Blogs from Rouen, Upper Normandy, France, Europe

The road from Lisieux to Quillebeuf took me through a fertile agricultural landscape where harvesting was well underway. There were several climbs to plateaus where the road continued level before descending, only to soon climb the next plateau. The landscape is not as wild as The Sperrins or Bluestacks. I wonder what the Eatls thought of it. Just before the final descent onto the flood plain of the Seine I stopped by a field of some luxuriant purple flowered crop. I'd no idea what it was, but the butterflies were loving it. I stopped to take a few photos. There were occasional small vernacular houses and barns along the little country road near the river. Long rectangular buildings with thatched roofs topped with a ridge of living turf. No doubt the design has changed little in ... read more

On the way to Rouen we discussed what year we were there before. Had to be a few years back. A good run again with a few coffee stops for nature calls. We arrived late afternoon in Rouen and of course at the wrong place. We finished up in the middle of town at a bus station blocking traffic. LIz went to ask and found straight away a person that spoke English. When Liz was back she could explain where I had to go next. We5 had to turn than follow the Seine and we would find it. He said look for a big building. We found it and could park the car underneath. Quickly installed there was time to go out and see what there was to eat. The receptionist told us about some restaurants ... read more

So, here we are again and this time it's not so much around Europe in a van, more round Europe hoping not to give birth. Theoretically there are a good ten weeks before the bladder puncher makes an appearance but there's a big part of me fully expecting a Slovenian birth or similar. At least I have the best issuance money can buy ( but not a car seat......) So this year we headed to Calais in the car expecting delays and carnage. Instead we had the easiest journey through the port and on to the ferry that we've ever had. A calm sailing and we landed in an equally quiet Calais and headed to Rouen. Given my current hefty with child state the only thing I can really comment on fully are the public toilets ... read more

Photos from Day 5, Normandy Beaches Normandy, the jackpot of the trip, the hook that promised to bring the Americans... Normandy represents a time when all of France liked us Americans, except, of course, the Germans who occupied her. 148 of the 150 passengers on this cruise were from the USA. The two exceptions, Ron & Shiela, wereexceptional people. They said they were from Yorkshire, and from their accents I'd say they were talking about the county in England. I'd see them here or there throughout the trip, and each time seemed to be a moment of reverie when I drifted off musing to myself and (usually Ron) would intercept and seem to share the feeling. Wish I had more opportunity to sit and talk with them. There was about a 2-hour bus ride from Rouen ... read more

Geo: 49.4424, 1.09849Up with breakfast at the hotel and out the door by 7:30am. Metro to St. Lazare station, got our ticket activated and went on the train, first class. We're big shots so few people were in our carriage. We had another mishap in Rouen. We got to our first station. I was in the bathroom and Al only had one gentleman to ask if we were in the right station. Unfortunately, he only spoke French and I was not there. Al thought he said next station. Haha. WRONG. That was the train station..so now we are on the training heading away from Rouen but with the luck of God stepping in, the train in front of us had engine problems and stopping our train at a "off the wall" stop. We found out there ... read more