Laon is an easy day trip from Paris by train. It's also a city most American tourists do not visit…read more... because they don't know about it. If you only have time for one day trip while in Paris, I recommend skipping the clusterfuck that is Versailles and going to the quaint city of Laon.
The cathedral of Laon is one of France's lesser known great Gothic monsters and was started 8 years before Paris' Notre-Dame. It escaped World War I unharmed and sits up high on a plateau overlooking the town. You can take the Poma directly up the hill from right outside the train station. One of the interesting architectural bits to notice are the stone oxen sitting up high in the towers. Legend has it that an exhausted ox was pulling stones to the top of the cathedral during construction when one appeared out of nowhere to replace it. Once it helped deliver the stones to the top, it disappeared.
Walking through the streets of Laon, you will feel the eerie quiet of the past. There is no hustle and bustle. Sometimes, there seems to be literally no one around but you. This is an unusual find. I'd have known nothing about it if it were not for a friend's husband who happened to spend a couple of years living in Paris. Go there ... you will be among the roughly 200 American tourists a year who do. If you need advice on how to get there, send me a PM. It's a painless 85 mile straight shot from Gare du Nord.
