After visiting too many churches and cathedrals what a change when in Honfleur we visited St…read moreCatherine's. This seafaring town has a wooden church built by shipbuilders. No wonder it looks like a ship. Amazing to see.

This is part of the church but has many different activities available including playgroups…read more They have a cafe with low prices which mean that if you are on a budget you can get a good deal on something to eat. There are computers available for internet access and a lending library of books. Midwives arrange appointments here. I love this place it's a little community place to take little ones.

The Amiens Cathedral also call the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens. It is the largest cathedral in…read moreFrance due to the volume or cubic meter. This cathedral is located north of Paris. It has it significant for the local worshippers. The cathedral also listed in the UNESCO world heritage site. It was built around 1200. Our visit did not allow us going to choirs section which in behind the altar. The Pilar of the worship area is tall. Love high ceilings pointy roof structure. Altar decoration is beautiful. Behind the altar the stain glass window are not the original but the sunlight shine on the glass is beautiful. The pulpit with stair lead to is well decorated with angel. The outside gothic look is one of the kind. Especially the center circle between the two tower with inter crossing rose paddle shaped is unique. The tower shaped like Paris Norte Dame Cathedral. The tomb of Bishop Ferry de Beauvoir is buried here.

So many wonderful things about this cathedral. I'm unlikely to add anything helpful to what has…read morealready been written so I'll simply add the following: at 3pm on most days the friends of the cathedral offer a free (in French only) lecture/tour of the choir section of the cathedral, an area that is normally closed to the public. It's one of the best art talks I've heard in France, though I can only speak for the gentleman who led our talk. don't miss the chance to climb the steeple and see the views of the building and of Amiens. You can only go in afternoons during the summer so make sure that you make time for it, and if needs be, book ahead.

Never can such an unprepossessing exterior have hidden such a gem. From the outside, St Mary's…read morelooks like you average, run-of-the-mill neo-gothic Victorian church. It doesn't even look that large, and has the added humiliation of a public lavatory attached on one side. But once inside, you turn and find yourself in a cathedral-like space: a huge nave, an even larger crossing and a spectacular chancel and sanctuary. This is architecture as drama, writ large. St Mary's has had an interesting history: opened in 1827 to cater for the burgeoning suburbs of east Brighton, the original church was a rather handsome neo-classical building, modelled on the temple of Nemesis in Athens. Alas, like many Regency buildings, it was badly built, and partially collapsed during building work in 1876. The architect commissioned to design its replacement was William Emerson, known mostly for his work in India. St Mary's is his only church in the UK, and he chose the decorated gothic style for his new creation, albeit one with other elements: the aisle arches are round-headed and groups of Early-English lancets proliferate - all in red brick, with Bath stone detailing. The arcades rise to Corinthian capitals, both in the nave and in the apse of the sanctuary. Cleverly, Emerson made full use of the changes in levels, first down from the entrance and baptistery into the nave, and then back up again into the sanctuary, to emphasise the height. (The nave is 40ft across and 60ft high.) The only element not completed was the tower, which was abandoned for lack of funds, although early drawings show what was intended. The church has a wide array of Victorian stained glass, including an example by Kempe, although other workshops predominate. (The web-site has excellent pictures of all the glass). The furnishings are also of high quality, including a carved pulpit of Caen stone, and a marble font, which stands on a plinth of granite from the Schreckhorn mountain in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. This commemorates the second Vicar, Julius Elliott: an accomplished rock climber, he was the second to ascend the North Face of the Matterhorn, but died in 1869 after an apparently successful ascent of the Schreckhorn, at the age of 28. The other notable feature is its organ, which is known for its tonal quality, enhanced by the excellent acoustics of the church. The only downside to all this grandeur is that to-day's rather smaller congregation struggles to resource the scale of maintenance required of such a huge building. It needs generous visitors.