Love among Rouen’s . . .

Yes, it’s Valentine’s Day. Tim and I exchanged cards and he presented me with a box of chocolate hearts before heading off to give Coh Karek some attention. (I'm not jealous of her!)  He’ll be back in time for rugby (my idea of a romantic afternoon) and we’ll have a lovely dinner at one of our favourite restaurants—Number 12, aka home on the Isle of Wight. The menu still to be finalised, but there will be a lovely bottle of something red in honour of the day.

Magnificent architecture!

We had our little romantic escape earlier in the month, having had plans fall through on a weekend we were meant to be in London and finding ourselves yearning for a bit of French food and wine. How lucky we are to be 90 minutes from Dover to hop the car ferry abroad! (And even luckier that I paid the checking fee to hold on to my passport while my citizenship application is being considered!)

I’d never been to Rouen, and while it’s a slightly longer journey from the port of Calais than our usual last-minute, need some French wine stop of Boulogne, it is still close enough to make it a weekend fling. We hadn’t anticipated the snow along the way, which was quite pretty and fortunately only marginally accumulated on the road, and once we arrived in Rouen it was a bit dreary and wet, but of the above-freezing kind that meant we were never without an umbrella as we wandered through the town.

Cross at the site of Joan of Arc's execution

And oh, what lovely sites! The architecture can occasionally make you gasp; the history will make you pause. The cathedral is lovely, dark and cold but majestic both inside and out. Its construction began in 12^th century. There is a painting by Monet at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen that struck me as beautiful; it is the one postcard I left with. There are buildings that survived the war, bullet holes gashed into the stone.

Joan of Arc was executed in Rouen in 1431; I wanted to see the site, where now stands an enormous cross on the exact spot of her burning and, I must say, one of the less attractive buildings in the centre, a chapel of modern design built in 1979 that seems incongruous to the rest of the city’s history. The Seine, where her ashes were thrown to prevent any taking of relics, runs through part of Rouen, though it does not evoke the same romance as the river does in Paris, I must say. We did stroll down to take a look at the river and the boats docked, but it was cold and windy and we didn’t stay long.

View from our hotel room

And yes, the food was fabulous. We had two wonderful lunches, both at brasseries that served traditional French food and lovely carafes of wine, and dinner at one of the more popular spots according to Trip Advisor where, given a cold, wet, windy evening in February, was empty but for one other couple who knew the staff (and so Tim joked that they were called in to fill seats). We started with some fresh, slightly briny oysters with chenin blanc, and then I had wonderful coquilles Saint-Jacques (scallops) while Tim chose a steak and we drank a lovely red. We ate and drank slowly and savoured the night.

So an early Valentine’s celebration for us; and while tonight will be a bit less extravagant, in a city a bit less known (unless you’re a sailor), it will be no less romantic. Enjoy yours.

Happy Valentine's Day!