Rouen

So after a couple days in Paris and the day before I was planning on going back to Lyon, my friend who I met in Lyon called to see if I wanted to go somewhere in Normandy as he was coming back from Frankfurt with a friend. I of course thought a sneaky trip to somewhere would be fun, when I remembered that my friend from high school Catherine Wagner was living in Rouen, a medium size town in nowhere other than Normandy. So I facebooked her since I didnt have her number and she called me back to let me know that we were more than welcome and that we could stay with her. Rouen is an unknown gem, it was built in the Middle Ages like Lyon but the architecture there is so much different, think the stereotypical German house with the white plaster and brown wood and replace the duo-toned house with a mutlitude of colors, not more than two colors on any one house but there was blue and yellow, pink and a brighter pink it was really cool. Plus the city has an amazing mixture of architecture from the Middle Ages to very contemporary, for this we can thank the Allied forces (read Americans) who bombed the crap out of it at the end of World War II essentially destroying hundreds of years of amazing architecture and completely flattening the left side of the river that was of course built up between the 1950-70s in the same beautiful and well appreciated style as aforementioned in my bit about the 13th arrondisement (sorry I forgot to add that this is essentially the French word for district or section).
Jett (my previously mentioned friend) and I hung out with Catherine and her awesome friends and were pretty much able to see the whole town seeing as how its not that big and can be walked in about 20 min from the train station to the river (Seine). We drank loads of coffee (around 4 a day) and indulged in all of the local delights aka pasteries. We also went roller bladding, I know what youre thinking, but it is the hottest thing in Rouen and you can blade right next to the river for about 20 min before having to turn around, and you can rent the blades, it was great fun. And that last sentence was an overuse of commas but I enjoy them. One of the most adventurous parts of the trip was getting into Catherine's apartment, because she is an au pair her housing is arranged for her and since her family bought a new dance studio she gets the apartment above it. Sounds great but she has to cut through classes and pull up a huge black velvet curtain to get into the backroom (read unfinished garage looking room with old furniture, a CROSSBOW, very excited about that but she wouldnt let me play with it, and couple of surfboards. Then you had to risk your life up the most rickety flight of wooden stairs I have ever ascended/descended to get to her spacious apartment. It was great, not completely finished but great minus the whole toxic mold growing in the floorboards in the bathroom and the mushrooms sprouting next to the shower because it leaked. But as I said very adventurous!
Oh Jett and I also went to the local Musee des Beaux Arts and saw several original Monet paintings and the coolest staircase I think either of us had ever seen. Ive included a picture, its the one with the crazy orange lines, look in the mirror in the corner, the lines turn into a perfect target in the mirror, its amazing. Its supposed to mimic the painting that is at the top of the stairs that I took a picture of but you cant really tell its anything because of the angle it is skewed at. It blows my mind the mathematical calculations that would have had to take place to paint this painting of a biblical scene that you can only truly see with the help of a cylindrical mirror! And it was done ages ago, absolutely amazing
After about 4 days in Rouen and after seeing her bf perform in a local pub, which was really cool,
Jett and I said goodbye to Rouen and to Catherine and headed back to Lyon where is was raining, cold and caused me to become immediately homesick. Thankfully the sun was out this past weekend and I got to go to Dijon with some friends which I hope to post tomorrow.
Oh and I forgot to mention, I guess this is what I get for not posting regularly, but I saw the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and have included pictures of the church that was dedicated to her. It doesnt look like a church though it looks like a bunch of crazy peaks. Also the picture with the old buildings is based around the ruins of a Roman market, pretty freakin cool.