Rouen after lazy sea day

Yesterday was a real sea day and we did nothing but lie around on sun deck (with blankets, it was COLD) and read in between eating. That’s not totally true — we did do our 13 laps around the jogging track — walking, of course, me in blanket — for a mile.  I even tried jogging a bit.  It was a pathetic sight, as you can imagine.  But thanks Sandy for giving me those yoga pants — I wear them all the time now.  Well, until I went and changed into my fleece pants and a turtleneck because it was so cold.  Last night was special wine pairing dinner, which was delicious and delightful, with great tablemates. Even the white wine, even the chardonny, was good! That’s saying a lot since I basically hate white wine. Today, we sailed up the Seine to Rouen, very picturesque until we hit the place we’re docked, which is ugly industrial. Oh, well, the town is beautiful enough to make up for the parking lot view — and at least we’re not looking at the humongous grain elevators that are loading grain, with attendant grain dust. Don’t they know that stuff is flammable???? Anyway, we did a short ride on a tourism “train” around the town, then went to see cathedral and another church — all very medieval, flamboyant architecture, but very plain insides. After the churches in Prague, most have a far way to go to measure up. Walked around, looked in shops, then had a fabulous normandy lunch, with a bottle (make that full bottle) of Cotes de Rhone wine, after which I was totally on my lips and had to come back to ship before I was liable to stumble and do a face plant on the cobblestones. Plus it is very hot in town, very hot. So we made it back, got cooled down and rested and now it’s time to do something. Oh, I know, lie on the sun deck and read! Actually, I left Laird sleeping in the cabin — I’ll have to go wake him up to come to the deck. We were really impressed with Rouen’s charm and beauty. Haven’t figured out what we will do tomorrow. One choice is to take train to Paris, another is to go someplace else. A couple of hours in Paris doesn’t seem like enough to bother with, but we’ll see. Monet’s gardens would be great choice. Who knows? That’s the beauty of vacations — one doesn’t have to decide until the moment.
Hope all is well with everyone. Frenchly yours, l&j