Honfleur, Rouen

We woke up on Wednesday morning in the lovely village of Honfleur.  It's mainly known for the beautiful basin just off the Seine a few miles from the coast.  The town is also famous for the number of artists and therefore art galleries that it has.  So you see the very old streets of the town...

juxtaposed with some very modern art.  There's also a lot of whimsy in the town as testified to by these two things on the street--a modern take on the menu holder.....

And this sculpture, which is actually a candle....

There was a market--mostly food--in the square in front of St. Catherine's church--one of the oldest buildings in Honfleur.

I don't know why but St. Catherine's seems to be made up of two buildings.  Here's the other one.

Honfleur is a very old city with very narrow streets

 and old, sometimes dilapidated, buildings.  Which brings me to an observation.  Last year when Ellen and I were traveling around England, we took special note of half-timbered buildings in the towns we visited.  But in Normandy at least, they are everywhere.  Towns like Honfleur are mostly half-timbered.

You really do feel you are walking in the footsteps of the people who lived her in the Middle Ages or Renaissance.  Just as I really felt I knew what it was like in the days of Eleanor of Acquitaine in Domfront's castle.  Most of Normandy has the feel of a period movie set.  And considering it rains everyday, I have special empathy for those who lived without central heating.

Just a few more pictures from the beautiful Honfleur.

From Honfleur, we drove to Rouen, which did not make a great impression on me at first because it was pouring rain again and the hotel Mary and Chuck and I were to meet at (we were in two cars) turned out to be  hard to find and not named on the outside.

I was there a little before they were and waked to the Cathedral, I thought, looking for the hotel, which was supposed to be near it.  Turns out that was not the cathedral at all, but an abbey.  It is amazing that the people of this town would build two huge churches within blocks of each other, but it turns out there are actually three in close proximity but one was under renovation.  The rain prevented me from taking a picture, but I did get one of this building on the way, which I thought was gorgeous.

Rouen is quite large and appears to be mostly under contstruction so driving around can be quite unnerving.  When I had parked my car and finally found the hotel near the actual cathedral, I left a message for Mary and Chuck to meet me at the cathedral and I took off in the rain again.

No surprise, the cathedral was covered at least in part with scaffolding because it was being cleaned.

This is the church that Monet painted many times in different seasons and all kinds of weather.  Apparently, he sat on the first floor (second floor to us) of this beautiful building across the street, which is one of the oldest in the city.

It's also the tourist office.

Soon, Mary and Chuck showed up and we took off up this street, which is a pedestrian way and appears to be the main shopping road, at least in the old city.  The sun had come out, at least for a while, and it was quite pleasant walking the street, toward the Gros Horloge, which literally means big clock.

On the way, we passed by this forlorn dog whose master was gone at least for a time--we saw him later.

When we passed by him, we realized the dog was not alone.  He had a rabbit friend.

You can get a tour of the old part of the city on this little train.

Again, Rouen is filled with half-timbered houses.

This was right across from the place where Joan was burned at the stake.  A church stands there now.

Quite a modern church that was built to look like an old ship.  And the ceiling of this part of it really does look like a ship's hull.

It's lovely inside as well.

But there is really very little to show what happened in this space.  We first came up the square and there was no official marker for  the place of Joan's burning or directions to find it.

Eventually we went to the back of the church and saw this statue, kind of lonely by itself.

We made our way back to the cathedral down this lovely street, looking at the big clock from the other side.

At the cathedral, we got a better look at the facade.

 I am fascinated by the number of statues on these old churches that no longer have their heads.

Click on the picture to see a closer look. Many, many headless saints.


Then we took a walk to the abbey, once again in the pouring rain.  Inside it was cavernous.

And apparently unused except for concerts.  At the far end, above the door, is an organ which is said to be the most-recorded instrument in the world.


Hoping to get home to St. Fraimbault before dark we drove back through Domfront, where I was rewarded for putting up with the rain by a glorious rainbow, the darkest with the most vivid colors I have ever seen.

It was actually a double rainbow, as you may be able to better see in this shot.

Then a day of rest in St. Fraimbault.