Castles, cheese, and cuisine.
Grey stone, green moss, and gold ornaments
Old wealth is just a layer that the modern Northern France is built on. A history steeped in rule and braced for cold weather. The money poured into the monuments of each city be it churches, walls, or clock is astounding
The cities have seen their heydays as far as massive works and expansion as the centralized wealth has been partially democratized and flipped into a tourist industry.
It’s pretty.