Sat Nav - use with care

Sadly we came to our last day in France heading for Calais and home. We never head for Calais without heading first to Bolougne and the Auchan at St Martin sur mer. We detoured to a gorgeous little town; Montreuil sur mer. It is everything you think a French town should be.

Yet another cafe as you can see!

After spending a couple of hours and a lot of money in the Auchan we arrived at the ferry port at Calais but decided we wouldn't blindly follow the Sat Nav.

The worst hotel

Amiens was another place we had visited on our honeymoon but that time we were just passing through. This time we made the mistake of an overnight stay. Don't get me wrong - I'm sure Amiens is a wonderful place to stay overnight - if you find a good hotel - sadly we didn't. We had paid in advance for the hotel so we were stuck with it. It was in a slightly seedy looking area which put us off from the beginning and the rooms were poky, dark, a bit smelly and just gave off a general air of grubbiness. Parking restrictions meant we couldn't park outside the hotel and we still had the problem with the underground car park. We didn't want to be in the rooms a moment more than we had to so we headed off into town to revisit the magnificent cathedral which we had spent an afternoon in over 20 years earlier. The square outside the cathedral hadn't changed dramatically in the intervening period although whilst we sat outside a cafe in the corner eating ice creams we were trying to work out where we had sat outside a cafe doing the same thing all those years ago but came to the conclusion that it was no longer a cafe. Oh well - at least we found somewhere else to have ice creams. We explored all the little side streets around the cathedral but for some reason I don't seem to have all the photographs I would expect to have. We did venture into the modern town centre for a quick look around and a chance to sit down and take the weight off our overworked feet for a while. When we returned to the hotel it was our intention to change and then go out to find some dinner, unfortunately the kerbs are incredibly high and whilst parking the driver hit the kerbstone and it punctured the tyre. This is where the incredibly high kerbs become even more unfortunate as it was impossible to change the tyre at the side of the road because there was no access and we were on the wrong side of the road to make it feasible to pull out far enough into the road to change it. I am so glad that our RAC insurance covered us for Europe. A phone call later and help was on it's way but we had to sit tight at the hotel until they arrived. When the man did come, he stuck his big truck with flashing lights in the middle of the road then asked us to pull the car out in front of it and got to work. I couldn't take any photos though as I was doing the communicating as he spoke no English. Fortunately the restaurant in the hotel was much better than the rest of the hotel - not brilliant but OK - ish.
















I just love these windows and they are all different.

I wish I had more photographs of the area surrounding the cathedral as it is so lovely, I can't think why I haven't, perhaps I was still reeling from the shock of the hotel. It is a shame as it spoiled the last night of our holiday.


We stayed in the same hotel chain in every town and each one was different and ranged from the sublime in Rouen through charming vernacular to the horrid in Amiens. If you want to know which contact me and I will tell you - I'd better not name it on here. Whatever you do - DON'T STAY THERE

The Best Hotel

Rouen was a place we had last visited on our honeymoon and was one of those places which become part of family legend for all the wrong reasons. Back then we arrived in the town in the early evening and went for a walk around the old market and cathedral areas, unfortunately on that particular evening an area round the side of the cathedral had been used as a toilet; several times by the smell of it. That event coloured our view of of Rouen for several years but thankfully that memory has been replaced by this visit. One's view of a town generally begins to take shape as you enter it and this was no exception. Although we came through a busy road network of dual carriageways and intersections we arrived at our hotel with no problem as it was just off a main arterial road with a tree lined service road in front of it which helped to shield the noise of the traffic. This was the best hotel we stayed in on this entire holiday. We had booked two rooms in every hotel but in this one we had a vestibule door with the doors to the two rooms behind it so we could leave the room doors open and come and go between the rooms as we liked. It was superb and only a short walk from the heart of the town.
No longer une toilette en plein air; now all the tourists can enjoy the delights of Rouen cathedral.


As an idea for hiding the side of an ugly concrete building this is brilliant - but perhaps not the best picture for the centre of a busy city.

When you turn your back on the cathedral you find yourself facing the tourist information office located in the town hall...

and when you go inside and look through a small interior window this is what you see.


There is a courtyard in the centre of the building in which are hidden these medieval gems.





This statue of Joan of Arc stands close to the spot where she was executed in May 1431. Although convicted of heresy this was not a crime punishable by death for the first offence so Joan was imprisoned but was ordered not to wear men's clothing as had been her custom.
To obtain the outcome they desired, her English captors removed her female attire leaving her only mens' clothes. Joan remained in her room for as long as possible but when she eventually had to leave it to attend to her bodily needs she had to dress in the only garments available to her. She was then charged with having broken the order to wear only feminine attire and as the order regarding her clothing was connected with the charge of heresy she could therefore be condemned to death as it was considered to be a second offence.

Ooops

Oh dear I just had a look and realised that I never finished this blog - I'd better get on with it before I forget it all.

Caen

Our hotel in Caen faced onto the marina, and the large car parks outside were closed on the Saturday night because of the market on the Sunday morning. I have never seen a market like it in my life, it was huge and sold everything from antique (and not so antique) furniture to hair ornaments and chips. We come to that ever more irritating question of car parks again because this was yet another hotel with a height limited underground car park we needed to find somewhere else to park. Not an easy task when the vast municipal car park is closed and everyone is fighting over the on-street parking spots. It took David quite some time to find a spot but when he did it was a good one. We were parked a little to the left of where Beth is standing in the photo above, just alongside the marina and about 25 metres from the hotel - perfect. It proved to be even better the next day as it was on the right road for getting out of town without too much difficulty.

Moving on

Sadly the idyll of our place in the country had to come to an end. We had to leave our lovely cottage and head northwards towards Caen which was going to be our stopping point for the night. On the way we were looking out for a picnic spot for lunch - just look at the place we found picnic tables. A real Norman Chateau of the sort we recognise as a Norman Castle in this country - not surprising really as this is the Chateau of Falaise; the birthplace of William the Conqueror. Some parts of the castle are undergoing restoration to show how they would have looked when it was newly built. Sometimes we forget that the people didn't live in buildings made of crumbling masonry but smooth stones placed neatly in place to produce a lovely and palatial building.

The next village - Frazé

The nearby village of Frazé was utterly lovely