{"id":8748,"date":"2014-04-30T22:22:14","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T22:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=8748"},"modified":"2014-09-22T18:40:14","modified_gmt":"2014-09-22T18:40:14","slug":"around-arras-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/around-arras-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Around Arras"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Just one hours drive south of Calais lies Arras. \u00a0We first visited with my Brother and Sister in Law many moons ago, when we were “pre-enfants” (and when the only emergency stop necessary en route wasn’t for the toilet, but at Carrefour\u00a0to stock up on wine to take back!)!…<\/span><\/p>\n

We spent that golden Autumn weekend perusing glorious market stalls piled high with beautiful stinky cheese of the kind that the French do best, along with many other types of local produce (not always the expected kind – my ex-vegetarian self vividly remembers being somewhat aghast that the fat bunnies on one stall weren’t being sold as pets!), usually followed by gargantuan seafood platter sampling. \u00a0 This was often succeeded by a little Pastis appreciation, accompanied by a spot of (raspy voice making) Gauloise smoking with the locals in an antique bar or two \u00a0– it was the less health conscious 90’s after all! \u00a0General communication was pretty much left up to my Sister in Law who has a French Degree, although I think we were all just about fluent after a Pastis\u00a0or two…<\/p>\n

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ANYWAY… \u00a0We had such fond memories of the place, we decided to stop on our way back to Bavaria last week, and it appears that we are not alone in thinking about doing so,\u00a0it’s a popular place on the tourist map! \u00a0 There are plenty of caves under the city (more on them in a minute) to feel your way around, giant market squares to sit and people watch in, delectable restaurants, and World Heritage Belfries to climb – plus the various other surrounding districts that might also take your fancy…<\/span><\/p>\n

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Seafood was pretty much the main item on our agenda this time – really fresh beautiful French stuff. \u00a0A kind of last seafood meal before we made our descent back to Bavaria (where of course you can get good seafood, but it’s just not quite like this!). \u00a0 \u00a0We took our pick from one of two restaurants recommended to us by our Hotel Patron (we stayed at the\u00a0Hotel D’Angleterre<\/a>\u00a0opposite the station – huge rooms, very quiet, friendly staff and the added bonus that if you are a Brit you won’t forget the name!), and decided upon\u00a0Le Bateau de Ch’ti<\/a>\u00a0after discovering that a vast section of the menu is dedicated to Moules alone. \u00a0So with half-sized portions of\u00a0Moules Frites ordered twice, large seafood platter ordered once (for some ridiculous reason we had decided to share) and one bottle of finest French cidre later (not for the small people obviously!), we all left happy and full, content in the knowledge that the afternoon’s plans had also been decided upon. \u00a0For once we felt organised!<\/p>\n

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Mr R had a phone conference, so would accompany us up the World Heritage Belfry (see upcoming post!) before leaving us to it. \u00a0Whereupon I would take the Small People down to the depths of the famous\u00a0World War 1 Cave experience<\/a>\u00a0under the city. \u00a0 Tickets in hand, we waited patiently for the allotted time to meet our guide, before being led underground (considering the amount of time I have spent in the depths of the earth recently, I am beginning to suspect a former life as a troglodyte!). \u00a0I guess it was around 15 minutes into the experience that I began to get the inkling that something was amiss. \u00a0Come to think of it, it might have been when our guide uttered the words “and that’s the end of the history lesson” without so much of a mention of WW1 and the soldiers who had gathered in the network of tunnels here to plan their surprise attack. \u00a0 \u00a0Still hoping, we trundled on until we were led into a cave filled with some sort of flower display (I believe that particular “room” was “Asia”) all beautifully arranged and grown hydroponically.<\/p>\n

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Floral cave after floral cave followed, until “English Garden” dealt with (mostly piped classical music, a few daffodils and a bit of grass), I plucked up the courage to ask whether we would be seeing any of the War time stuff soon. \u00a0 The guide, a really sweet girl, clamped a horrified hand to her mouth, and revealed that we were in fact deep in the heart of the\u00a0Jardin Des Boves<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0(an exhibition of floral design held underground from March – June each year – and worth visiting if this kind of thing is your cup of tea, or if you wish to learn more about the power of hydroponics!)… \u00a0Apparently the caves we should have been in were “just opposite” our hotel, “very convenient, mais non”?! \u00a0 \u00a0Not so much when we had missed the last tour of the day, and were leaving early the next morning! \"1-IMG_5102\"<\/a> Luckily, my own little tour group of two found the whole situation highly amusing, and to make up for the unintentional sight-seeing, we had dinner at the second recommended restaurant\u00a0Amarine<\/a>\u00a0(very good!). \u00a0 Here we feasted on razor clams – and the smallest member of our party laughed until he was nearly sick about the day’s events, and a story I once told him about a punk who had a skull and cross-bones tattooed on his head (but which in time had unfortunately blurred over to resemble a Christmas pudding). \u00a0But that my friends is well and truly another story… \"1-IMG_5110\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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