Lovely. Picturesque. Stunning. Beautiful. Breathtaking. The very overused Awesome is appropriate for the awe inspiring landscapes and scenery of the last two days.
I flew from London to Paris on Sunday morning (yes, I would have MUCH rather taken the train but it was literally double the price of a last minute flight. I'm unemployed people, need to be somewhat sensible, so a flight it was :) I am very proud of myself as I was able to call up enough of my high school French to muddle through and order une baguette avec jambon et fromage and get from Charles De Gaulle Airport to Gare St. Lazare train station on my own. Once there I met up with one of my best friend's sister and her boyfriend- Astrid and Matthew (who are also my friends :). Astrid and Matthew were kind enough to offer to play tour guide and host me at their place for a couple nights to explore Rouen and Normandy, so after meeting at the train station on we went to Rouen.
God I love the trains in France. Well, I love taking the train pretty much anywhere in Europe, but for some reason I have always had wonderful experiences in France. It was only a 90 minute ride, but it was truly lovely- graffiti along the train tracks in Paris gave way to older neighborhoods and Parisian suburbs... the transition from city and suburbs to the country was quick- buildings starting disappearing and green grassy fields dotted with white sheep and cows* appeared (* cows as I am used to seeing them- in a field and grazing, not in the middle of the street as in India :). The river Seine ran parallel to the train for most of the route as it flows through the middle of Rouen as well as Paris. <Insert your favorite word for beautiful here!> We arrived in Rouen at around 5:30 to blue skies and perfect weather. Astrid and Matthew warned me that their countrymen have nicknamed Rouen "the chamberpot of France" because of the weather.. All that saying does is reinforce that the French are a bit off as I thought it was just stunning- the weather, the scenery, the people- all of it! Not a chamberpot in sight. We left the station and just meandered about the city for a couple hours, then met up with Katrin and Astrid's brother Eric at their little local and enjoyed a couple beers before moving on to a little Italian restaurant for dinner. Rouen is one of the most picturesque cities I have ever walked. I'm going to do a separate post for it next, as I basically took a ton of photos and it deserves its own entry :)
I am going to go ahead and apologize now for the overuse of the word "lovely" because I am going to continue to use the hell out of it. Lovely is the most accurate word for the last two days- I had a really, really lovely time with Astrid and Matthew just walking about Rouen on Sunday evening, as well as driving up to the Normandy coast and exploring the seaside village of Veules Les Roses (which is THE most picturesque city I have ever been in... photo post to follow and confirm my statement!). Nap Monday afternoon was fabulous. Dinner Monday evening with a bunch of lovely, friendly, welcoming French people at A&M's house (sausages! salad! barbecued camembert cheese..OH HELL YES!) - LOVELY!!
So, here I am, sitting on the train back to Paris, looking out the window, thinking about the last couple days and trying to capture a few of the sights and memories in text.
A huge thank you to Astrid and Matthew for being absolutely wonderful hosts- I can't wait to have you at mine in San Francisco sometime so I can repay your hospitality and to attempt to BBQ some fabulous French cheese!!
As we get closer to Paris I realize that I am so happy and content, as well as excited. I am happy to have a little bit of time to hang out in Paris- not doing anything crazy touristy as I have been here a few times before and really, all I want to do is just relax, have several cups of coffee in as many cafes as possible, people watch and soak up a bit of the city before returning to London tomorrow night. Oh, and of course I'm going to do some window shopping (here's hoping that sensible side of me continues to win out and it's only window shopping :)
The city is starting to to overtake the fields and Paris is about 10 minutes away.. I'm going to pack up and get ready to arrive at the beautiful Gare St. Lazare and meet up with an old co-worker and her family for the afternoon. So I guess this is so long for now.. au revois from the train..
* it's Paris.... I packed my red lipstick specifically for this city!! ;)
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