Valenciennes - June 18th - 20th
We didn't have high expectations about Valenciennes, but we ended up really enjoying it. We were there for only 2 nights.
Valenciennes is first mentioned in 693 in a legal document written by Clovis II (King of Neustria and Burgundy back in the day). In 1008, a terrible famine brought the Plague. According to the local tradition, the Virgin Mary held a cordon around the city which, miraculously, has since protected its people from the disease. Since then, every year at that time, the Valenciennois used to walk around the 9 mile road round the town, in what is called the tour of the Holy Cordon.
In 1677, the armies of Louis XIV of France captured the city and in 1678 the Treaty of Nijmegen gave the French control of Valenciennes.
During World War I the German army occupied the town in 1914. They were finally driven out by British forces at the Battle of Valenciennes in 1918. A significant personality of this period was Louise de Bettignies, a pupil of the Ursulines in Valenciennes from 1890 to 1896. Fluent in four languages (including German), in 1915 she created and directed the main British intelligence network behind enemy lines, nearly 60 km (37 mi) from the front around Lille. Arrested at the end of September 1915, and imprisoned in Germany, she died of mistreatment in September 1918 two months before the Armistice. It is estimated that she saved the lives of nearly a thousand British soldiers by the remarkably precise information she obtained.
In the Second World War, on May 10, 1940, the town's inhabitants fled by road and it was abandoned to looters from the French army. A huge fire devoured the heart of the town, fuelled in particular by a fuel depot. German troops then occupied the ruined city on May 27. On September 2, 1944, after bloody fighting, American troops entered Valenciennes and liberated the city.
Stade Du Hainaut
Home of the Valenciennes Football Club, the stadium has a capacity of just over 25,000. Valenciennes FC was founded in 1913. Their nickname is The Athenians.
Basilique du Saint Cordon
Street in the Old Section of Valenciennes
We might have eaten at that Greek restaurant on the left when we couldn't get into the Japanese restaurant that we wanted to go to. Not positive that is the right one though.
Basilique du Saint Cordon
Park in Valenciennes
This was in between the two streets making up the Boulevard Watteau, in front of the Musée des Beaux-Arts. It was quite impressive and included several statues that were copies of those inside the museum.
Young Lady Thinking
This was in the strip in the Boulevard Watteau. It made us think of Myriam De Martel!
Lycée Antoine Watteau
A high school named for Antoine Watteau, a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as seen in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens. He revitalized the waning Baroque style, shifting it to the less severe, more naturalistic, less formally classical, Rococo. Watteau is credited with inventing the genre of fête galantes, scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, suffused with a theatrical air. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet.
A Tower
Public Art in Valenciennes
A Building in Valenciennes
The roofs and facades were very interesting in Valenciennes.
Another Steeply Pitched Roof
Église catholique Saint-Michel
Avenue de Liége
Cimetière Saint-Roch
Cimetière Saint-Roch
Cimetière Saint-Roch
Cimetière Saint-Roch
Headstones honoring British soldiers who died in WWI in Valenciennes. The cemetery has sections for British, Canadian, Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans.
Cimetière Saint-Roch
Royal Hainaut Hotel
A 4 star hotel and spa in Valenciennes. We stopped in for a drink just to see the building. It was spectacular!
The Hotel Lobby
The building has a huge courtyard, which has been partially glassed in to construct a lobby and lobby bar. Very impressive.
Beer!
This was very welcome. We had been walking for hours before we took a break for a refreshing beverage!
Lauren in the Hotel Lobby
This is Wade's favorite picture of the trip! It was taken on his cell phone. Such a beautiful subject!
The Dining Room / Hallway
Another View of the Lobby
Panorama of the Hotel Courtyard