Between Vernon and Rouen, we had beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery. Bill & I spent most of the morning on the Sun Deck with coffee and our camera.
Bill took the opportunity to tour the wheelhouse and meet our very young, charismatic Captain Davy.
Our special lunch, ‘A Taste of Normandy’, was served on deck accompanied by local music.
In the afternoon we arrived in Rouen, a city with a very interesting history. It was first settled by the Romans in the 3rd century, was under English rule (1066), then the French (1204), back to the English (1419), then ultimately recaptured by the French in 1449. This is the city where Joan of Arc was found guilty of treason and burned at the stake. We visited the site where a church has been built and a cross marks the spot where she lost her life. Bill & I walked through town after dinner and got this shot of the floodlit memorial spot.
Earlier in the day our walking tour took us through Rouen’s cathedral which was heavily damaged during bombing in World War II. The stained glass window below on the left was painstakingly, piece by piece, reconstructed to appear as it did originally. The window on the right is a new construction; the original one was completely damaged and couldn’t be replicated.
Our guide’s description of this city’s devastation during the war prepared us for the coming day’s visit to the Normandy landing beaches, something we both were very anxious to see.
1 comment:
What beautiful stained glass! How is the weather there?
Post a Comment