Norman invasion

Maybe in a future post I'll get into some of the shenanigans we got up to in Rouen (nothing quite as scandalous as the infamous Dijon trip, but we do like to keep things interesting), and I'll share with you how I discovered the world's worst hangover food. But for the moment, let's just take a minute to enjoy beautiful Rouen.

And Rouen is beautiful! We picked it off a dwindling shortlist of places that are not tooooo far or expensive to get from from both Metz and Tours, but Liz put a small cat among the pigeons shortly before we turned up by saying that she'd heard from everyone that it's a bit crap. Well, everyone was wrong! I can't comment too much on what there is to do (we ate a lot, drank a leetle bit, walked around, saw the cathedral and the markets and I went to the Beaux Arts museum), but I can show you some photos and let you judge for yourself. Personally, I loved it!

There was meant to be a group of us going, but for various reasons it ended up just me and Liz. Of course that didn't stop us having a lovely time :)

Rouen cathedral from the side (the front being covered with scaffolding)

Look at those blue skies and fluffy clouds!

Chapel in the cathedral

The tomb of young Henry, brother of Richard the Lionheart. Have you ever seen such nostrils on a sculpture?

The Grand Horloge

Me and a church I don't know the name of

Rouen is full of amazing medieval buildings

The spot where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake

Okay, you can't see much of the street, but you can see the John Rocha dress I bought in the sales quite well :D

Cute old-fashioned shop sign

Could you be (could you beee) the most beautiful church in the world?

Liz and me in front of St Maclou