Apr 26, 2017 Maison de Jules Verne in Amiens, France
Staying with friends who live in a small town in France, we asked about the sights to see. They mentioned the local cathedral, a boat cruise, and Maison de Jules Verne. No one had ever taken them up on seeing the writer’s house yet, they added, but that was number one on our list. Verne is one Fathers of Science Fiction!
There are no large signs to direct you to the Maison de Jules Verne. But there is a tower with steampunk-looking fixtures on top to provide a clue for wandering tourists like us. The museum is not bilingual, but the kind staff handed us booklets with English translations of all the placards. The first room you see is the sun room, which houses a submarine painted to match the chairs!
The first floor has been preserved to look a lot like how it was when the author entertained guests. There’s a piano room and a smoking room, although Verne might not have had as many portraits of himself on display when we actually lived and eventually died there.
The second floor has been transformed into his publisher’s office, showing off antique books, first editions, and vintage promotional materials. They had pretty affordable reprints of the old hardbacks in the gift shop, as well, but they were all in French. Too authentic for us!
The museum takes even bigger liberties on the next floor, which is transformed into the boat that he lived on! The wood paneling proves to be a seamless texture from one reality to another, and the recreated view from its dock is a nice touch as well. It is totally unreal but befits the restless spirit of Around The World in 80 Days, Journey To The Center of The Earth, and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
The next room has a roomful of card games, board games, figurinees, and busts that would go for a decent amount of dough at Comic-Con if they were based on Avengers or mutants. But the most interesting part of this floor is tucked in the corner, and one might even walk right by the corner doorway that leads to the coolest part of the entire house: Verne’s actual writing desk. Wow! He had a nice view and a mattress to the side for resting/dreaming…
The attic is full of huge movie posters and paraphernalia from all over the world, but also has cool large-scale models suspended from the ceiling. The playfulness reminds you that reading is indeed fun, and visitors are led to a tower demonstrating that architecture can be fun, too.
Going back to reality can be a harsh letdown, but the spiral staircase proves to be simple and dizzying, direct and whimsical. Verne’s works are famous for fantastic imagination grounded in science and facts, and his house reflects that.
We bought some postcards to send back to the U.S. and then borrowed some of Verne’s books from the library when we got home. Is there better testimonial than that? Fans of sci-fi, adventure literature, and reading and imagination in general should investigate Maison de Jules Verne if they find themselves making a stop between Paris and Brussels.
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