Amiens

A week ago today, Drew, Nina, Jen and I set off in a car bound for Amiens, a small city in Northern France. An enormous cathedral there sits on the Somme river banks-- the tallest Gothic cathedral in France--and at night, white lights strung along the little restaurants and cobbled sidewalks by the river illuminate the town.

I'm not sure what we would have done all day if the car hadn't hit the curb in the parking garage and flattened a tire. Extremely unfortunately, the front two tires of Jen's car had just been replaced last Saturday. By now, everyone knows that problems with straightforward solutions at home have detouring solutions in France.

So, first, we went to eat lunch because mechanic shops don't open between noon and 3pm. Next, we walked to a Midas shop spotted not too far away and told the man of the situation. The garagiste said to bring in the car. This meant putting on the spare tire (the French call this a galette or savory crepe) in the cramped confines of a garage, 2 stories under the earth's surface. Jen's monkey wrench had a Union Jack on it, and her car owner's manual had tons of vocabulary differences. Apparently the British spell it tyre. All in all, we looked like a quartet of youthful robbers. I couldn't help but laugh.

When we returned to Midas, the mechanic pronouced the hole irreparable and said it "really annoyed" him that her tires were new because both would have to be replaced. Apparently in France, the tires across from each other must be the same, and he couldn't sell her just one. He didn't stock Bridgestone, her brand. The French are Michelin proud. So, he helpfully called a few other shops to see if they had Bridgestone tires and sent us away to another place with a hastily drawn map. The next place didn't have the right size Bridgestones, so she had to settle for two new tires of another brand. It was quite a Goldilocks afternoon. By the time they were replaced with the correct fitting French tires, it was practically dinner time.

So, we wandered the widest streets I've seen in France and decided on Chinese food. It's good to know chopstick instructions come in French, too. At the end of the day, we hadn't seen touristy Amiens, but we'd seen Amiens. And that's probably the point of living in France anyway.