Ibis Rouen Centre Rive Gauche

... kitty sniffing around and Chris gave it a little bowl of milk. I guess it liked the milk since the next day there were paw prints going up our windshield and then a butt print of it sliding down again. I guess it was looking for a way in. We haven't found a cat in the van yet so I guess there was none!

Well it was back to Paris the next day with one last stop off in Versailles. There is always something else to see!

... a lovely (and cheap) bottle of the local cider.

We didn't venture out into Rouen deciding to leave it for the morning.

When we did we saw where Joan of arc was burnt at the stake, and the tower where she was locked pending her trial.

The old town was full of tudor style buildings, but the highlight was the ancient one handed town clock.

... 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 ...

... br>
Day two we woke up and hopped the train to Vernon about half an hour from Rouen to get to Giverney. We went to the house and gardens of Claude Monet. Neither of us were expecting such a huge garden. We just thought it was some dudes backyard with a pond and some lillypads but the place is pretty big. We had to wait for the bus to get us back to Vernon so we went and ate crepes sitting at a restaurant outside where we had to move our tables umbrella out of ...

... 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 ...

... a river, a scenic overlook over the countryside and sea, and walking trails through what looked to be meadows. It also had a snazzy outdoor playground, a nice cafeteria and a couple of shops.  Very fancy.    

We arrived in Rouen around 10:30 to a street opera in front of our hotel.  I didn't get any pictures, but it was pretty cool despite the fact we were blocked from getting to our hotel and parking garage.    Our hotel has a funny smell and large, barking ...

... and hung some clothes to dry overnight. We opened up all the windows and prayed that the wind wouldn't pick up and blow all our clothes away. They didn't blow away, but they didn't dry either. If this experience teaches us nothing else, we can at least say we've learned to make do with what we've got. We might have to put up with tiny trash cans, but at least I can say I've made lasagna in a saucepan and cooked it in a toaster oven. In addition to ...

... was spectacular and we tried out our solar shower!which worked a treat! From here on in our 'crew' was complete... Astro, Suz, Annette, Cyrus, Mads and Kim turned up and 'Van Tour' started! Needless to say many beers were downed and many heads were sore the next morning! A word of warning: French 'Police' are horrible! We were driving in convoy and drove through a orange light only to be pulled over by two police who refused to speak English to us, although we tried to ...

... onto the cathedral and it looks amazing! so amazing we watched it twice and we'll probably go back tonite! theres little cafes everywhere and we've learnt the french serve bread with everything! and they aren't as bad as everyone says, in fact they're very nice! we went to a few museums today. one was the fine art museum, it was only 2 euros in and it was huge! it had some of monets paintings and other really famous stuff. we ...