Day 6: Tuesday 4/12-Last Day before we fly home + All things Joan of Arc

Today we spent a lovely day in Rouen.  We started at the Eglise Ste. Jeanne d'Arc. (the church of Joan of Arc.) This church was built at the city center of Rouen in 1979. It was at this spot that Joan was burned at the stake for heresy in 1431.(heresy: going against the beliefs of the church-Joan believed it was the voice of God telling her she was the maid that would save France, she also did it wearing men's clothes...the Church leaders did not like any of this)

-the sweeping curves both inside and out are to represent the flames that took Joan's life 

-The stained glass windows came from a 16th century church that was destroyed in WW II.  The ruins are right outside this modern church. Luckily the windows were taken out and remained safe from destruction.  

We then went to Historial Jeanne d'Arc...This museum told the story through various videos as you wandered through of Joan and her fight to free France from the English.  It was so interesting.  Joan did what she promised...she brought victory to France at Orleans and got Charles VII crowned King of France.  The following months however, the French are defeated outside of Paris and Joan is taken prisoner by the Bourguignons (who are friendly to the English).  Joan is sold to the English and put on trial. 

In December, Joan is brought to Rouen and locked in the chateau fort.  May 29th she is sentenced to die and may 30th, 1431 she is burned and her ashes are thrown into the river Seine. She was 19 years old. 

The White piece sticking up is a gable of the former hall of justice that was built in the 14th Century and destroyed in the 17th century. It was where parts of Joan of Arc's trial were.  

In July 1456 the church declares the trial at Rouen to be wrong and Joan's name is cleared.

April 1909 the church declares Joan "blessed"

May 1920 Joan of Arc is made a Saint.  

We enjoyed walking around the town center with its tiny streets and shops: 

We then hopped in our rental car and headed back to Paris.  Tomorrow Connor will take the train back to Rennes and we will head back to the USA.  

Day 5- Monday 4/11: Grand tour...

We left Bayeux this morning and decided to make a few stops before we headed to Rouen.  We made our way to Les Andelys, France to see Chateau Gaillard.  These are the remains of a fortress built by Richard the Lion Heart, King of England and Duke of Normandy in 1196 to stop the French Army.  It fell to the French in 1203.

Getting to these ruins is not for the faint of heart, it was quite a climb up as well as down. 

--yes, I made it down without injury!

-Here I am in one of the original "windows"

-this is the view of the Seine River...this is the same river that runs through Paris.

After we safely made our way back to the car, we headed to Giverny.  Giverny is a delightful village that Claude Monet had his home and garden.  Claude Monet was a founder of French Impressionist painting. He lived in this pink and green house and maintained beautiful gardens, including a large water garden.  (that was not blooming at this time, so there are no pictures of the water garden).  

This is a view of the garden from the house. 

After a lovely walk around this beautiful garden with all its blooming tulips (and other flowers I don't know the names of), we finally headed to Rouen, France. Rouen is the capital of Normandy and of the Vikings.  Our hotel is amazing.  It is called the Hotel De Bourgtheroulde. It was originally built for the Le Roux family between 1499 and 1532 as a private hotel for the family.  It was almost completely destroyed in 1944 during the war. The tower has been rebuilt and and many of the sculptures have been restored.  

-the Outside of the hotel

-This is the courtyard of the hotel.

-This is the view of the courtyard and city from our room. You can see the spire of the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Rouen in the skyline.

As we walked around Rouen while waiting for the dinner hour, we found this wonderful city center with this beautiful "Great Clock" 

We continued our walk and found the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Rouen.  Another feat of Gothic architecture.  

-Remember Richard the Lion Hearted from the Ruins at the top of this blog?? Here is his tomb!

Because we had such a small lunch, we decided to go out for a nice dinner.  Many restaurants in France offer "menus" which means you choose a starter and a main course or a starter, main course and dessert for one price.  Tonight we did starters and main course.  Before the main course, an "amuse-bouche" comes out.  This is a single bite-sized hor d'oeuvre, to prepare you for your meal.  

-our amuse-bouche was a piece of duck on top of some yummy puree of something...I'm not sure what, but I ate it all!

-This was my appetizer. Langoustine are like baby lobsters.  Thanks to Connor, I found out that the meat in their taisl and claws is delicious.

-I had duck breast with veggies and pureed potatoes.  I really like duck and this was very good.  

Bonsoir (Good evening)

                                                                                                             

Day 4- Sunday 4/10 Bayeux, France

Today we went to see "La Tapisserie de Bayeux" or The Tapestry of Bayeux.  This 70 meter, (229 feet) linen tapestry is like the first graphic novel. With its embroidered pictures it tells the story of William Duke of Normandy's conquest to win the crown of England in the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the real tapestry so here is a picture of a picture of the tapestry.

Normandy was originally named this because of the "Northmen" or "Norse" that conquered that area...in other words, Vikings. William Duke of Normandy (and later known as William the Conqueror) used boats much like the original Viking boats to get his men, horses and supplies to England.

Our next stop was the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Bayeux.  It is a beautiful Gothic church built in the Norman style.  It was started in the 11th century but had major damage in the 12th century and was rebuilt in the 13th century.

Bayeux is on the Aure River and used the water for power, transportation etc. for centuries.  This is "The Hospital Mill"

We then traveled to 2 beach side towns that we had been to and really enjoyed the first time we were in France.  Although it was chilly and windy, it was enjoyable to be by the sea.  

Port en Bessin is a small bay town whose major industry is fishing. 

-Arromanches is also a small village by the sea in Northern France

-floating concrete structures were brought by the British to form walls and piers to create an artificial port to aid in the landing of supplies and troops to aid in the Invasion of Normandy after D-Day. 

We ate at a small bayside cafe and enjoyed looking out at the water.  I had...

-Croque Monsieur (a baked sandwich with ham and cheese and more grated cheese on top) Normandy is known for its delicious Cheese!  My sandwich was served with Frites (fries) and unlike the US, the condiment of choice for fries in France is often mayonnaise.  This mayo, had a spicy kick to it.  

Day 3- Saturday. 4/9

Today we left Rennes and headed north to the Normandy area. We stopped at Saint Lô, France. This town still has it's Medieval ramparts (walls around its city) from 800 c.e.

The view of the town was amazing from the top of the tower!

We also saw a beautiful Gothic church: Eglise Notre-Dame de Saint-Lo.  It suffered major destruction during WW II bombings the summer of 1944.  You can see where it had to be rebuilt in the second picture. 

 

Many of you asked what I would be eating...We stopped to have lunch at a Creperie. I had a "galette jambon emmental."  A galette is a thicker crepe (a crepe is like a VERY thin pancake). Inside is jambon (ham) and emmental (a type of cheese). It was delicious.

After lunch, we headed to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.  Omaha Beach was one of 5 beaches that the allied forces landed on during "Operation Overlord" on June 6, 1944.  We know this date as "D-Day." The view down to the beach is beautiful now, but on this day in 1944 it was a bloody battlefield as soldiers came ashore.

Over 9,000 soldiers are buried in this American cemetery, just a fraction of those that died in WW II. This includes American soldiers from all over the Normandy area throughout the war, not just those that died during this battle. It is a sobering sight to look out over the reflecting pond and see row upon row of white crosses and stars of David for each young soldier that fought for freedom during this war and lost their lives.

  

 -Spirit of American Youth that looks out over the cemetery

We left Omaha Beach and drove to our next town: Bayeux, France.  It is a city on the Aure River in the Normandy area. 

In case any of you ever visit France, you should know that restaurants open between 11:00 until 2:00 and then are closed between 2:00-7:00.  They reopen for dinner between 7:00-9:00. Dinner hour is much later here than what we are used to in the U.S.  I can't promise that I will continue to take pictures of my food...but I did take a picture of tonight's.  I had chicken with apples in cream sauce.  It, too, was delicious and so pretty I HAD to take a picture.  

Day 1 and 2 Thursday, 4/7- Friday 4/8

My husband, Brent  and I flew out of the Lincoln airport at about 1:30 in the afternoon. After a short layover in Minneapolis we were on our way to France. We arrived in Paris at 8:30 in the morning (which is 1:30 in the morning in Nebrska!). We made it through customs where they stamped our Passports and off we went to get out rental car. We made the 3 1/2 hour trip to Rennes, France where Connor is staying. Our evening was spent having dinner with Connor's host mom, Marie and her friend Christina. Christina spoke very little English and Brent and I do not speak French. We were very glad to have Connor there to translate for us.