Notre Dame 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.)

... of Giverny only has around 200 permanent inhabitants, its very very small. At the same time its one of the most visited sites outside of the city, therefore about 1/3 of the city is accommodations for those tourist and by accommodations I mean parking lots and tourist attractions. The designer who was hired to provide (and also conceal) these accommodations did an incredible job. The parking lot is planted with wild grasses that seem to flow right into the nearby natural fields ...

... involves a nice cheese platter! I am even trying a sip of wine each night. Maybe by the end of this trip I'll be able to have a whole glass!

Yesterday we went for a walking tour of Sacre Couer and the surrounding bohemiene town! What a beautiful building. We walked up the 10000000 steps to the top (with a few small rest periods). Unfortunatly we couldnt take pictures inside but it was gorgeous. All the churches in France have great art and ...

... another country.  Nope, that was it.  Some wouldn't even insure him at any price because a Volvo was "too big" for a first year driver.  Now this car was about the size of your standard sedan.  Hardly too big.  Regardless, we decided that maybe it wasn't the right time to buy since we couldn't do any more investigating.  So we now have the car we reserved for just such an inconvenience.  

The car is a Ford Mundeo and it's actually alright despite the fact ...

Hello from my slouchy green couch. You should know we've wallpapered our living room with maps; we're planning our trip to the UK. After a stressful week of wondering if we had unknowingly conceived a Swedish baby, we were able to set aside money for a vacation instead of baby bumpers and diapers. Can you possibly imagine trying to describe to a pharmacist, in a foreign language, that you need a pregnancy test? Well, Kyle did. It's only in these slightly ...

... condition and had quite an airy feeling to it! Then to Pegasus Bridge and its museum, where we ended up sleeping in the car park and met up with Hamish and Katie. We stopped at a few other cemeteries and museums and I was all guns, bombs warred out so we continued on to Le St Mont Michel... which was very impressive! At night it is light up and looks stunning, its surrounded with miles of sand or the sea depending on tides. Next day we headed to Tours, in the centre of ...

... turn towards home and there is little ambition left for cultural enthusiasm. A cheeseburger starts to sound a lot better than some French delicacy you can't pronounce. Grandma was quietly following our route on a map in the back as mom and I yacked. We talked about books; literature was our shared passion mainly because it was she who first introduced me to it. After teaching me to read my mom had become my primary English teacher. She bought me my first ...