Normandy - Day 2

Driving around Normandy for hours, one soon gets over the novelty of the landscape and realises that it is actually pretty tedious. There is very little variation, and it's not that pretty - but quite featureless. Having said that, I enjoyed seeing the parasitic mistletoe blighting the trees everywhere. Fetch my golden sickle!

Started the day at Giverny, best known as the location of Claude Monet's garden and home. The nymphaes in his famous water garden were brown and dead, but the house garden had a little bloom going and was quite pretty. It was interesting visiting his little house, but the trip would have benefited from more information about his life. Also, all the reproductions of his paintings were faded and should have been replaced. Never mind, we had another nice lunch with the obligatory bottle of Normandy nectar...

Moved on to Rouen next, the ancient capital of Normandy. This was another of Europe's delightful medieval cities, and we enjoyed wandering through the narrow streets, eating crepes and admiring the tottering and lopsided half-timbered buildings.

Particular sites of note were the Notre Dame cathedral, with its Tour de Beurre (butter tower), the tallest building in the world (151 m) from 1876 to 1880. The cathedral was the subject of a series of paintings by Claude Monet, and has a tomb for Richard the Lionheart which contains his heart.

The Gros Horloge (Great Clock) is an astronomical clock installed on the archway over a gate in the ancient Roman walls. On the two Renaissance clock faces, a single hand indicates the hour. Under the number VI, a divinity associated with the day of the week appears at noon on a chariot. Above the clock face, a globe indicates the phase of the moon. Many depictions of sheep show the importance of the wool trade in Rouen and the Paschal Lamb, which has been part of Rouen's coat of arms since the 14th century, is represented on the underside of the arch.

In the centre of the Place du Vieux Marché (Old Market Place) is the site where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the occupying English in 1431. There is a scrappy garden on the site, and an extremely tall crucifix (not easy to photograph). The nearby modern church of Saint Joan of Arc dominates the square. The form of the building represents the pyre on which Joan of Arc was burnt, and it contains some splendid modern stained glass.

Anna and I also stumbled on an odd square (Aître St. Maclou), where plague victims had been buried in mass graves in 1348. It is surrounded by ossuaries and charnel houses (now art galleries), decorated with skulls and crossbones and gravediggers' tools. A glass case near the entrance displays the skeleton of a cat found in one of the walls. It was most probably a black cat - thought to be an incarnation of the Devil - that was plastered into the masonry, alive, in order to ward off evil spirits.

On a happier note, I spotted this cute toy in a knitting shop. I thought mum might enjoy it!

That night, we made a bit of an effort to have dinner with some of our fellow tourists in Caen. I tried calvados (apple brandy), which was like drinking alcohol fumes, and pommeau (an aperitif produced by blending unfermented cider and apple brandy), which was delicious!


This is Caen's Joan of Arc statue: