable.
1 Comment
PAM KERSHAW
9/4/2022 03:09:44 am
Some wonderful photos there Deb! So enjoying your trip!
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