Rouen

700 half-timbered structures in old Rouen
 
Not all are completely up-right
 
The very famous Rouen clock
 
A flamboyant Gothic church, not 100m from the Cathedral (the place is full of churches); the flags make it even more special
 
At the flam church...not Brussels
 
Monet and Joan of Arc own this town; here is where she was tried (the first time)

And here is where she was burned
 
Statue in the Joan church

Black Death victims were buried in this square
 
Detail

Bodies, by the 1000s, deposited down this well
 
On a cheerier note, employees of the tourist office are outfitted by Printemps (Travel Montana note)
Moving day in the city

Rouen Cathedral

The next day we did Rouen, particularly the famous cathedral. And a great lunch at Brasserie Paul.

The cathedral is so closed in by the city, it is not possible to get a full view

Interior

 

Rose window

 

Statues hospital...undergoing repair...an unusual opportunity to see them
close-up 

 

The Vikings raided Normandy so often in the 9th and 10th centuries that the French
finally just gave it to them, and their king, Rollo; William the Conqueror (1066 and
all that) was his grandson 

Richard the Lion-Heart; his heart, that is ("I left my heart, in ...Rouen"?)

Help! One of Sponge Bob's colleagues is trapped in the ceiling at Rouen Cathedral!

Abbey of Jumierge

Rachel arrived very early Sunday morning at CDG and we met her at 7AM. She and Rebecca had wanted to spend some time in Rouen prior to our week in Paris, so we drove north/northwest. The girls had rented a room at a farm B&B near Rouen, with provision for us to park there, but first we went to the Abbey Jumierge, reputedly the oldest and most extensive in France. It did not survive the Revolution, among other things.

Overview
 
Ruins
 
More ruins
 
Rachel and Rebecca

Rebecca shooting

Still more ruins

Ditto; Jumierge is interesting in having two churches, side by side
 
Medieval face, inside the smaller church

Green man, in the entry way

Roches aux Fees

Rocks of Fairies, view from front
 

Entry...high enough to walk in...six abreast!
 
Interior
 
Viewfrom rear Simply the biggest stones I have yet seen in a structure of this type...

Quotidien Neolithique

Megalithic festival; alas, the rain prevented us from attending; besides, we figured the mastodon meat was probably not fresh
 
The megalithic village; very instructive

Sign explaining the extraction of megaliths
 
Extraction interrupted, c. 5,000 years ago
 
Neolithic Vicki and Rebecca
 
The Long House, only partially built, to expose design; sitting in the original post-holes found on the site in 1989

Monteneuf

Megaliths at Monteneuf, a site discovered only in 1979
 
More
 
Still more
 
Explanation
 
45 tons

Saturday we awoke to typical Bretagne rain. Mist, light rain, then heavy rain, then light rain. And fog. The Festival organizers could not have been pleased. Nor were we. We waited as long as we could, till after lunch, then toured the site and the reconstructed neolithic village.

Monteneuf is of great interest. It was apparently a neolithic quarry, a huge out-cropping of schist, from which our ancestors were pulling megaliths and carting them off. Some 400 have been found since the site was discovered (after a forest fire) in 1979. Three were found standing, and some three dozen others have been restored to their original sites. One is more than 5 meters tall and weighs 45 tons, more than a fully-loaded 18-wheeler.

The neolithic village conveys much interesting information about everyday neolithic life, and one of the buildings is sited on original post-holes. Among demonstrations we could not stay for were how the stone were split apart, how they were moved (sometimes great distances), how they were erected, etc.

We had to get back to CDG to pick Rachel up Sunday morning, and so we drove on easterly to Chateaubriant, and our last site of the day, at Esse, the Roche aux Fees, the Rock of Fairies, which has to be one of the largest and grandest of all passage graves/allee couvertes we have seen. Over the millennia, the tumulus has worn away, leaving only the huge stones. None are carved, as at Gavirinis, but they are huge, larger than any others we have seen. We drove on into the night and rain, arriving at CDG after midnight.

Quimper

Quimper, a gorgeous old city, flowers everywhere
 
The Saint-Corentin cathedral in Quimper
 
The nave is headed east; the choir, built on
foundations of the former church, east-by-northeast

Cathedral spires on a beautiful day
 
Half-timbered structures everywhere
 
In the square, a great voice

Raz-Ma-Taz

Friday morning we hiked the couple km out to the Point, enjoying the early morning sights to ourselves. The trail was lined with blackberry bushes, still a bit early, but some ripe, so we helped ourselves. So many times we have stopped on a trail to pick raspberries, blackberries, bilberries, etc. The French pass by, most ignoring us, some few adding a disdainful “bon appetit.” Are we doing something wrong? Anyway, this morning we had the trail to ourselves, and indeed bon appetit. Vicki and I had seen Point Raz before, and many other coasts and finisterres. And Rebecca has lived on the Middle California coast, Pebble Beach and south, and so we were all a bit underwhelmed by Point Raz. Michelin says it's 3 stars, but then, well, I guess they have not been to California. Or New Zealand.

We decamped and drove back to the village of Confort-Mearliars, shopped the patisserie there and visited the parish church, a Bretagne specimen, which had caught my eye on the way in. Then we drove on to Quimper, for lunch (crepes and cidre), walking, and shopping.

Old Quimper is delightful, highlighted by flowers everywhere, half-timbered buildings, and its cathedral, a strangely but obviously misaligned Gothic of some size. It was another reminder that these enormous soaring buildings are held together by friction and gravity, and not much else, that many came down, and that those that have stayed up are indeed remarkable. Again we were blessed by a beautiful day and beautiful weather. Finally we drove of to Monteneuf, another megalithic site and the Festival Megalithique, which was to occur this weekend. We were met by its organizer, who was delighted to see Americains, and camped in the site parking lot.

Terrain at Pointe Raz

Gun emplacement; the U-boat pens at L'Orient were only a few miles away

 

View from Point Raz: more islands, more lighthouses

Blackberries, yum

 

Typical Breton church at Confort-Mearliars

Church tower

 

Hydrangeas in bloom all over Brittany