Rolling in Rouen

What a busy and fantastic weekend!
I spent all of Friday at La Cuisine researching specialty food stores.  Pas Mal!  I'm creating a handout/guide on the stores La Cuisine visits during its Foodie Walk tours and the Le Sucre tours.  Each tour talks about the different specialty goods that are unique to France (think baguettes, foie gras, and special pastries).  Yum!  It was an interesting day.  The only problem is that there was a baguette class going on as I was working, so the whole building smelled like fresh baked French bread.  It smelled fantastic!  I don't think I will get used to it, the savory smell will always make my mouth water. 

Yesterday the JYF program had a day trip to the city of Rouen.  It is only about two hours northwest of Paris in the reigon of Normandy.  Voila le carte....merci to Google!

Driving into the city, I was a little bit skeptical.  It was a little industrial looking, but I reminded myself that Roen was suffered a lot of damage during WWII and many buildings were destroyed.  Luckily, the old city and Cathedral of Notre Dame (there are Notre Dames EVERYWEHRE in France) was not damaged too badly.  The old part of the city was everyone I hoped it would be.  We started our tour at the Notre Dame cathedral...

 And this is only the side entrance....

 And here is the front!  The church is undergoing renovations and cleaning, hence all the scaffolding.



Tower on the right hand side.  Monet painted this church about 30 times, each at different times of day and in different weather.  A lot of the paintings are in the Musee d'Orsay, but some are here in Rouen in the Musee des Beaux-Arts, which we will get to later....

 I've been inside a lot of Gothic churches now, but they never cease to amaze me.

Some of the stained glass is being restored.  Before D-Day, Rouen was bombed to weaken the German defences, and some of the windows were destroyed or damaged.

 Tomb of Richard the Lionhearted

However, only his heart is here, not his entire body.  Richard was a King of England, but he was also a Duke of Normandy.

 Statues of Saints that originally decorated the facade of the church.

Decoration depicting the death of John the Baptist

 Streets of old Rouen

 Half timbered buildings.  This one is the oldest in Rouen, built in the 1400s!

Sweet Motorcycle (shout out to Dad and Greg)

 The Terrible Child Restaurant and Wine Bar

What a great name!

 Plague Cemetery

When 2/3 of a population dies from the black death, you need a place to put all of them.  Bodies were dumped into a mass grave and liquid lime sped up the decomposition.  Later the bones were re stacked into the upper levels of the buildings.  Now the buildings house an art school. 

Macabre decorations...skulls, coffins, ribs, scythes...

 Rouen's Palais de Justice

 Le Gros Horloge

The big clock.  Super creative name.

It only has an hour hand (complete with a golden sheep to represent the wool industry that made the town wealthy back in the day).  Minutes were not important!

 Joan of Arc Church. Very modern outside, Renaissance stained glass inside!

 This is where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. 

Statue of St. Joan

Somehow I don't think looked as calm during her burning...

After lunch (we had Italian food, everyone was missing pizza...) we went to the Musee des Beaux-Arts.  The museum had a great mix of Renaissance paintings, Romantic style paintings, and Impressionist paintings.  Here are some of my favorites.

 La Vierge entre les Vierges

The virgin (Mary that is) among Virgins (mostly saints)

 A painting by Carravagio, featuring Jesus.  Most of the art was religious.

St. Joan of Arc

Monet's painting of the Cathedral in Rouen on a foggy day.

Most of my pictures are of buildings, or me in front of buildings.  Here is proof that I have friends!

This band was playing outside the cathedral.  They were really good!  I also enjoyed their outfits.

Un Chocolat Caramel Tarte.  Perfect treat to end my visit!

All in all, it was a great trip.  It's nice to leave Paris, but it's nice to come back too!  After our trip we continued our international cuisine with dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was delicious.  I love French food, but it was nice to change it up a bit. 

Bisous!

Allison