There is a wonderful exhibition on the Seine river in Rouen France where you can go in and a giant…read more365 degree room this enormous in about four stories high tells the story in the history of the creation of the city of Rouen. It is located in the old section of the city on the Seine river. Which is lined with many refurbish where houses along the river of that have become discos and exercise Pavilions. As well as bars and restaurants. And Incredibly fun place to visit. This is a place you go to for a beautiful river walk.

Great museum! Quiet and they have some unique ways of displaying the ceramics. It was about 8 euros…read morefor a ticket, they have a museum pass for a little more and you can go to 2 other museums in Rouen.

From the owner: Classé au titre des Monuments Historiques Peut-être parmi les musées méconnus du public, celui de…read morela céramique a pourtant beaucoup de choses à voir avec le passé de la ville... Installé dans un hôtel particulier construit en 1657 (juste au-dessus du square Verdrel), il présente une très belle collection de faïences de Rouen (qui a donné son nom au style "Vieux Rouen") avec de nombreuses pièces du XVIe au XIXe siècle. Cet ensemble d'importance fut réuni dès 1850, et permet d'apprécier l'évolution des styles et de la technique de fabrication de la faïence rouennaise, en comparaison avec d'autres pièces de faïence de Delft, de Nevers ou de Sinceny.

I was very impressed walking through this building. The display is in the information told me…read morethings that I never knew about something that I thought I knew quite a bit of bad. The presentation was well conceived and comfortable. There were plenty of places to stop and listen with the language interpretation headsets that were presented before going on the tour. It's self guided and at your own pace. It worked out wonderfully period it is attached to the Basilica which are able to wander around on the inside which is an amazing structure that was rebuilt after World War II you can imagine the massive size of this name out of work that went into restoring it to its former glory. Be sure to see this little storyboard showing the rebuild.

While I would say that it can be a little difficult to find, being located in a small alleyway…read morebeside the Rouen Cathedral, it is about Jeanne d'arc, and anything about Jeanne is pretty clearly advertised in and around Rouen (in fact they clearly mark all of the significant Jeanne related spots in the city). This isn't actually your ordinary museum, and it definitely isn't her house (you are going to have to go out into the French countryside to actually find her birthplace), but it is a museum that is dedicated to her (I believe that it is the former Archbishop's residence). The museum is more like a guided documentary that follows the second trial of Jeanne, the one that acquitted here (after she had been burnt at the stake mind you) and goes through all aspects of her life, her time in the military, the Battle of Orleans, and of course here capture, trial, and eventual execution. As it is set up as a video where you move from room to room for a different part, they only let people in every fifteen minutes, and the entire tour takes around an hour and a half (depending on how long you spend in the final rooms that look at her legacy). Certainly a different way to set up a museum, and definitely a place to visit if you happen to be in Rouen.

From the owner: Un château reconverti en musée archéologique Le château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye a été résidence…read moreroyale de Louis VI le Gros (XIIe siècle) à Louis XIV (XVIIe siècle), qui y séjourna jusqu'à son départ pour Versailles. C'est pour sauver le château de la ruine que Napoléon III décida sa restauration en 1862 afin d'y abriter le "futur" Musée des Antiquités Nationales. Aujourd'hui, le musée présente les collections archéologiques parmi les plus riches au monde. Elles retracent l'histoire des hommes de la préhistoire au début du Moyen-Age. Tout au long de l'année, le musée propose des évènements et des activités pour tous public.

From the owner: Un jardin historique Parc historique, le Potager des Princes comprend un véritable potager fleuri…read moredans lequel les légumes sont séparés par les fleurs, un étang, un verger, des bassins... Il offre au promeneur comme au botaniste une véritable "symphonie" de jardins différents : jardin japonais, labyrinthe de bambous, jardin exotique... Les animaux, les courses de lapins, le Guignol offrent aux enfants une joyeuse récréation, mais les nombreux panneaux explicatifs et l'étiquetage méticuleux des espèces végétales constituent un parcours botanique de grande qualité. Les treillages, les jets d'eau, les fleurs et les arbres rares, tout évoque la douceur de vivre du 18e siècle.

Eating in the historic kitchen was an interesting atmosphere. Some of the original equipment is…read morestill there, which is interesting but the high ceilings and stone walls make for very poor acoustics, making every sound echo. The meal itself was fantastic, the gravy was exemplary. The bread provided was stale however and the fries were sad. Service was efficient but not friendly. Overall very good.

Uggghhh...had an awful time getting to this place due to traffic. Apparently someone found a giant…read moreunexploded bomb in the subway on the same day we decided to go that caused a bunch of surface roads heading north to be blocked as well. What a nightmare! Anyways finally, FINALLY made it to this super cool castle. Yes I'm calling it a castle because it has a moat. And no chateaus are not supposed to have castles. But it's TOTALLY NORMAL for castles. Definitely a must visit place to visit. The Chateau (Castle) De Chantilly consist of the castle itself, large servants building, massive beautiful grounds, a gigantic palatial horse stable with race track. Compared to the Palais de Versailles I think that Chantilly is more beautiful primarily due to the grounds. Whereas Versailles is so amazing due to it obscene scale. Something to note. To get to the stables you have to leave through the main entrance in which you came. The pathways in the park grounds are all cut off so don't waste your time like I did. The stables are like the ultimate horse stables. These horses are living in total luxury. There are 3 ticket options, grounds only, all access grounds, castle and stables and all access + horse shoe. We skipped the horse show due to getting there late because of the traffic. Anyways visit castle and walk the grounds 1st, then visit the stables. The stables are adjacent to the quaint town of Chantilly proper itself and a nice place to stroll some more. There's a great coffee shop where they serve the famous Chantilly cream in proper social media poser format called Le ateliers de Chantilly. I also be reviewing that place. Would have loved to try one of the local restaurants but we needed to head back to the city. Hopefully you'll have more time if you decide to visit this place yourself.

Going to Monet's garden at Giverny had been a "bucket list" item for me, and I was able to make the…read moretrip recently while visiting Paris! It was such a beautiful place and did not disappoint. The flowers in mid-April were beautiful to see, with huge peonies, lots of tulips, crocuses, wisteria on the Japanese bridge, and other spring blooms. This also seemed to be a good time to visit as it gets more packed during the summer. Tip: Rather than doing a bus tour, it was fairly easy to simply take the SCNF train to Vernon. From Vernon, there are regular shuttle buses directly to Monet's garden for 5 Euros each way (10 Euros round trip), so it is very straightforward. The train from Paris to Vernon leaves from Gare St. Lazare. Also, if you do go via train to Vernon to get to Giverny, there was an adorable cat cafe there for lunch: Cookie's Cat Cafe!

We visited in early June and the most wonderful flowers were blooming!…read moreWe had a guided tour through Viator, which you don't need. We only had to do it for the transportation from Paris to Versailles. We went through the house first, because later in the day, the line for the house can get long. The house had interesting decor and colors, and a TON of Japanese artwork, which he fancied. I enjoyed checking out the old school kitchen. There are some paintings of his in the first room, of both of his wives. The garden was magnificent. They have a path that has directions. You can't just go anywhere you want. Some areas are blocked off. Workers were busy pulling weeds etc. There is a Japanese garden that isn't too far to walk. That was very peaceful. It surrounds a lake with lily pads. Very picturesque. Summer is a great time to visit because lots of things are in bloom. Later, the sunflowers will bloom. So each season has its own stars. I have heard winter time isn't fantastic for flowers, which makes sense. So I would say spring summer and fall are best for the gardens.