We had lunch in the sun at a small restaurant in Duclair overlooking the river where we could watch the chain ferry as we ate our first lovely French lunch, omelette is always a good choice with frites and green salad and it did not dissapoint.
We chose Abbaye Sainte- George de Boscherville as an abbey to visit and it proved to be a good choice.
Built in 1080-1125 it was largely unchanged and had the most wonderful light. The first of our many glorious Norman arches soaring overhead, a theme that followed us the whole trip.
We reached Rouen early afternoon and I was so grateful I had chosen to come in on the route I did ! We wound down a hill and suddenly there was the city spread out before us,it is huge!!
The last time I was there was in the 60's, getting the right lane in huge road networks is tricky and I did end up on the wrong side of the river ,but after a few hairy moments crossed over to find a parking lot right next to the Cathederal...... how lucky is that
The Catheral was impressive and from there we walked through the ancient streets of the Old Town to the huge clock set in an amazing archway with the underside covered in stone carving depicting the wool trade which Rouen was built on.
From there you come to the old market where Joan of Arc was burnt and there is a truly amazing building erected in her honour and a heartstopping tall cross on the spot.
St Joan was another re occurring presence in many of the places we visited.
Next one on my list was Beauvais another 60 miles on, it was lovely countryside but I had my fingers crossed we would find a bed as it was getting later than I felt comfortable with
Hoorah yes lovely clean comfortable room , a bath ! , tea making facilities and great restaurant.
we decided we would book ahead each morning after breakfast to our next destination to save stressing
No comments:
Post a Comment