by, Dylan

On the second day of our trip, still recovering from jetlag, we drove to the Beauvais Cathedral located right in the middle of the commercial district of the town Beauvais, meaning less than a hundred feet in any direction of the cathedral walls were various clothing and food shops. The thing very noticeable about the shoping France or all of the shopping certers weve been to so far is that they have mostly 4 different types of stores, pharmacies, the boulangeries and fromageries, the cafés/bars, and the clothing stores. Anyway the cathedral is either one of the biggest or the biggest in Europe, and within is actually about ten smaller alcove-like "cathedrals", its just giant and echoes and every square inch is beautifully crafted which is saying alot since this thing is about two hundred fifty feet tall and probably twice that length-wise. and there was also this organ there it was the most awesome looking thing, right at the head of the cathedral, across from the gorgeously illuinated stone madonna and child in this barred off enlosure that we only got into because a janitor was waxing the floor. There was also this gold leaf astronomical clock on the opposite side of the catherdral from the entrance, quite exquisite. after that, we went on to look at the shops around Beauvais although we didnt buy anything and after that, went home to wait for the 16th Annual european international fireworks competition at Chantilly (pronounced Shaun-tee-E [MOM]) or as the brochure said, Nuits de Feu (Nights of Fire) where we saw a variety of worldclass fireworks and laser shows set to music.

The third day we were still recovering from the time change, so rather than exaust ourselves furthermore, we decided to go to a superstor/mall in a nearby city and just hang around. We didnt really find any souvenier type items, most likely because it wasnt for tourists but we did get some pretty good candy. After we drove home, we hung around Mello, playing frisbee with some local soccer kids for a few hours. That night, because it was Bibi's birthday, we had a french birthday cake with custard and chocolate eclairs but it was pretty rich for my taste, since we had already filled ourselfs with an array of fine meats and cheeses. thats all for now, please comment, au revior.