You cannot complain about any lack of variety in France - as if the Tour de France, World Cup, and a multitude of festivals throughout the country were not enough, the northern town of Douai(59 Nord, Nord-Pas de Calais) holds its GIants Festival (La fête des Gayants) from Friday to Sunday 7-9 July 2006. Douai is known as the City of Giants (Gayants), which are huge models of a whole family from the 15th and 16th Century. The weekend will feature parades and fireworks and should be an impressive sight,
As many northern towns, Douai has an striking 14th Century Gothic Belfry - but our last visit to the town was disrupted by the very French habit of digging up all the roads in the centre of town making access difficult and blighting the place for weeks.
Douai could be a useful stopover being just over an hour from Calais/Dunkerque/Boulogne and close to the junction of the A1 (Paris-Lille), A2 (Paris-Brussels) and A26 (Calais-Reims) autoroutes.
For more info on Douai and the Festival see www.ville-douai.fr
