Alba Rouen

So I must admit that by the time we arrived in Rouen we were kind of sick of looking at churches and castles and all that other old French town stuff. Fortunately it was a really nice day and we wanted to walk around a bit. The Cathedral in Rouen is absolutely amazing and still managed to impress us with all its little statues lining the walls. The city is modern and new looking and the main streets are big and busy. We ...

... south west to Paris. The plan is to visit the villages on the river on the way to Rouen, and are rewarded with their beauty.

We arrive to Rouen late in the afternoon. We eventually and somewhat tentatively settle on a park on the riverside by some docked barges being used as houses.

Kim cooked up gourmet hamburgers which was washed down ...

... is not a traditional church because it is built in a way that is supposed to remind you of how she died, it looks very modern.
I also booked my train ticket for the next trip which was interesting because she couldn't speak english, however I had written down what I wanted and it was sipmple enough although I had to catch a train later than I wanted for my eurrail pass to be valid. It is more difficult to travel in France; firstly because you MUST ...

... way when bigger trucks passed by. Back in Rouen we visited the towns Gothic cathedral and tried to go on a tour of the city but it was the end of the day and no one else was going so the tour got cancelled. We went from shop to shop buying ingredients to make a sandwich. What started as a baguette turned into dinner after visiting a butcher shop, a produce market and a cheese guy (I will find out the tecnical French name for that before we leave the country.)

... was very interesting. We were done visiting Monet's house and gardens by nearly lunch so we headed to one of the 'hotels' in the city where our lunch reservations were.

The place we met for lunch was originally a hotel where many artists including Americans came and stayed while studying under Monet. I had a duck salad which was so amazing. They had thin pan fried potatoes on top of the duck meat which was covered with an amazing vinaigrette dressing on a bed of lettuce. I ...

... Van Goghs old apartment. Not a very spectacular looking place but pretty cool none the less! We walked to the Moulin Rouge and got lunch. The Moulin rouge is in the red light district so there were many many many sex shops and strip clubs! It felt like home on St Cath!! Haha! After all that walking it was time to catch a metro and go home for what else...a nap! What a great way to end the day!

Today Chris got his manual driving skills on ...

... the space where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and the church that they dedicated to her, with lots of pretty stained glass. We had a few hours to look around so I shopped some, ate a macaroon (apparently they are known for them), went down to the river and considered trying to swim back hehe, and then went over to a park. It was a nice relaxing visit and I really enjoyed all of the Norman architecture and all of the tiny ...

... before, we went to the the tapestry. This is the towns claim to fame. It has got to be the longest tapestry in history, measuring 70m long and .5m wide. This tapestry told the story of how William the Conquer became the king of England. The tapestry was in surprisingly good condition and was still very colorful. I think it was made in like 1066 so its survived a very long time. We were pleasantly surprised by the awesomeness of this tapestry, and I recommend you ...

... soldiers moved from bunker to bunker, and they're definitely not meant for the claustrophobic. After that we went to the American cemetery, which was very nice. It's on a beautiful piece of land overlooking the ocean, and the day was perfect for visiting it. We really wanted to walk on the beach some but didn't have time...we had to drive to Mont St. Michel where we stayed for the night. Mont St. Michel is a rando "mountain" out at sea that was a fortified city ...