The Final Part of the Adventure (Rennes)

So I had left my job in Brittany and ended up completing my Year Abroad in Rouen. But I still had a non-refundable hotel booking and flight in Rennes. This meant that I needed to finish my lessons early on my last day of school, take a train to Paris St-Lazare, go on the metro to Paris Montparnasse, and finally take the train to Rennes. It was a bit of a stressful journey in rush hour traffic, and it was already night by the time I arrived.

However, the good thing was that my flight was at 13:15 the next day, so I had some time to explore the city in the morning. And this is what I saw...

Palais Saint-Georges

La Mairie

The Opera House

Basilique Saint-Sauveur

Cathédrale Saint-Pierre

Portes Mordelaises

Tour Duchesne

Église Toussaints

I didn't know much about Rennes before I went, so I was surprised at how many beautiful and ornate buildings there were in the city centre. Overall, my stay there was like a mini holiday, and it was a really nice way to finish my Year Abroad.

This was the last place I visited, but I haven't quite finished with the blog yet. However, my next post is going to be my final one...

Veules-les-Roses

As I mentioned in my previous post, Veules-les-Roses was the last place I visited in Normandy. I went there with the host family I was staying with. Like Étretat, I hadn't heard of it before, but it's a village that's very popular with tourists, because it's so pretty.

When we got there, we went for a walk along the beach.

After lunch (and being ambushed by wasps 😨) we walked around the centre of the village, which was really nice. The smallest river in France, Veules, flows through the village, and that is where the first part of the name comes from. The second part comes from the fact that there are lots of roses (and other flowers) around the village.

As demonstrated by the photos, it's a very picturesque village. It reminds me a lot of the villages in the Cotswolds, near where I come from.

So the following week was my last week at the language school before returning to England. However, my travels weren't yet finished...

Dieppe

During my last weekend in France, I went on two excursions. The first one was to Dieppe and the second one was to Veules-les-Roses. I saw too many things in both places for just one blog post! So this one will be about Dieppe.

I particularly wanted to visit Dieppe because of its castle. (I have a slight obsession with castles and palaces!) It is just like something out of a fairytale, and what makes it even better is that there's a museum inside with various artefacts, including impressionist paintings.

The hill that the castle is on makes a great place for taking photos!

After visiting the castle, I had a look around the city. I saw L'église Saint Rémy...

...and L'église Saint-Jacques.

Next I went to the harbour.

And then I went for a walk along the beach.

The final thing I saw was the city gates.

Dieppe was probably my favourite place that I visited in Normandy, because it was so scenic and historical. It is also a very small city, so it's easy to travel around on foot. Overall, it was a nice way to spend my last Saturday in France!

Rouen

So eventually I ended up in Rouen for the last five weeks of my Year Abroad. I did three different placements during that time - two weeks of work experience at a vet, one week of work experience in a cat café, and two weeks at a language school. It was fun to do three very different things in a short space of time. I particularly liked working at the vets, as I learnt a lot there. I got to see various surgeries carried out, which was really interesting. Working in the café wasn't quite as exciting, but it was lovely to be surrounded by adorable cats all day!

The centre of Rouen is very historic and picturesque. However, the city's not really that different from towns in England, so it felt much less exotic in comparison to other places I've seen on the Year Abroad. But overall, I enjoyed my time there.

Here are some of my favourite parts of the city:

Le Gros-Horloge

Jardin des Plantes

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen (Every night during the summer, two short films are projected onto the wall of the cathedral, which is when I took these pictures. It's really impressive and definitely worth seeing!)

Square Verdrel

Place du Vieux-Marché (This is where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.)

Church of Saint-Maclou

Passage de la Petite Horloge

Tour Jeanne-d'Arc (This is where Joan of Arc was imprisoned. It used to be part of a castle, but now just this tower remains.)

Rouen wouldn't have been my first choice of city to spend the majority of the French part of my Year Abroad in. But although I preferred Montpellier and the south of France, I still liked being here. It's a city with a lot of history and culture.

I also visited a few other towns and cities in Normandy, and there will be short posts about them coming very soon!