Simon
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Trip Report: New Year in RouenWell we had a great time in Rouen over the New Year.
We drove down on the Friday night (it is 5.5 hours from Amsterdam) so we stopped halfway down in Ghent/Gent/Gand for the night. Actually we stayed again in the first hotel we ever stayed at together when we did a week's tour of Belgium long before we were married, so that was pretty nice.
Gent itself was as lovely as ever, I really recommend it: I know the star attraction of Brugge/Bruges is nearby (and its nice there too) but I much prefer Gent, it's more lived in and cosy somehow - Bruges always feels like a museum to me. And of course we went to our favourite chocolate shop 
Then we drove down over Rijsel/Lille to Rouen: we stayed at the Best Western - Vieux Marche right in the centre. Nice hotel, horrible car park (always full and only reachable by a small car lift, lucky we have a small car). Oh and we booked a "Suite" - but it wasn't a suite. Otherwise it was nice though, quiet and very friendly, perfectly located.
It was about 3.30pm so we had a bit of daylight to see the town, take a walk. And what a gem it is! There are hundreds of timbered houses, three or four spectacular churches, etc. And the **save Hilda, don't say it!** Market was still open  At night it was really romantic.
The next morning we got up early and drove the 2.5 hours to Mont St Michael - which was fairly busy: but excellent, so worth a visit. It's a place we've both always wanted to visit. Highly recommended, but check the tide times: the car park is underwater at high tide!!
The following day (New Year's Eve) we drove up to Honfleur, which is really beautiful, and we were there much longer than expected! After that we followed the coast through Deauville and Thouville (very nice places, but busy in summer I bet), across Cabourg and to the D-Day beaches via the Pegasus bridge.
After a quiet New Year's Eve in Rouen (everything was shut except the fully booked restaurants which only had over priced fixed menus .... we ate a romantic dinner at Quick, because even McDonalds had shut!) we spend the next day at Etretat (the plan was to drive up the coast to Le Havre) - which was so very nice we spent the whole day there walking on the cliffs and exploring the beaches.
Then it was time to drive back! We stopped around midday in Rijsel/Lille at Auchan (a large French hypermarket) and stocked up on cheap wine for the new year (um naughty as we are we bought over 40 bottles). Of course there was a special offer on some 1998 bordeaux (not the *best* year, but a better than average one) .... so we had 12 bottles of that and six bottles of some rose d'anjou that was on offer too. Of course the discount wasn't applied at the checkout! Since it was the best part of 100 euros I went to the service desk and explained the problem in my best French (which isnt very good) and amazingly was understood!!
We drove back over Antwerp (ah such a joy it is driving on the R1 through Antwerp, it's always busy whenever you go) ... where I was desperate to stop because I really like the place for some reason .... but we didn't have time.
However the Dutch newspaper at the petrol station had a headline about the new year rioting all over the Netherlands and the ensuing trail of destruction. So it was a bit of a nervous drive back, wondering what we'd find, since our part of town was explicitly mentioned. Happily every thing was in order!
Pictures to follow when sorted!
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Tango Bunny
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Great report there Simon
Sounds like you had a really good time
You lot with your TR's are putting me to shame
I did my Vegas report on Word on my old computer intending to post it but when I had my new pc there is no word on it so I lost it......really should do another I suppose
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Simon
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Oh well Vegas ....... indeed I still have to write up that holiday!
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Cyberia
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Simon. Did you visit the Joan of Arc museum near your hotel? Rouen has a good art gallery, a metal gallery with many old things made of metal and an old cathedral and church. Also a subway to St Sever the other side of the river which is a shopping area and has a second hand market on Thursday morning.
An express train from there gets to Paris in an hour. Or Caen or even Marseille.
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tonyW
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Hi Cyberia...(great name!)
Simon has actually left the site so will not be answering you. I did`nt want you to feel that he was being rude...he simply isn`t on here any longer.
Anyway, welcome to Holiday Chat. I see you have been looking around...perhaps you might like to pop into the `introduce yourself` thread and say hi to the other members.
They do bite, but only your ankles. 
Tony
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