Rouen

Rouen has a lot of churches, and I do not mean parish churches. They have lots of big cathedrals. While I ought I was brilliant making a reservation at a hotel at the place de cathedral, it proved to be a smart move to take a cab from the train station as there were too many spirals to choose. The hotel is ultra modern, opposite the Cathedrale de Notre Dame. Rouen was totally destroyed during the war but large parts of the town were rebuilt in the medieval style. Seriously, a modern interpretation to Tudor style, sometimes with the wood amid plaster and sometimes with wood like lines painted on to plaster.

After settling in, the discovery started. First across the street to the Cathedral where the lessons included that Rollo the Viking was given Normandy by the King of France to keep him away from Paris. Monet painted the church more than 30 times, all studies of light. A light show uses the church as a canvas. The view from the room should be great! The church has a chapel to honor Joan of Arc, paid for by an English committee. The crypt has the remains of Rollo's grave, destroyed in WWII a millennium and a decade after he died and it has the heart of Richard the Lionhearted the rest of whose body was at Fontevraud Abbey until it was destroyed in the Revolution.
The next church visited was the church of St Maclou. Damaged in WWII, it only reopened in 1980 and while the light inside is fantastic, that is because the windows were destroyed in the war. St Malone was a 7the century missionary from Wales and inside the church there is a statue of him. Two women were discussing in a very, very upper class British accent that the footwork was Celtic and guessing that the French Maclou must translate into Scottish somehow. I told them no, he was Welsh and a missionary, a fact confirmed when we all read the French signs. They were amazed I knew the fact and I said I had just come across it today and remembered it because I liked to hike in Wales. One woman said that if he was a missionary then the Welsh made one contribution after all. I giggled and told her she sounded very English. She said thanks to that.
Next stop was St Ouen's which is larger than the cathedral but actually is used as a museum. It has some beautiful 14 century windows although the Revolution destroyed much of it.
Next stop was a pastry shop, where the purchase was Madelines as the American habit of take out could be applied to that snack. They were very good and larger than what I have seen in the US.
The walk through town now centered on getting to the Joan of Arc Tower, which actually is the only remaining part of a castle built by Phillippe Augustus when he was King in the 13th century. Joan was brought here to be tortured. The tower has circular stairs, which I detest but a climb too the first floor had some lovely sculpture of St Joan as well as a display of Mark Twain's work that he donated to the museum. The second floor has a huge model of Rouen during the siege.

At the entrance, the caretaker was kind enough to step aside so that photos of the place she was tortured, now commemorated with a plaque could be taken. The walk back through town showed that this is a modern city with lots of shopping. So far the only purchase was more sweets. I wonder if one can live on pastries alone?