Rouen, Normandy, France

Sunday 11 August 

Central Rouen is one of the most beautiful and picturesque places in the world.  The center of Rouen has architecture that spans centuries- from remnants of viking conquests to 11th century structures to the crazy number of churches built betweennthe 1600 - 1800's.  The River Seine runs through the city, dividing it between the north and south.  Traditionally, the northern part of the city is where the old city center was, along with a lot of the wealth and was considered the "posh" neighborhood in the city, but it sounds like that is changing..  And thankfully, I have a few friends that live here and were gracious enough to play host and walk me around :)

One of the things the city is well known for is this is where they burned Joan of Arc in 1431.

We walked by the site- it was a bit surreal to see to be honest.  

There was an old church from the 15th century built next to the actual spot, but apparently it was all but destroyed in WWII.  Someone rebuilt it in the 1970's and I have to admit, it is one of the oddest looking churches, especially given the circumstances, that I've ever seen.  It is built on top of the original ruins, but it's got those funky 70's lines and it's just weird.  I didn't take a photo as it was just too ugly, but I sorta wish I had now :)  Otherwise here are a couple shots from the actual site: 

Meandering about the central, historical part and hearing the history, looking at the build dates carved into the structures I was amazed at how cohesive (and peaceful) it looked- you would think that a building from the 16th century built up against one from the 14th century and then another from 1860 something would look odd, but somehow, it all totally just works here. 

"Half-timbered" buildings from the 15th-16th century were everywhere in the city..  

I love how buildings this old are so common place here.  Locals are like yeah, it's six centuries old, whatever... 

Because a lot of these buildings were build right up against each other it appears that they have come to rely on them for support.  When there is a shift or change in the neighboring structure, one may start leaning.. severely.  

Buildings spanning centuries, with a bit of present day shrubbery to tie it all together :) 

Something tells me it wasn't always quite such a peaceful, placid village... 

  

But it seems quite tame now.. 

In its heyday*, Rouen was extremely wealthy (*whenever that was.. to be honest I was too busy walking around and taking it all in and listening to the antidotal stories from Matthew, Erik and Astrid to ask about more detailed historical dates :)  If you really are about to pee your pants in anticipation of a detailed history of Rouen, go to your friend and mine, wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouen

There are churches everywhere.  I don't mean one or two sprinkled about.. I mean every corner, street or block has like three.  Gothic churches abound and have been painted by the likes of Monet several times.. 

And as the capital of Normandy, Rouen has a fair number of very old, intimidating and official looking structures about, in addition to the churches and everything else.. 

And because it's France, ergo the signs are in French, everything is just so damn cute, adorable, makes you want to just throw up it's so precious (and I love it!!)

This is the oldest restaurant in France.  It was quite cute actually!

Adorable!!! 

There is so much to see here, and so much history I would definitely love to come back and be able to spend more than an afternoon walking about. It looks like there are museums to explore, parks to walk about, and too many churches to oogle at from the inside as well as the outside, all while taking many breaks to enjoy lovely French red and fantastic cheese :)