My flight lands in Beauvais, France early in the morning. This small airport is outside of Paris. I am looking forward to a day of rest and relaxation in this little French town. When I arrive, I message my Airbnb host who will pick me up at the airport. The house where I am staying is less than 10 minutes drive from the airport. I am allowed to check-in and have my room early. My room here is very cute, spacious and comfortable. Here I settle in and take a lovely nap to supplement my short sleeping time last night. 

I set my alarm to wake me at 1:00 PM so that I can have a good afternoon to get into the town to explore. My host told me about the light show at night on the cathedrale so I know I’m going to want to return to my room for another rest before going out at night to see the light show. I’m lucky because the light show is only on the weekends in the summer and just this weekend is the first one !

After taking a shower and getting ready to head out, it only takes about 15 minutes to walk to the center of Beauvais where I find a cute town with shops, restaurants and many beautiful old buildings. The cathedrale is the tallest in France but it stands incomplete because during the construction process part of the choir and then the tallest tower in the world at the time collapsed. The cathedrale remains attached to the older church which still stands due to the halting of the cathedral construction. Inside the cathedrale there are many wooden supports built which I gather is to keep the structure standing. It’s a beautiful building. 

In Beauvais, the weather is perfect! Sunny but not too hot. Walking around the town, it’s easy to see the contrast between the old and new. During WWII, Beauvais was bombed in retaliation and lost most of the city centre. There are some structures remaining in ruin. However, there are a fair number of streets lined with wooden framed old homes - more really than I think I expected. The town feels lively and active. The people are very friendly. I did a little bit of shopping (new mascara) and stopped for a leisurely lunch at an English-style pub (salad and delish drink). After lunch, I went to a couple museums over by the cathedral, both housing some art exhibits. One was little and modern with a local feel. The other was inside a small palace-looking estate that the information says is where one of the people who sentenced Joan of Arc to the stake lived. Before returning to my room late in the afternoon, I hit the shopping mall to find some shirts and a new charger (broke in the outlet back in Capestrano). The mall was busy. I found what I needed and walked back to my room for some rest before heading back out at night to see a light show on the cathedrale facade. 

10:30 is when the show begins (according to what the host told me this morning), so I’m back off to walk to the cathedrale. I am just so impressed with this town. It’s cute and very clean. I’m in the square a bit early so I wander around and take some photos. There is music playing and I cannot figure where from for a bit. The sound seems to be bouncing all around. When I wandered into the town away from the cathedrale a few blocks though I found the music. It was a DJ playing music in a “show” in a big square with a group of people in front dancing... looks like an outdoor night club. It was pretty cool. 

Closer to 10:30 when I got back to the cathedrale, there still were few people around. When does this light show begin? They have the road blocked off and police standing around the blockades so it must be happening .... found the sign and today it begins at 11:00. So I wait and finally the show begins. My camera almost immediately is out of battery. Ugh. But I get a couple snaps and enjoy just watching the incredible show. They play music and project changing images onto the facade of the cathedrale. This show alone is a great reason to visit Beauvais! 

After a full day in this town, I’m ready for bed. I wander back through the streets. Of course being late and dark, I take a wrong turn and take the long way home, but I make it back and fall into my comfortable nest for not the first time today. It’s been a great day of rest, naps, wandering, shopping, eating and seeing a lovely town. 

I go to sleep excited to meet up with friends in the morning !