A Visit to Rouen

All right now through my infinite wisdom (or maybe just demonstrating that now that I’ve, you know, slept, my brain does work better) I came up with a way to work around this expensive internet thing... I can just write the blog posts in Word (which doesn’t require the internet, duh) then post them to the blog. As an added bonus, there will likely be fewer spelling errors this way.
So today was Rouen. I realize I have very little to compare to here, but so far this is my favourite city. Yes, yes, it’s the only one we’ve been to, but I just loved it. It was so French in that quaint picturesque way. It was full of buildings ranging from about 800-1800. Whereas much of historic France was destroyed during world war two, much of Rouen survived because the Germans were so anxious to get to Paris they neglected to cross the Seine.
There are a bunch of half timbered houses, which are those lovely little stone-on-bottom, wood-on-top things that you recognize from everywhere. We went into the great cathedral Notre Dame de Rouen, one of the best preserved Gothic cathedrals in France. It dates back to the middle ages and contains the heart of Richard the Lionhearted. It is familiar to much of the world because over two visits to the city, Claude Monet painted 30 pictures of the cathedral, studying the light playing off the facade at different times of day. We also saw the medieval parliament buildings from back when Rouen was the capital of Normandy. Rouen is where Joan of Arc was burned to death at age 19, and there is a beautiful monument to her in the square where that happened.

(tried to put a couple pics in here but connection is crap... sorry guys)

The ship, of course, is lovely. There is a notable lack of people my age, which is unfortunate. I guess your average university aged person is unlikely to elect to take a cruise that goes into the first week of classes at most (north American anyway) universities. I had the most amazing fettuccini alfredo at dinner tonight – it was served in a bowl of toasted parmesan cheese. I also had Thai chicken soup, fresh mozza with tomato and balsamic, and French vanilla soufflé. Mmm – tres bien (note the French? Lol).
Tomorrow is a day at sea, so I kind of doubt there will be anything of interest to report. It is formal night though, so I’ll get to dress purdy.
That’s all for now. Ta loves!

And it starts with a disaster

Okay folks, my internet connection on the ship is damn expensive, so the next 12 days are going to be sparce quick posts.

We started the trip by having Zoom airlines declaring bankrupcy the night before we left. We didn't find out until five hours before we were SUPPOSED to be in the air. So yikes. But clearly we made it. We ended up on Northwestern Airlines and they actually had quite a lovely flight. We flew Vancouver-Seattle-London then took the bus to Southampton.

Southampton was a quaint city but we didnt' get to see much. I had a donair from a fish and chip / falaffel house for dinner. Our taxi driver today informed me that I missed the birthplace of Jane Austin, which is sad. She was an awesome taxi driver.

Well that's all for now. Like I said, damn expensive... Love you all!

Bethany's Pre-Leicester Itinerary

August 28/29 -- Vancouver-London-Southampton
August 30 -- Board Grand Princess
August 31 -- Paris (Rouen, actually), France
September 1 -- At Sea
September 2 -- Vigo, Spain
September 3 -- Lisbon, Portugal
September 4 -- Seville (Cadiz), Spain
September 5 -- Casablanca, Morocco
September 6 -- Gibraltar
September 7 -- At Sea
September 8 -- Barcelona, Spain
September 9 -- Cannes, France
September 10 -- Florence, Italy
September 11 - 13 -- Rome, Italy
September 13/14 -- London
September 14 - 18 -- Dublin, Ireland
September 18-20 -- Cork, Ireland
September 20-23 -- Belfast, Ireland
September 23 -- Belfast-London-Leicester

Then I meet up with Susan and do a semester at school. It will be nice to stay in one place for a while!! But no worries... I will making my way other places as well in October/November/December. Stay tuned...

December 13 -- London-Vancouver