Arras, Boulogne, Le Touquet

The recipe for a perfect weekend - take two of our oldest friends, a Speedferries flexiticket, 2 nights in Arras and a few antique shops in Boulogne; mix in an unexpectedly magnificent firework display over Arras town hall, a sand sculpture festival on the beach at le Touquet and a generally lovely time and there you have it, a goooood weekend.

Arras Town Hall in daylight:

Arras is lovely, lots of Flemish-style architecture, grand squares and serious - very serious - history. The squares are almost entirely 'new', rebuilt after WW1, but lovely nonetheless, and we saw what was probably the loveliest firework display we have seen - accompanied by a commentary in words and music, it told the story of the town as pyrotechnics burst over, through and from the town hall and belfry. Enchanting. A few more shots to see on my Flickr set of Arras pics.

Arras Town Hall in pyrotechnic-light:

And the Place des Heros by night, showing the beautifully reconstructed Flemish-style heart of the town.

Under the Town Hall are entrances to the dozens of miles of tunnels, started as medieval chalk quarries and completed as WW1 troop accommodation - and access to the Front, several miles away. Very sobering, and seeing the map of British War Graves (all 693 of them) was a chilling reminder of sacrifice and slaughter.

Some lovely architecture survives of course: here are a couple of front doors that caught my eye:

On the way back to Boulogne we thought we'd try Le Touquet for lunch, and found the last day of the Sand Sculpture Exhibition - marvellous. Loads more to see on my Flickr set of Sand Sculpture pics (again).

And topping it all off with a few antique shops in Boulogne and a nice piece of furniture on the roof of the car just to prove the point. And Speedferries are offering a deal at the moment - 10 tickets for £220 (that's £44 for each return trip, which is pretty good, as long as the sea cooperates). Hmmm...