Day 16

Day 16

This was our last day in France OFFICIALLY.  We moved out of our rental house around 9:30 am and headed southeast to first Rouen a gorgeous…oooollldd….city north of Paris.  It was about 2hours away and we found and parked downtown with not problems at all.  We just started walking with the goal of finding the main cathedrals of the city….there are 3 of them.  Plus we wanted to just see the old buildings in the old part of the city.  Let me say that some of them were really old, they had to date to the 10^th Century….or even before.  They had that typical French beamed and plaster  look to them.  We strolled through the old city and easily found our main destination.  Too bad it was in major renovation mode and not much to see.  The cathedral itself is in really bad shape but it carvings and design are simply magnificent.  The church dates to the 9^th Century and even before when the Roman were here.  Like I said this was an ooooollldd city.  We also found a very familiar cathedral that if you are a Monet fan or know anything about his work you will recognize it immediately.  It is the one that he painted several times from the same location but at different times of the day to get a real feeling of the incredible eye he had for light. After lunch and a large number of pictures we were off to our final destination….Giverny….again, the home and famous painting location of Claude Monet.

 It is very close to Paris and a very small village.  WE parked and walked to his home and gardens.  OMG!!!!!  I had been there many years ago but seeing it now was   glorious.  Because it was Monday (a lot of website note that the place is closed on Monday) and being in September we had a very small crowd there.  We got to tour his home showing copies of his works on the wall and see exactly how he lived and entertained.  He had many friends here to visit and see his gardens.  The gardens are not large but just full of flowers…..EVERYWHERE.  And many in bloom as we walked.  But the main spot in the area was the water lily pond which runs through  the property.  It was IN-CRED-IBLE.  Just seeing and knowing that he stood there right in your spot painting several of his greatest masterpieces….it was overwhelming.  Needless to say I took many many pictures for both the calendar, the slide show and future flower calendars that I made once in awhile.  The sun would peak through every once in awhile and really give us a show…..and the water lilies were still blooming!!!!  It was very difficult to leave but we had to be in Paris by around 6 or 7 PM.  So, the drive to the hotel was uneventful and dropping off the bags also ran smoothly.  But taking the car back to the airport worked out to quite an adventure.  I can easily say that there are no signs to tell one where to drop your rental car off……none.  We just guessed at the terminal.  There are 3 absolutely HUGE terminals there miles apart and of course we had to guess which to go to.  WE guessed right with Terminal 2 but could not find the return lot for our rental.  We drove around and around looking and asking people along the way where it was……finally we found a man who spoke English and also knew where the lot was……after about 45 minutes of driving the airport we got it back safely.  Now to find the hotel shuttle to get back to the hotel……….oh no it could not be THHHHAAATTT easy.  WE asked and asked and got…….”that way”!!!!!  We were in the wrong terminal for one thing….after we found that out we asked at “INFORMATION DESK”….one would think that they SHOULD know!!!!  She gave us expliced directions but as we learned, they were completely wrong!!!!!  But we followed signs and just guessed a couple of times and finally ended up at a different terminal (got there by their rail system) and found the bus stop.  Now the wait!!!!  But after about 2 hours or so, we made it safely back to the hotel and FOUND THE BAR!!!!  There we all  met had a couple of deserved drinks and ate dinner using the bar menu (just to tired to go and wait in line at the buffet)!!!  Around 10:00 we went to bed exhausted and ready for tomorrow the day we leave France for good.

WE were up, ate some breakfast and were off to the airport and flights.  No problems (except for the excruciating long lines…….seemed like half the world was flying someplace that day).  The flights were  perfect, no delays and we made it home (with the help of some great neighbors who picked us up at the airport) and were home around 9:00.  So total about 17 hours on the road we were home safe again…..a quick cocktail to wind down, an hour of Breaking Bad (we still have not seen the end yet) and to bed with the wonderful help of Ambien!!!! 

Some interesting observations I made.

1)      The women have some really great fashions there….and dress much more fashionably that we do.

2)      People were INCREDIBLY FRIENDLY.  For example we got lost (no map) in Rouen and an young girl actually guided us back to our parked car.  She walked a quite a ways out of her way to help 4 oldies.  But everyone one was so nice, friendly and warm.  We did not have one nasty situation the entire trip!!!!

3)      Paris is very easy to get around….the metro is very easy….AND IS IN ENGLISH!!!! 

4)      Prices are very high…..you just have to bite the bullet and do it if you want to enjoy the country.

5)      The wine was very very good AND CHEAP.  WE never bought a wine more than 3.50 Euro and most were 2 Euros.  Even beer was relatively cheap too.

6)      People are much more relaxed there than here…..cafes, restaurants are always full….all day and night. 

7)      French drivers are very good……they do not speed or are not nasty out there on the road.  We drove over 1000 miles and never had any problems with arrogant or nasty drivers.

8)      Driving is easy in France…..the roads are very well marked, the speed limits are relative and gas is available often.  WE had a diesel car and it got incredible mileage having to fill up only 3 times and the last simply to top off the car to return it to the rental office.

9)      Food is really good, especially the breakfast pastries.  The dinners were excellent (we did not have a bad one) and the selection of types of food were really good.  Lots and lots of fish and shellfish.  The muscles were the best we all have ever had…..ever.  So we had them several times…even for appetizers.  When you get muscles, they come in a huge pot and you use the lid for the wasted shells.  Cool idea.  The fish were unique to area being ones that I had never had before….and the meat (especially the duck) was just outstanding. But to say that the best  the most famous…..the true French food is their French baguette.  We had it every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner……they were always perfect and of course they are fresh EVERY DAY.  WE want out every morning to a local bakery (there are thousands of them) and bought 1 or 2 for the day.  I must admit that I plan to do the same as long as I don’t get lazy.  WE have a local grocery here 5 minutes away and they have them.  But the couisonts were also outstanding and always warm and fresh.  We had crepes also a few times and they can be eaten anytime with any filling….really cool.  So cool  that I bought a recipe book for making and different fillings.

10)   We often thing that we have the best of everything and the most modern, but they have a lot of things we could definitely copy.  They also have more design oriented items and equipment and utensils.  They just have some great creative ideas for designing things

11)   Lastly I noticed that almost everywhere we went (and we did go almost everywhere) everything was clean, neat and very nice…..they recycle more than we do, they use items of less energy than we do and they definitely are thinking of the effect on the environment more than we do. 

All in all it was a fabulous and incredibly interesting and informative trip.  I strongly recommend this trip to anyone, rookie or experienced traveler….especially Normandy and the WWII history.  It is just incredible what the allies did that year…..1944!!!!!