Last night we arrived in the town of Pont-Audemer where we will spend the next 4 nights exploring Normandy with our friends Marc and Joëlle. It is centrally located, so each day will be a short drive and a different direction, East, North, Northwest then West.
First, however, we went to the outdoor market a few blocks from our AirBnB. Like in many towns in France, the outdoor market is open only two mornings a week.
The place we sleptDinner first night in an old train stationThe church behind some market stallsChurch adjacent to outdoor market Inside the church Fountain near marketOutdoor marketKnown as the Venice of Normandy, there are many canals fed by the Risle River.Scenes around Pont-Audemer
Rouen is famous for where Joan of Arc was martyred and is full of churches. The architecture of houses and shops features many half-timbered buildings.
Town sign with Notre Dame Cathedral behind. Ruins of large former church in Rouen
Modern art was interspersed with old buildings. Many of the buildings in Rouen were tipping, the walls not vertical, which is emphasized by the wood planks on the walls. We kept wondering how they stayed up.
St. Maclou church
We wandered narrow lanes and larger streets admiring the architecture of Normandy in Rouen.
Aitre St MaclouWood sculptures about death: skull, undertaker’s tools etc.
Aitre St Maclou covers a mass grave from the black plague era in the 1500s when more than half the population died. Nearby is an ossuary. We did not stay long.
Meeting to establish the Napoleonic codeNapoleonHotel de Ville (city hall)This church with flying buttresses, St Ouen’s was closed. Marc and Joëlle finding a GeocachePetit Bec restaurant was delicious!
We went back to Notre Dame because it opened after lunch.
Notre-Dame Cathedral, a cousin to the more famous one in Paris. Looking into the naveMain alterIncense burnerStatues inside Notre-Dame were once outside, crypts include the first Duke of Normandy and a King Richard the Lionheart.Rose windowThere are many confessionalsJoan of Arc chapelChapel of Eucharist
Talented local choir, rehearsingView from a sideJoan of Arc on top of Notre-Dame
Near the cathedral is the Palace of Justice.
Great Clock in Rouen, built in 1528One baby angel is upside down because the artist never got paid.Looking up under the arch, seeing the Good ShepherdBelgian beer makes you see pink elephants!Delirium beer’s emblem
We learned a name that should have been part of US history, the person who originally claimed the lower Mississippi River and surrounding areas for France. This later changed hands in the Louisiana Purchase.
Claude Monet painted many scenes near here. Robert Cavelier, explorer of Mississippi River Tobacco is sold in stores displaying this red diamond sign.Read this out loud to yourself. What does this store sell?
A modern chapel honoring St Joan of Arc utilizes the Scandinavian ship design for the ceilings, in an airy, uplifting space.
Chapel next to ruins of an older church Outside part of the Joan of Arc modern churchInsideSpires, perhaps representing the stake where young Joan was burned. Nautical ceiling
A bit away from the chapel are even more modern links between here and the U.S.
Julia Child ate her first French meal here. The rest is history. The bears climbing up these walls are reminiscent of the Blue Bear in Denver. In France, what would be called Protestant Churches are temples. This is Temple St Eloi. Hotel courtyard Famous faces at a chocolate shopBulging buildings
Bunch of Geeks go Traveling 