Mercure Rouen Champ Mars

... 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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<br>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 ...

... apostrophe key. Also the Q and the A keys are swapped around so keep an eye out for those kind of typos. <br> <br>Anyway, onto our first train trip of the adventure we are on. Paris to Rouen. We validated our Eurail pass and got on. It really was that easy. (Apparently we will need to make reservations for certain trains and I am sure we will get that figured out as we go.) The trip was about an hour and we were in Rouen. We checked into the hotel and once again ...

... were nice but nothing like the orchard we headed back to the bus for the ride home. <br><br>I don't know what it was about Giverny but everyone raved about it on the way back and we all agreed that we had a great time. It may have been the free wine at lunch or the delicious apple juice or maybe even the people I was with but it was one of the best days here yet. Lots of beautiful gardens and gorgeous weather was the backdrop to our awesome day. On to another excursion next Tuesday!

... took charge of the camera and had fun taking pictures of as many flowers as possible. Another wonderful day and a great start to our bigger adventures!<br><br>Tomorrow we are leaving on a 5 day trip to the beaches of Normandy and to Mont Saint Michel. Many more pictures and stories to tell to come! I can only hope that the trip continues to go as well as it started!<br><br>Wish you were all here to enjoy the experience with us!<br><br>Katie<br><br><br>

Monet's house and garden were so beautiful and so interesting to see his inspiration and then see the actual paintings. The day was not sunny but our guide said that better to view the gardens.Loved the lily ponds. The town of Vernon was not as ...

... 5. Counting Why. Why. Why. Why must I need to do mental math in order to count in French? If you don't know what I'm talking about it, read on. For example: "Ninety-nine" in French = "Quatre-vingt-dix-neuf" This translates to: 4 x 20 + 10 + 9 Well, I hope this wasn't a downer. And since I don't have pictures of any of the above mentioned items...enjoy this random assortment from the last few months. We miss you all!

... a building from the 16th century, still in use today. Its façade showed serious pock-marks -- and once more, we were transported to the 1940's when the building came under fire. Of course, as we made our way back to the hotel, it started raining, and we faced the fact that we didn't have umbrellas or rain coats with us... Trying to find a pub or cafe for shelter proved challenging, somehow. Every place in sight was a cafe closing ...

Hello all, I have a great website that lets me upload all of my photos really easily, so i use that more than this... but here are the links to the picutures and descriptions: http://calpoly.facebook.com/album.php?a id=2051667&id=6402579&l=18b2d - Mont St Michel ...

... as possible, ask for a box, and then give it to someone as a gift !!!!! Onwards we moved, and we had one last place to get to. Brugges. The most touristy town in Belgium, or possibly, all of Europe. Everytime I go there, I hate the place. Its full of bloody cobblestones, and finding parking is a nightmare. Once done, its ok to walk around, having to dodge the tourists taking photos and such, and then move onto the chocolate stores. We did this ...