The worst hotel

Amiens was another place we had visited on our honeymoon but that time we were just passing through. This time we made the mistake of an overnight stay. Don't get me wrong - I'm sure Amiens is a wonderful place to stay overnight - if you find a good hotel - sadly we didn't. We had paid in advance for the hotel so we were stuck with it. It was in a slightly seedy looking area which put us off from the beginning and the rooms were poky, dark, a bit smelly and just gave off a general air of grubbiness. Parking restrictions meant we couldn't park outside the hotel and we still had the problem with the underground car park. We didn't want to be in the rooms a moment more than we had to so we headed off into town to revisit the magnificent cathedral which we had spent an afternoon in over 20 years earlier. The square outside the cathedral hadn't changed dramatically in the intervening period although whilst we sat outside a cafe in the corner eating ice creams we were trying to work out where we had sat outside a cafe doing the same thing all those years ago but came to the conclusion that it was no longer a cafe. Oh well - at least we found somewhere else to have ice creams. We explored all the little side streets around the cathedral but for some reason I don't seem to have all the photographs I would expect to have. We did venture into the modern town centre for a quick look around and a chance to sit down and take the weight off our overworked feet for a while. When we returned to the hotel it was our intention to change and then go out to find some dinner, unfortunately the kerbs are incredibly high and whilst parking the driver hit the kerbstone and it punctured the tyre. This is where the incredibly high kerbs become even more unfortunate as it was impossible to change the tyre at the side of the road because there was no access and we were on the wrong side of the road to make it feasible to pull out far enough into the road to change it. I am so glad that our RAC insurance covered us for Europe. A phone call later and help was on it's way but we had to sit tight at the hotel until they arrived. When the man did come, he stuck his big truck with flashing lights in the middle of the road then asked us to pull the car out in front of it and got to work. I couldn't take any photos though as I was doing the communicating as he spoke no English. Fortunately the restaurant in the hotel was much better than the rest of the hotel - not brilliant but OK - ish.
















I just love these windows and they are all different.

I wish I had more photographs of the area surrounding the cathedral as it is so lovely, I can't think why I haven't, perhaps I was still reeling from the shock of the hotel. It is a shame as it spoiled the last night of our holiday.


We stayed in the same hotel chain in every town and each one was different and ranged from the sublime in Rouen through charming vernacular to the horrid in Amiens. If you want to know which contact me and I will tell you - I'd better not name it on here. Whatever you do - DON'T STAY THERE