Albert, in the département of Somme, 155 km (96 miles) north of Paris (map), is a charming small town with a good World War I museum, the Musée Somme 1916, and a fine basilica topped by a flying gilded baby. There's a legend about that stature too. More...

	The Flying Baby atop the basilica...

With a population of about 10,000, Albert is a small town, but its location at the heart of the Battle of the Somme and near many World War I battle sites and monuments makes it a frequent stopping point for visitors to the area. The compact town center, filled with flowers in season, is charming and calm. Bakeries and shops allow you to get picnic supplies or other necessities.

Albert is part of the Pays du Coquelicot, or Country of the Poppy. Red poppies appear frequently—on road signs and maps, and also at every war memorial. Originally made famous by the poem In Flanders Fields, by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, the poppy was one of the first things to grow in the battlefields. Today it is often used as a memorial symbol.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

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