Talk:Amiens/Archive 1

hortillonages
What does this mean? Is it spelt correctly? The link goes nowhere on Wiki, both wikitionary, www.dictionary.com and google define: say its unrecognised and using google translate from French to English gives hortillonages.

It is misspelled, it has two n's in French according to my Grand Larousse Encyclopedia. I have corrected the spelling but it still is not found in Wikipedia or on-line for unknown reasons. It is the name given to gardens on small islands connected by small canals in the marshlands of the Picardie region of France.Tvbanfield 19:09, 7 March 2007


 * There's a good explanation in French WP under Hortillonnages d'Amiens. The word hortillon is, I believe, unique to this landmark area, and derives from Latin, essentially meaning gardens. Two n's in the plural as you rightly say. Guffydrawers (talk) 18:28, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * If interested, there's a short video clip of the hortillonnages from French TV channel TF1 at http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-13h/visite-des-hortillonnages-d-amiens-5861424.html where you see tourists taking boat trips on the hortillonnages' 65 kilometres of waterways, a down-to-earth owner of one of the gardens saying he just grows vegetables for soup (radishes just need to be big and crunchy) and a boatswoman recognising the hortillonnages as part of the region's heritage. --Guffydrawers (talk) 18:59, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

History
Perhaps the damage to the city of Amiens would be worthy of a paragraph in a Wikipedia article (like in the French Wikipedia). If so, I would be pleased to prepare such an entry (in English).Tvbanfield 19:22, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Tvbanfield, if you are still an active Wikipedian, please do add such a paragraph (with references, of course). I started editing the History section this evening on account of it being very difficult to read. I believe the original author was likely French and thus English was not the first language, so that is understandable. However, there are virtually no references for any of the facts given in this section. I have found a translated version of the Picardie government's website which includes a timeline of the region, so I am going to go through that and see what facts I can verify about Amiens. 97.104.248.217 MolotovH (talk) 04:44, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Protection of the Cathedral
During a visit in 2002 I found two postcards in the gift shop at the Cathedral, one showing elaborate use of sandbags to protect the West portals during World War I, and the other showing immense piles of sandbags inside the Cathedral protecting the columns and some of the statuary during World War II. Does anyone have additional information about these protective measures? Are there any public domain photos available?

Could scanned versions of the postcards be somehow authorized for insertion in a Wikipedia article?

Response in either French or English will be welcomed.Tvbanfield 04:16, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Modern Renovations/Issues
In the process of trying to find references for the renovations to the Gare d'Amiens, I found an interesting bit which I wrote about ... only to realize that my "source material" was itself quoting a Wikipedia article, and one which has no references. If there are any rail buffs out there who can read French language rail history sites, could you please help me verify the following paragraph?

"In 1993, the LGV Nord high-speed rail route was opened, linking Paris and Lille, Belgium with a route through Picardie. The chosen route by-passed Amiens, which generated criticism from locals. This is to be rectified by the LGV Picardie route, which will enter the city proper." 97.104.248.217 MolotovH (talk) 04:44, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

For anyone who is good at wikipedi editing: Jules Verne should be added to to the notable pople for he lived there for 34 years of his life untill his death. Probably a bit more important than the footballers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.253.100.211 (talk) 10:04, 28 July 2010 (UTC)