Onward to Rouen via Madrid and Paris

There are many reasons to visit Rouen France, a historically significant city of 650,000 and the capital of Normandy.
Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen.
The Vikings arrived on the River Seine. Rollo Duke of Normandy is buried in Rouen Cathedral.
In August 1944 Canadian troops liberated Rouen.
It has an impressive amount of half timber buildings.
My granddaughter will be living in the medieval city of Rouen for several months and I want to check it out.

Our teaching English stint finished on Friday 29 November. It had been a relaxing week in one place. The location in a pretty thermal-water village allowed for short walks around the town. Our resort spa hotel had a thermal pool so we took advantage of the thermal waters Thursday afternoon. Colder than I expected but still an experience.

We got back to Madrid on Friday evening.

Since our flight was leaving at 6 am we just whiled our time away at an outdoor cafe and then took the metro to the airport. .

This was the second time on Madrid Metro that a hip hop musician set up his gear by the exit door and did a little performance. He stands by the door in case security gets on we assume. The train is packed and he makes a few euros.
Yes there were many times during the night I thought this was a tactical error. But we survived.
There were homeless people sleeping in the terminal. Two guys were really making themselves comfortable, cardboard, a bottle of alcohol and happily smoking right there on their spot in Arrivals. Security guards never bothered them. Yes there are homeless in the Madrid airport, some have been living here for years.
We arrived at Beauvais around 9 am, took a bus to the train station and then two trains to Rouen. I have always loved the train a very civilized way to travel. Today there is lots of room, the French are quieter than the Spanish, and they have spoken or understood enough English that we get on the right train and make a seamless transfer.
Beauvais
Seems to be a pretty town on the outskirts of Paris. Actually it is an hour from Paris so outskirts is an ambitious word - we chose this airport for its proximity to Rouen.

I have not stepped foot in France for almost 40 years but the countryside is familiar, green, misty, trees. The way I remember it.

Wow it's chilly here about 4 C and we aren't really dressed for it but we manage. We have a one bedroom apartment with a loveseat in the combined kitchen living room and I volunteered to sleep on the couch the first night. I figured I would sleep no matter what since I was so tired.

Joan of Arc Tower
It was here that Joan of Arc was imprisoned in December 1430 and tried from 21 February to 23 May 1431.

Joan of Arc Tower

The first day in Rouen is a Saturday and they have a big Christmas market by their Notre Dame Cathedral. Which is impressive.


Oodles of people. We never got close to a booth but we did go inside the church.

The cathedral, built and rebuilt over a period of more than eight hundred years, has features from Early Gothic to late Flamboyant and Renaissance architecture. It also has a place in art history as the subject of a series of impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, and in architecture history as from 1876 to 1880, it was the tallest building in the world. Rollo the Viking who converted to Christianity is buried here. Richard the Lion Hearts actual heart is here and quite possibly his bowels.
Rollo Count of Rouen, Duke of Normandy. 860 AD to 932 AD. Ruler of Normandy, great, great, great grandfather of William the Conqueror

We saw Rollos statue in Allesund, Norway, a gift to the city by the citizens of Rouen. Home town hero.

I have been to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris - almost forty years ago I lit a real candle and my little son wished for a dog and that his family would never die. A good wish, he has a dog.
Now the candles in most churches are battery operated and I don't feel compelled to light one.

We were taken with the wood and wicker kneeling or prayer chairs.

The Nativity Scene

City Hall in Rouen was built in the mid 18 the century as a dormitory for monks. Neo classical style. The statue is Napoleon.

Saint Louis Chapel - the first stone of the Saint-Louis church was laid in 1615 by Queen Marie de Medici. The first mass was celebrated in 1631. It is now a 600 seat concert hall.

Rouen is renowned for its impressive half timber houses - the structural frame of load-bearing timber is left exposed on the exterior of the building.