You can send in an online request form to ask for "des brochures touristique" from the Rouen Tourist Office...
http://www.rouentourisme.com/default...e=9&ext=en

Bonjour,

"Please cook it well done !" = "Bien cuit, s'il vous plaît !"

BTW, hope nobody considered my posts as... advertising ! I simply wanted to give the only 2 good addresses I had in the field of "chambres d'hôtes" and "viticulteurs"/wine-growers... Marie (Normandie, France)

Can I recommend looking at the www.chateauxhotels.com web-site - [I've got onto their mailing list somehow] has good ideas for paris by area and price.
As to driving to Versaliles, it's so easy to get there on the RER, I wouldn't drive there.
AS suggested on another thread, you can get a train to Tours, and there pick up the car there - avoids driving in Paris. THere are lots of wonderful chateaux - why not consult the Micheling Green guide. For what it's worth, my favourites are:
Chenonceau, Amboise, Azay-le Rideau, and [for the gardens] Villandry & Chaumont. THere are lots of son-et lumiere performances - the one at Blois was great. Good luck.

I stayed at the Hotel Bonaparte in May and loved the hotel and the location. Walking distance to the museums and great food around the corner. The hotel is lovely and they have internet access in the lobby free of charge. The staff is very nice and helpful. They recommended a very nice restaurant around the corner and it was excellent. I took Ira's advice on the hotel and will definitely go back again. We also had lunch at the Grand Colbert and had a fun time. If time permits I would rent bikes and really get to see Paris. What a blast that was.

Bonjour,

A superb painting can be seen in our Musée des Beaux-Arts in my town, Rouen. It displays paintings coming from several museums located in Florence and will be held until Sept. 3rd, 2006. So far, this exhibit has only been shown in... Pékin :

http://195.7.104.1/normandy-tourism/...436&lng=fr

- "MIROIR DU TEMPS, CHEFS-D'OEUVRES DES MUSÉES DE FLORENCE" (Lieu : ROUEN)

Descriptif : C'est un évènement exceptionnel qui a lieu à Rouen en 2006 : des oeuvres particulièrement importantes, souvent très célèbres, des musées de Florence et en particulier de la Galerie des Offices, ont été choisies pour illustrer le fabuleux essor artistique engendré par la pensée humaniste depuis la fin du Moyen Age. L'exposition, présentée uniquement à Pékin (du 20 janvier au 23 avril 2006) et à Rouen, est composé d'un ensemble de 80 peintures, sculptures et objets d'art, avec pour fil conducteur la représentation de l'homme et de sa place dans le monde.

Date(s) : du 19/05/2006 au 03/09/2006

Contact :

MUSEE DES BEAUX ARTS
Tel. : 02 35 71 28 40

Voilà ! Bon weekend à toutes et tous ! Marie (Normandy, France)

Hmm, must be tired after grading all these bac tests ;-) Forgot to type "painting exhibit"... Désolée !

http://www.rouen-musees.com/exposition/index.html

http://www.expomiroirdutemps.com/

Marie

Marie - looks wonderful, but we will be there after the 3rd.

<<looks wonderful, but we will be there after the 3rd>>

Well, there might be "une prolongation" (an extension ???), who knows ;-) ?!!!

If you are in Rouen before Sept. 17th, you might feel like going and watching the very interesting pixel "show" projected on the main façade of our wonderful Gothic cathedral :

http://new2.rouentourisme.com/defaul...n&file=330

"This year, from the 23th June, every evening until the 17th September, Rouen transforms the square of its cathedral into a huge theatre of light .

The frontage of the beautiful Gothic monument is transformed into an huge fabric of painter to whom moving the colors inspired of the famous series of the cathedrals of Claude Monet apply. On the initiative of this project, in 2004, the Town of Rouen and its service Heritage and Tourism.

In 1892 and 1893, the impressionnist artist put his easel in front of the cathedral of Rouen and attempt tirelessly, day after day, to grip in this canvas the shades and variations of the light in different hours and among the weather.

He concludes this unique work in the History af Art, making, with the same model, thirty canvas all differents. The american Roy Lichtenstein will make a pop art version in the 20th century..."

"Every day, at nightfall from the 23rd June to the 17th September 2006. Free show.
Inofrmation : June / July, from 11.00 pm.
August from 10.30 pm.
September : from 10.00 pm"

Cordialement. Marie (Normandy, France)

Well, there are mistakes in the text belonging to Rouen's web site... Y sont pas doués, lol !

Do not delay in getting a hotel for September. Seriously, start right away!

It is an extremely popular month with tourists, plus there are a number of trade shows in Paris in September.

I just spent 8.5 hours trying to book a room for the second week in Sept. Not in research, just in contacting hotels and checking availability. There are some rooms left, but not always the most desirable (the worst and the most expensive). Rates are also higher in Sept. I found that some hotels had doubled the rate. I am staying at Hotel Latour Maubourg where a deluxe room, which is usually 190 euros,is 233.

Sue

from above post: "..By the way does anyone know how to say "Please cook it well done?".."

the term for 'well done' is <i>bien cuit</i>

I assume you are American. Where are you flying from? If it's a long overnight flight, I don't think picking up a car and driving off is a good idea. You're jetlagged, it's a foreign country with different rules of the road. Since you want to go to Paris anyway, why not start there? Cities are better for recovering from jet lag. Lots of things to do at all hours.