Only 2 and a half hours of driving, some folks in a larger country might still be talking about their hometown then. But to me, it felt very much abroad when I was wandering through the biting cold at night in the city of Amiens, a city as foreign for a new arrival as any other city in the world.

It had been a good day already. A quick drive without any trouble (except perhaps a bit of pondering on how it works to pay a ticket for the toll road) and an afternoon of very good and promising science.

The evening brought time to think and plan ahead: what would be needed to reach the goals we hope to reach, what can be done to go even above and beyond them. The beautiful lights at the entrance of the world-famous cathedral of Amiens gave good counselling:

if men could build something as beautiful as this giant, at least we should be able to succeed with the ambitious goals of our experiment.

After wandering through the cold night and empty streets, it was time to reward myself with some food. Thanks to the directions given at the hotel, I managed to find plenty of restaurants. My eye was pulled towards ‘Manneken Pis’, of course a very familiar statue for a Belgian visitor, but they did not serve food on Monday nights.

An all-you-can eat sushi place turned out to be the better alternative, I warmly suggest it to everyone visiting Amiens.