France River Cruise
September, 2014
The City of Rouen
Capital of the northwest region of France known as Normandy, Rouen was one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe. Rouen was also where Joan of Arc was brought after she was captured, and in 1431, was eventually burned at the stake as a heretic. She was only nineteen years old when this happened.
Rouen is also the home of another magnificent cathedral named Notre-Dame de Rouen. What was so much nicer with this Notre-Dame over the one in Paris was the noticeable absence of tourists. We finally got to go inside one of these historic architectural marvels.
But Notre-Dame wasn't the only church of consequence that we saw here. Only a few blocks away was the Eglise St-Maclou. Smaller than Notre-Dame, but no less impressive, we saw this structure first, while on our walking tour from the ship. The outside detail was stunning.
This amazing work of lane way graffiti depicting Joan of Arc was done by strategically removing centuries of soot build up to get to the light coloured stone beneath.
The 80 ton bronze spire of Notre-Dame de Rouen can be seen behind this plaque. Roughly translated it says in part, "In the archiepiscopal palace Tuesday May 29, 1431 was held the session of the trial of Joan Of Arc..."
Eglise St-Maclou in Rouen. Much smaller than Notre-Dame cathedral, the detail of the exterior architecture is no less impressive.
People aren't the only ones to get bent over as they age. This building had a definite list to it.
Walking Tour of Rouen
Our tour for the day was simply to walk around Rouen with a GPS activated tour headset. As we approached a specific spot the "Walkman" style device would tell us all about it. The tour was restricted to a fairy small area near the ship, but it gave us a good feel for the town. We actually did the tour twice. The first time was in the morning with others from the ship and a guide, and the second was in the afternoon by ourselves. It let us spent as much time as we wanted to see and photograph what we wanted.
