I have recently returned from the most amazing holiday in France. I have always been a bit of a Francophile, so getting to spend a few weeks in a place I am slightly in love with was the best offer I’ve had in a loooong time!  I went with the boy ( he does not feature on this blog, hence why there aren’t too many pictures, he tends to appear in most of mine!) and we drove around all of  the country, and tried to hit as many cites and towns as we could. We started off With Rouen, famous for being the city where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake ( Booo!). I loved this city and it was a great place to start-

Me getting a bit bored at a gas station *sigh* just get me to the pub dammit!

Rouen-

Joan of Arc Artwork, she crops up everywhere-

Me by the Cathedral, it was stunning. Sadly, on my camera I didn’t get too many pictures of it without the boy featured! Doh!-

Me outside the Cathedral door, not being attacked by lightening…therefore we can consider the visit a success!-

Street shot- It was a lovely medieval style city. So nice to walk down the cobbled streets. As it was in the north of France it wasn’t TOO hot , the further south we went the hotter it got though, never good for a pale skinned gal like moi…eek!-

During our stay we met a lovely Anglophile who took us out and about in the city, which is always appreciated! One pub he took us too was called “Zooloo” . Basically, you just paid what you wanted at the bar and the landlord, who was a pretty cool chap, would make a crazy strong punch and you could pour it into your glass until you were content, ie- wankarded. You could also draw on the walls. I made sure to leave my mark…sadly, it features the boys name, so I can’t show it, but to give you an idea –

Me and our new friend, oh man he was lovely! Thank you good sir for making our first night grrreat-

In the evening we had a great meal of steak, it actually RARE,  just like I want it.  I tend to find trouble getting a good steak in the UK at times, but in France it was perfect every time.

There is one negative part of France though…the bloody one way road systems. Our first city trip was in Rouen, and it took us nearly an hour to get to our hotel, it was a NIGHTMARE! Esp when you can see the hotel but you’re not allowed to go down the street that it’s on…aggrh! Otherwise, I loved every minute of Rouen and fully intend to return. As we got there quite late and left very early the next day, we didn’t get too much of the city covered, so I am treating it as “unfinished” business.

The next morning we went to a cafe and had some sandwiches and made friends with the local birds, who thought nothing of coming and sitting on the table begging for my sandwich. They were so cute I may have given them far too much!  This does lead me to my first warning about France though, they have set dinner times etc, so if you want a larger lunch at a restaurant, try to eat lunch around 12- 2 as they tend to close up afterwards until about 6pm  when they re-open for dinner service.  You can eat at bistros all day though, so don’t panic!

The next stop was St Malo…and oh my that was a beautiful place, as you will see in the next post. It took us 4 hours to get there but my, the exciting roads made up for it!-

The French don’t half like a super bridge-

More to come in my next post…I am now off to cry about not being in France any more…sniffles.

Muchos love, BP Xx