03 June 2024

Sur la place du Vieux-Marché à Rouen....

...en juin 2003. We couldn't have asked for better weather on one of the first days of our new life in France. I lived withing easy walking distance of the place du Vieux-Marché (Rouen's old market square) in 1972-73, and I've visited and walked around in Rouen many times since then. Along with Aix-en-Provence, Paris, and Saint-Aignan, it's one of my favorite towns in France.

The building at center-left above — the one adorned with pots of red flowers — is the restaurant called La Couronne, where the American cookbook author and TV cook Julia Child had her first ever meal in France. Walt and I had dinner there in June 2003.


I remember a really nice dinner in the restaurant on the left, Le Rouennais, in April 2002. We were in France to see if my springtime allergy symptoms were milder here than in California. And they were. That revelation led us to decide to quit California and come live in France.

The green Michelin tourist guide gives the old town of Rouen three stars, its highest rating. Rouen is only about 90 minutes from Paris by train.

8 comments:

  1. La Couronne. Wikipedia says it is the oldest restaurant in France. How was your meal? Do you remember what you had?

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  2. I remember that it was salmon. I remember basil leaves because our friends from Rouen didn't know what they were — the Normandy climate is usually too chilly for basil plants to thrive there. It was good but not really memorable.

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  3. I mean the salmon and the basil were both good but the meal wasn't really memorable.

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  4. I would really enjoy going to that restaurant :)

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  5. It’s now on my list, thank you.
    BettyAnn

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  6. Amazingly, I travelled to France with my daughter's high school French class in June of 2003 ! Rouen was one of our stops. The trip was amazing.
    Linda from Alabama.

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  7. Mary in Oregon04 June, 2024 19:44

    Love these photos of Rouen! Such a cute carousel and I've never seen a 2CV that shade of blue! I've snapped many photos of 2CVs - I love them so!

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