Roen & Caen Sept 10th 2009

What a day I tell you, what a GOOD day!
I mentioned already that we started out our day with a good breakfast, thank God for that because we have been busy since then.
After breakfast Claude and I walked into town and at La Gare de Lyon we rented a nice little grey diesel car. The only concern for us was: Driving in Paris with seasoned drivers who are use to going 100kms an hour and drive in all directions. I kid you not when I say Parisian motorcyclists can and will pass you in your lane just to get closer to the green light. If the light turns green for pedestrians, they confidently start walking and assume you've stopped driving! And there are no hanging lights in front of you, most lights are at shoulder level on the side of the road and you can't look too far ahead because that green light isn't for you! You've got a nice big fat red light to concentrate on or you run a few people down---no stress at all I tell you. Then you have the crazy round abouts with NO rules, all cars in all directions and NO lanes. It's a free for all with cyclists, motorists, and nutty drivers---it's madness to the untrained eye or it's a great sight if you're not in it!
So I told Claude my plan: You navigate and I'll drive (seriously, my sense of direction is literally backwards, I think the exact opposite of what I need to do! Now you tell me, how can that possibly be helpful in Paris??????).
Our plan worked.
First thing Claude did was send me into the eye of the storm---straight to the bastille---the busiest roundabout ever---but as we neared potential death, we took a sharp right and wizzed our way out of town. We have been fortunate so far with the weather and this morning brought a baby onslaught of rain, just enough to keep the racing bikers down to normal speed---and small blesslings are appreciated!
A little over an hour later Claude and I were safely and happily on our way to Roen for a quick visit to see Jeanne d'Arc and to see l'eglise Notre Dame.
We were glad to be on way to Caen, a cheerful, clean, and thriving little town. Claude and I decided that we would check out St-Etienne's hotel in honor of our younger brother Etienne. Driving can turn you into a Saint just by the many acts of patience one must continually work on to get to a destination. Claude did the driving and I practiced working the map (we tried to get a GPS but our bill would of been ludicrous so we opted for a good old fashion road trip). Just when we would hit the street, the one way would deter us yet again. It took us a small eternity to reach the street we so eagerly were trying to get to and when we got there we took a picture of the hotel, whether we got in or not. We laughed at the thought of the 11 rooms being all booked up and having to start our search yet again! But luck was on our side and there were two rooms left, so we chose the one on the 20th floor (or so it seemed with our luggage) and we settled into room 9 in St-Etienne's little hotel. Needless to say, we are both tickled pink! Claude will surely roll his eyes when he reads this---ha ha but he's fast asleep, dog-tired from today's excursions.
Once semi-unpacked we checked out our new surroundings. And you should see how happy Claude is, all smiles and a thought or two hidden to himself. It's nice to see.
Some of the buildings in this neighbourhood were obviously scathed by war and large bullet holes still exist in the marble fronts of some of the establishments doors down from us.
We found a quaint little pub style brasserie where we ate traditional cuisine francaise.
Home by 10pm and exhausted. I am very happy to see that this old and ancient building is equipped with wifi as I was expecting to be hunting down internet cafes to do my blogging---ha! And now I can carry on in my room, with both windows wide open, curtains flying in the wind, and listening to the sounds of trees flittering below. My little table is in the middle of the two windows and it's perfect!. If I strain my body over to the far left and look out the window, I see the two sharp peeks of a large and magnificient building---now I did hear Claude breathe the words of which building it is and now I cannot for the life of me recall what it's called! BUT I have a picture!
So---all is well---Claude is now for sure sleeping and now I've got the idea of sleep tugging at the corners of my mind---and down below are two french guys singing a drunken song---and it still sounds somehow very french, very FRANCE, and I smile because tonight it makes being out here very real.

Bonne nuit--Dd