Rouen - Monday 28 August

Deciding not to go on the very full day tour to the Somme Battlefields (I get too emotional - the Barrows went but the Todds stayed behind like us), we were able to enjoy a late start to our day with breakfast at 8am. We then walked into Rouen (we're docked very close), with our Rick Steve's guide notes suggesting our route. The temperature today was due to hit 30+ (it did), and we thought we'd make the most of this quieter and cooler part of the day.

We walked past St Maclou, along a street of half-timbered buildings (I wondered how much longer some of these wooden beams could last...), and around to the Plague Cemetery. In the Middle Ages up to two thirds of the people here died. The area where the well now stands became a mass grave, with bodies dumped in a pit and soaked in lime to hasten decomposition. The bones were later stacked elsewhere around this courtyard. There were many ghoulish carvings on the buildings surrounding the well.



We passed the Town Hall and a statue of Napoleon, and then reached the Palace of Justice - the parliament building, dating from 1550, in a gothic style. This was situated on the Street of the Jews and the area of what had been the Jewish Quarter from the 10th century until the early 14th century, when the Jews were expelled from France, their homes destroyed and their land taken and used for this building.



We reached the Joan of Arc Church and the place where she died (marked by the Cross), burnt at the stake in 1431 in the old market square and beside an older church on the site prior to this modern church (ruins of an older church can also be seen). Joan of Arc is the Patron Saint of France. The inside of this church was very beautiful.



We then passed under the Great Clock (Gros Horloge), dating from around 1528.



Further on was Notre-Dame Cathedral. Looking at the facade, it was amazing to think that Monet had painted close to 30 paintings of it, at different times of the day. Indeed, there was a panel on the spot where he stood his easel, with a photo of one of his impressionist paintings. The cathedral was closed until 2pm, so we returned to the boat for lunch, had a bit of a catnap, and then headed out again around 2:20pm. We decided not to do the afternoon walking tour of Rouen provided by APT, having seen most of it this morning. We went straight to Notre Dame and used Rick's notes to guide us through the cathedral.



We were excited to see a tomb that once contained the heart of Richard the Lionheart; another for Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy and the leader of the first Vikings who decided to settle here after attacking Paris (interesting for those of you who would have watched the Vikings TV series) - he was also the great great great great grandfather of William the Conqueror. There were statues of a number of saints, another chapel dedicated to Joan of Arc.









After this, we stepped out into the heat, and headed for a cafe and enjoyed a couple of apple cider brut. Then it was back to the boat for some more refreshing drinks and a chance to relax.

The buses were late back from the Somme tour, so they had a very long day, that also sounded very emotional. I definitely would not have coped as my eyes welled up just with Jan telling me about it and some of the awful stories of what had happened during those battles.