La Bouille

Driving to La Bouille

Today, my mom and I drove to a quaint town "La Bouille" situated just south of Rouen, so about half an hour northwest of Gaillon. This small town, with only 820 inhabitants, is located on the river Seine and has a ferry service to cross the river to the town of Sahurs.



The town square



Merry Christmas

We celebrated Christmas this evening, it was very special as the four of us haven't been together for the occasion in almost 20 years! My brother Florian and his boyfriend David came to Gaillon (they live in Paris) by train and I drove home from work. Florian and David took care of the dinner, which was succulent. Toasted foie gras with caramilized apples, roasted farmed chicken with mushrooms and baked potatoes, cheeses, buche de Noel. Of course, accompanied with very good wines chosen by dad and champagne.

Rouen

My dad and I in front of the Gros Horloge

My parents and I went to Rouen this afternoon to finish our Christmas shopping. Rouen is the capital of the Upper Normandy region in the Seine Maritime department (76). The population in 2011 is 110276 people. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries. It was here that Joan of Arc was burnt in 1431. The city is known for its Notre Dame cathedral, which was the subject of a series of paintings by Claude Monet. Also the Gros Horloge is an astronomical clock dating back to the 16th century, though the movement is considerably older (1389). The city was heavily damaged (approximately 45% was destroyed) during World War II: in June 1940, when the area between the Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Seine river burned for 48 hours, because the Germans did not allow the firemen to come and extinguish the fire.

In the 2001 movie A Knight's Tale, the protagonist William Thatcher (played by Heath Ledger) poses as a noble and competes in his first jousting tournament at Rouen.

Frederique

Today, I met up with an old girlfriend Frederique. We were good friends in the early 80's, we were about 10 or 12 years old. We were at the same school and lived only a couple kilometers from one another so we hung out a lot and were always at each other's birthday's parties. One time even, several of us (her and her sister, me and my younger brother and a couple other friends) were on local TV, it was a show where kids could celebrate their birthday on TV. After a few years, we didn't go to the same school and we fell out of touch until this year. We had not seen each other in almost 25 years! She now has a cute 2 and half year old son named Matthew.