Rouen Cathedral

Rouen Cathedral is a mostly flamboyant Gothic, parts of it built from the late 13th century to the 14th, with frequent repairs, renovations, etc., owing to lightning, fires, wars of religion, nation, and ideology. Despite great suffering--seven RAF bombs fell on the building in 1943, and four more US bombs in 1944--the cathedral still stands and is certainly one of the great ones. Especially as immortalized by Monet.

West facade

The TI now owns the building where Monet rented rooms

An easel marks the spot

A bit of the exceptional sculptural program

A Jesse Tree

Nave view

Elevation

South transept

Crossing, under the tower

North transept, stars leading to Bibliotech

View abaft the beam

William Long Sword, son of William (or was it Rollo?)

Rollo himself

Nice windows, some old, some Chartres blue

Thus

Fishmongers' window

Thus

Thus, up closer

Is anybody else warm in here?

Judgement without God

Nice Hell

Original angel/devil on shoulder

Rouen's Musee des Beaux-Arts

It's another fine metropolitan museum, heavy, as one might expect, on Impressionism, but with plenty of other great stuff.

Grand old building

A whole room of Hubert Robert

Ingres' portrait of Madame Aymon

David's portrait of his jailer [geolier]

You know what by you know who

A Sisley Seine landscape

Jardin des Tuileries by Pissarro

Monet Seine scene

Renoir Chrysanthemums

Monet's Rue St. Denis, Fete du 30 Juin 1878

Another Monet Seine

Monet before he was Monet; still-life, 1861

Delacroix self-portrait

How About Them Apples, Rene Sance, 1527

The Monkey Painter

Never miss a Poussin: l'Orage

The Whale and Jonah, Louis Brandin

Obligatory Rubens, Adoration of the Bergers

Caravaggio's Flagellation (2)

Ribera's Zacharie

Velasquez's Democritus

Jan Steen's The Proposition; hmmm...

Gerard David's Virgin among Virgins

Even a Della Robbia

"Italian, 2nd half of 15th century"; not a great Botticelli forgery?

Delacroix's Justice of Trajan

Luminais' Les Enerves de Jumieges; it's complicated

On To Rouen

Rather than simply return to Amsterdam the way we had come, along the coast, we chose a more southerly route, at least in France, passing through Rouen, Amiens, and then Lille. For most of our European tour this summer, we had thought we would spend some time in Paris, visiting a few sights that we had missed last summer--the Picasso Museum, which was closed then, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which was not yet finished--but when it finally came time to decide and set a course, the temperatures in Paris were going to be in the 90s, and, well, there is always more to see in northern France. So we drove to Rouen and found a campground there, Camping l'Aubette, in St. Leger, a ten minute bus ride to Rouen center. Unfortunately, there are no aires in or near Rouen, but, without electricity, Camping l'Aubette was only 10E a night. Though we had visited Rouen at least a couple times in past years, we spent two days there and saw a good bit we had not seen before, especially the Musee Beaux Arts and the Abbey Church of St. Ouen. The latter, especially, was a revelation. But first, some scenes around Rouen.

It's another halfie-heaven, the old town; not quite a high as Rennes
but a bit more prevalent

Most pix thus requiring no further comment

Resto interior

A resident spots us, gets our attention, then waves, applauds, and
blows us kisses...

Zero lot lining near the top

An occasional Art Nouveau sneaks in

Leaning in

The old, large and very flamboyant palace of
justice

Which saw some action in WWII

The famous clock

LaSalle monument

Rouen ups the ante in the mannequin-pis sweepstakes

In the lovely charnal house

Thus

And thus

Pretty old town

Presided over by the hatless Emperor

On the bus ride back to the campground, our bus driver announces
the bus is defunct; ten minutes later the intervention babe shows
ups, opens the hood, and pulls out the shards of a drive belt; we
waited 20 minutes and caught the next bus