(Rouen, Normandy, France)

There are more than 2,000 half-timbered houses here…and sometimes one wonders how they remain standing.  The one below is right in the middle of the old town but nobody seems to be worried about it.

After quick visits to the (free) ceramics and ironworks museums, it was time for a big event:  the World Cup quarter-final match between France and Uruguay.  We claimed a table in a bar and assumed it would be like a big game in Canada:  noisy, occasionally, but still restrained.  We were wrong!

Although there were only about 20 people in the room (this was a multilevel bar), it seemed like many more were actually there.  The intensity of emotion was astonishing and the amount of noise when France scored was deafening.  We had never seen anything like it, except perhaps when we saw a Feyenoord game in Rotterdam in 2014.  It will only get crazier, as France won 2-0 and advanced to the semi-final against Belgium.  I’m sure we’ll be watching that game too…I can’t imagine what it will be like if France makes it to the final on July 15!

As much as we loved the galettes here, we agreed that we should have something different for dinner.  My research uncovered a Senegalese restaurant just a few blocks from our hotel, so we decided to give it a try.

I chose chicken yassa and my wife ordered a vegetarian “XL samossa”.  It certainly was extra-large for a samosa:  it was filled with cheese, mixed vegetables, and an egg.  I wasn’t entirely sure what I had ordered but it turned out to be grilled chicken in a relatively sweet sauce.  However, the most interesting components of dinner were the sauces.

We were given some miniature samosas as an appetizer, with a very rich and flavourful tomato-based sauce.  However, the friendly proprietor offered me a spicier sauce, along with a warning that it was “medium strong”.  I appreciated the warning: if this was only “medium strong”, the “strong” must be impossibly incendiary!  I was glad that I had ordered a ginger-scented pineapple juice to soothe the (still enjoyable) burn.

It was also nice to have Senegalese music playing throughout dinner.  I had picked up an unusual Youssou N’Dour record the day before, so music from Senegal was kind of a secondary theme for our stay in Rouen.  Who knew that N’Dour had covered the 1970s soul classic “Rubberband Man”?  You just never know what you will find while on holiday.

We really enjoyed our stay in Rouen and look forward to returning some day.  After such a nice introduction to France, I suppose it was inevitable that we would run into a classic France problem upon trying to leave:  a train strike!  At the time of writing, it looks like it will only cause a three-hour delay for us.

(Rouen, Normandy, France)

We’re living the good life in Rouen.  As predicted, we returned for dinner to La Crêperie Rouennaise, the same crêperie that we enjoyed so much the day before.  It was just as good the second time.  But I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself…

We started the day with a little shopping.  Some necessities, of course, but also some things that are too expensive or impossible to find back home.  For lunch, we found another winner:  the Listo restaurant, featuring food from Ecuador.  In addition to the “usual” fillings for empanadas, they had one with goat cheese and honey.  It was sublime with some hot sauce.

Next was a visit to the Musée des Beaux-Arts.   We didn’t stay for too long, but we made a point of seeing the paintings by Claude Monet.  He painted the Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Rouen at least 30 times, in addition to many other local sights.  Seeing vast amounts of art at once is not really my thing, but it’s different when the painting was made locally and is of something you’ve actually seen.  I took a picture but art photography rarely turns out well!

We also visited l’aître Saint-Maclou, which didn’t really mean that much to us as a name.  But it turned out to be a cemetery from the plague that was being restored, along with the surrounding buildings. It was kind of creepy to see bones just lying there, including one skull with an opened mouth.  There are certainly some macabre sights in Rouen, as you can see from the following picture…

We started the evening with a hike to the top of Mont  Ste.-Catherine, for a view of Rouen and the surrounding area.  This was more difficult than it ought to have been, which we blame on not waiting until at least an hour had passed after dinner.   It was only when we reached the top that I realized I would have to take pictures directly into the setting sun.

But the day still wasn’t over.  At nightfall, the Cathédrale de lumière sound and light show is projected onto the facade of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame.  The simulated burning of the cathedral was very impressive.  Once again, photos don’t do it justice….so here’s another quaint streetscape from earlier in the day…

We have one more day in Rouen before moving on to Bayeux.  As we will likely not have wi-fi access in Bayeux, there may be a bit of a break before the next post.

(Rouen, France)

A series of random events (primarily a seat sale to Paris) have led us to Rouen, formerly the second biggest city in France but now a mere “regional centre”. Luckily for us, there is history everywhere and we are already enjoying Rouen despite just arriving from Canada today.

Our hotel is, er, rustic. The breakfast room looks vaguely like a darkened hunting club. We found a boulangerie (bakery) nearby, so it was an easy decision to opt out of breakfast.  The dim rooms don’t really matter either: we won’t be spending much time here anyway!

Rouen is probably best known for being the site of the execution of Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc). But the medieval feel of the city is probably the best reason to visit. If you have a liking for half-timbered houses, this is definitely the place to be!

We’ll be here for a few nights, so we will dig a little deeper in the days to come.  The main events on our first day were orienting ourselves, superficially exploring the medieval streets, and having an excellent al fresco dinner at La Crêperie Rouennaise.   Not only was it reasonably priced, the food was excellent and we are already talking about going back for another meal!

Like many restaurants in Normandy, they specialize in galettes (buckwheat “crêpes” with savoury toppings/fillings) and proper  crêpes themselves (with sweet toppings/fillings).  I chose a Galette Parisienne, filled with emmental, ham, fresh mushrooms, and cream, and then topped with a egg.  For dessert, I had a simple crêpe with freshly squeezed lemon and icing sugar.  The  dessert crêpe was probably unnecessary, but I felt I had a duty to try one!  The locally produced cider was an added bonus.

Alas, northern Europe is having a heat wave that is almost as bad as what we were experiencing in Canada.  Our hotel also doesn’t have air conditioning, so we will have to pace ourselves during the long, hot days.  It is still light until well after 10:00 p.m.  Luckily, there seems to be plenty of ice cream available!

This extended trip to northern France is off to a good start.  Stay tuned for more on Normandy and Brittany, as well as a Bastille Day celebration in yet another historic small city, before our finale in Paris!