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[Page 12]
Amiens
12/7/16
Slept in until 9.15 a.m. & at 11 saddled up the horse & left with Major Matthews to ride the 8 miles into Amiens through cobbled streets along a tram track where fine electric cars were being driven by women conductors. Past the Hotel de Ville and stabled horses at an hotel. All the people staring at us & much taken with our hats. Fine shops in all the streets.
Went down to the Cathedral upon which you come suddenly and the delicacy and airiness of the wonderful dream of stonework takes your breath away. The whole of the outside is carved & chiselled into hundreds & hundreds of images and statues. The building was commenced to go white with its 700 years of age. The spire is an extremely slender & tall one which has an air of lightness about it. The lower portions of the building are encased in sandbags & a good many figures are hidden thereby.
In the front of the church is the open paved Place de Notre Dame which sets off the Cathedral. Around about were several beggars, some very persistent. In rear of the church is a statue of Peter the Hermit. The central figure of the front – the Bon Dieu d'Amiens - was hidden by sandbags but just above the portal a figure is represented as sitting in judgment the curve of the portal above [indecipherable] represents the heavens and is full of a whole heavenly host in stone – hundreds of angel figures. Below the figure are row after row of persons awaiting judgement some have plaster heads & there are also on this wall numbers of fabled monsters cut in stone horses with fishes tails &c. Marvellous gargoyles glare open mouthed from among the statues, their purpose is to act as drain spouts & to discharge rainwater out of their mouths. High up are large statues of the apostles and others beautifully done. The round exterior of the rose window appears above these. Flying buttresses are all round. One wants to sit down on the opposite side of the square & let it all sink in. The