♥
Friday, March 18, 2011
11:08 AM Rouen - a short yet heartwarming trip
If I'm to use one word to describe this trip, it's -
heartwarming (:
As I type this I'm sitting on tgv back to reims (:
It was not a planned trip in fact I just thought of heading Rouen on sunday night. Why not? especially when there is no class on Tuesday and that lemin and mingrue will be ending their term soon in end march! well I really do want to visit them before they leave Europe.
On my way to rouen, I was really thankful for the opportunity to meet Arbi suksuk, Ahluan yiyi, Janice and their family in paris (: it was really an amazing feeling to meet them in paris! the fact that I only decided on Rouen the night before and the fact that they are in paris just on that day too (: they bought duck rice and char siew and to top it all bread from belgium which were altogether lovely!
During transit Zach and I stopped at Macs at st lazare and 'twas the most bizarre Macs we've seen with many mirrors and cellar alike on the interior; painted in gold and colorful crystals. shared duck rice and char siew and I almost teared eating duck rice cos it was so nice and I miss home food so much! it's funny how I used to take duck rice for granted yet now I treasure it so so much! 'twas zach's first time eating duck meat too, haha.
So we found our way to gare st lazare and took TER to Rouen. met Rouen natives on the train who had went skiing in the alps and it's cool how they taught us to pronounce Rouen the right way. 'twas one half hours of nap which followed after.0051: mingrue lemin and Roger came to fetch us at the Rouen gare and that was really sweet of them (: I still couldn't believe that I got to finally meet them (: and we took night rider bus - which had a crazy bus driver who sped like no other and 'twas funny when Ming said perhaps he just finished partying too and thus high before his night shift driver job, haha.
Caught up for a bit before tasting the night in Rouen (: Ming was really nice to let me squeeze on her bed! haha
We woke up ultra late and poor Aileen waited for us at the bus stop /: alas we still made our way to Rouen down town close to noon!Rouen downtown is really cosy quaint and beautiful (: especially the cottage alike houses! was telling Ming and lemin that Rouen seems to be Reims' twin cos these 2 places in France are so alike! but the houses architecture differs' with the wooden planks embroidered in cement walls.
Joan dArc was our first stop and it was a church of a scaled fish architecture! but voila the interior is amazing, feels like a protestant church though! and I can imagine papa preaching at the pulpit. guess I really miss hearing papa's sermon.
We headed on to buy Rouen's most famous Auzou macaroons (: bought caramel and vanilla and I prefer the vanilla (: bought another box of 14 to bring to Italy in 2 days' time for des, mel and jiaqi! Voila! the astronomical golden clock of Rouen! and Aileen and Zach figured out that the silver portion of the ball embedded at the centre determines the shape of the moon tonight and it indeed was that shape that night (:
As we're heading towards Hotel de Ville, the sun made its awesome appearance with its heat, warming my skin which has been much concealed beneath my coat for the past one half month (: Zach loved the sun too, and Ming said we're really lucky cos 'twas rare for Rouen to have such warm sunshine! We're so blessed! (:
We had the most chill coffee break at one of the cafes! loved their cafe creme served with a minute but sweet piece of chocolate from Belgium (: Zach was playing with the sugar cubes to see how coffee seeps into each sugar grain and he got 4 cubes in out of mere playfulness haha! we just sat there enjoying the hues of the sun and I almost forgot the wonder of sun's warmth till that moment - it vaguely rekindled memory of how hot sun at kallang be during my water trainings!
We headed on to a road by the stream beneath a stretch of cobbled street.it's amazingly cooling close to feet as you tread slowly along this street (:and entering this close to castle church is an amazing feeling, with the vast green field - white flowers seemingly floating and chestnuts scattered on the ground. caught an smu jump just right there with the girls! the beautiful church completes the close to perfect scene. notre dame alike but empty cos of the installation art exhibition held when we're there.We didn't enter hotel de ville in the end, just stood outside in awe of the building complete with a lonely France flag flying in rhythm to the light wind. napoleon statue was there too, and Ming commented how short Napoleon was! haha well I've no idea how tell he's supposed to be.
Rouen's Notre Dame Cathedral was lovely too, albeit the greyish black parts of the wall and this is the first cathedral I've seen with such a pointy tall structure. went inside and a man told me that one of the tomb houses ricardi who is the heart of lyon! and we caught the pipe organist playing the wedding march (: hearing the wedding march in such a place brings a feeling of hope and bliss!
The top view near the hostel was nice (: it overlooked the river siene, the cathedral and Rouen houses from afar (: sunset was amazing too!
Dinner was truly a feast (: I've never had such nice dinner for a month and a half already! curry cap chai, sausage egg and broccoli from kailee and Aileen, tom yum chicken soup from Roger, leek chicken from Ming and charsiew from me!! :D feels like im home again! and Aileen even made waffle nutella with apple slices and rum and raisin ice cream ((: yummy! was really touched! loads to talk about, and we played a pretty long monopoly deal game! zach's first time playing it!
Another night, and this time I crashed lemin's bed!
Bye bye Rouen (: tiny city, lingers much warmth in the heart.
Labels: exchange
♥
Friday, March 18, 2011
15-16 march 2011If I'm to use one word to describe this trip, it's -
heartwarming (:
As I type this I'm sitting on tgv back to reims (:
It was not a planned trip in fact I just thought of heading Rouen on sunday night. Why not? especially when there is no class on Tuesday and that lemin and mingrue will be ending their term soon in end march! well I really do want to visit them before they leave Europe.
On my way to rouen, I was really thankful for the opportunity to meet Arbi suksuk, Ahluan yiyi, Janice and their family in paris (: it was really an amazing feeling to meet them in paris! the fact that I only decided on Rouen the night before and the fact that they are in paris just on that day too (: they bought duck rice and char siew and to top it all bread from belgium which were altogether lovely!
During transit Zach and I stopped at Macs at st lazare and 'twas the most bizarre Macs we've seen with many mirrors and cellar alike on the interior; painted in gold and colorful crystals. shared duck rice and char siew and I almost teared eating duck rice cos it was so nice and I miss home food so much! it's funny how I used to take duck rice for granted yet now I treasure it so so much! 'twas zach's first time eating duck meat too, haha.
So we found our way to gare st lazare and took TER to Rouen. met Rouen natives on the train who had went skiing in the alps and it's cool how they taught us to pronounce Rouen the right way. 'twas one half hours of nap which followed after.0051: mingrue lemin and Roger came to fetch us at the Rouen gare and that was really sweet of them (: I still couldn't believe that I got to finally meet them (: and we took night rider bus - which had a crazy bus driver who sped like no other and 'twas funny when Ming said perhaps he just finished partying too and thus high before his night shift driver job, haha.
Caught up for a bit before tasting the night in Rouen (: Ming was really nice to let me squeeze on her bed! haha
We woke up ultra late and poor Aileen waited for us at the bus stop /: alas we still made our way to Rouen down town close to noon!Rouen downtown is really cosy quaint and beautiful (: especially the cottage alike houses! was telling Ming and lemin that Rouen seems to be Reims' twin cos these 2 places in France are so alike! but the houses architecture differs' with the wooden planks embroidered in cement walls.
Joan dArc was our first stop and it was a church of a scaled fish architecture! but voila the interior is amazing, feels like a protestant church though! and I can imagine papa preaching at the pulpit. guess I really miss hearing papa's sermon.
We headed on to buy Rouen's most famous Auzou macaroons (: bought caramel and vanilla and I prefer the vanilla (: bought another box of 14 to bring to Italy in 2 days' time for des, mel and jiaqi! Voila! the astronomical golden clock of Rouen! and Aileen and Zach figured out that the silver portion of the ball embedded at the centre determines the shape of the moon tonight and it indeed was that shape that night (:
As we're heading towards Hotel de Ville, the sun made its awesome appearance with its heat, warming my skin which has been much concealed beneath my coat for the past one half month (: Zach loved the sun too, and Ming said we're really lucky cos 'twas rare for Rouen to have such warm sunshine! We're so blessed! (:
We had the most chill coffee break at one of the cafes! loved their cafe creme served with a minute but sweet piece of chocolate from Belgium (: Zach was playing with the sugar cubes to see how coffee seeps into each sugar grain and he got 4 cubes in out of mere playfulness haha! we just sat there enjoying the hues of the sun and I almost forgot the wonder of sun's warmth till that moment - it vaguely rekindled memory of how hot sun at kallang be during my water trainings!
We headed on to a road by the stream beneath a stretch of cobbled street.it's amazingly cooling close to feet as you tread slowly along this street (:and entering this close to castle church is an amazing feeling, with the vast green field - white flowers seemingly floating and chestnuts scattered on the ground. caught an smu jump just right there with the girls! the beautiful church completes the close to perfect scene. notre dame alike but empty cos of the installation art exhibition held when we're there.We didn't enter hotel de ville in the end, just stood outside in awe of the building complete with a lonely France flag flying in rhythm to the light wind. napoleon statue was there too, and Ming commented how short Napoleon was! haha well I've no idea how tell he's supposed to be.
Rouen's Notre Dame Cathedral was lovely too, albeit the greyish black parts of the wall and this is the first cathedral I've seen with such a pointy tall structure. went inside and a man told me that one of the tomb houses ricardi who is the heart of lyon! and we caught the pipe organist playing the wedding march (: hearing the wedding march in such a place brings a feeling of hope and bliss!
The top view near the hostel was nice (: it overlooked the river siene, the cathedral and Rouen houses from afar (: sunset was amazing too!
Dinner was truly a feast (: I've never had such nice dinner for a month and a half already! curry cap chai, sausage egg and broccoli from kailee and Aileen, tom yum chicken soup from Roger, leek chicken from Ming and charsiew from me!! :D feels like im home again! and Aileen even made waffle nutella with apple slices and rum and raisin ice cream ((: yummy! was really touched! loads to talk about, and we played a pretty long monopoly deal game! zach's first time playing it!
Another night, and this time I crashed lemin's bed!
Bye bye Rouen (: tiny city, lingers much warmth in the heart.
Labels: exchange
