I just posted pictures from my recent trip to St. Quentin, a small city (eight times the population of Péronne) an hour's bus ride from here. After receiving intelligence that there are ten teaching assistants there-- that's a lot!-- I decided it was time for a visit.
St. Q was just getting into the holiday spirit. Men were hard at work building a miniature Christmas village in the town center, complete with a gingerbread duplex and a statue of a pirate/Revolutionary/Ichabod Crane reading a book. I hope to visit again when it's finished. . . but can it compete with Péronne's festive disco ball? We'll see.
It was Saturday, so I had the good fortune to see St. Quentin's version of my favorite weekend activity: the market. Of course, it was more extensive and crowded than the market here. And the roast chicken stand didn't seem to be as popular. My favorite display, though, was definitely the cart of live rabbit and baby pig. No, these animals were not intended for dinner (although that was my first reaction). Instead, they served as visual aids for a woman selling cough drops to Save the Animals. I bought a box of cough drops and she let me pet them. So I petted a pig this weekend. Another life experience accumulated.
When I had exhausted the market, I visited St. Quentin Cathedral. The cathedral dates to the 12th century, although it's been bombed and re-built and re-bombed so many times that not much of the original remains. I've posted pictures of the visual highlights. I did not post a picture of the reliquary containing the "hand of Saint Quentin," which the church officials had mercifully relegated to a small side transept.
I met up with other assistants in the afternoon. There were eight of us in all. They proved to be fun, pleasant people. It helps that we all have something in common-- this boat called the teaching assistantship program-- and most of us were on the lookout for travel partners and day trip ideas. They also found the nerdy humor in the action figures I bought for my fiancé's nephew (Napoleon and Admiral Nelson doing battle). It's a good group. We went for coffee, then the St. Quentin-ites showed us a lovely park with a petting zoo. The park also featured a miniature work-out center for children (literally, see the pictures below) and a little play area modeled after castle ruins.
I wish I could think of a more inventive way to end this post, but it was a good day. That's probably true about any day that ends with a playground.
St. Quentin actually looks like an interesting place, and I must say, the pig is kind of cute. I would have petted it, too. I like the closing line about any day that ends with a playground is a good day. I couldn't help myself from saying out loud, "Perhaps, everything you really need to know about life you did learn in kindergarten."
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